This is the ILT's October briefing for the Funding Councils, the DfES,
Universities UK, SCOP and other stakeholder organisations. It may be freely
circulated or published. Please pass it on within your own organisation and
contact me if you would like further information on any of the items
mentioned.
Andrea L. T. Rayner
Assistant Director: External Relations
Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILT)
Tel: 01904 434025
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ilt.ac.uk
OCTOBER 2001 BRIEFING FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING (ILT)
* This month the ILT passed another major milestone: during the two
years since it admitted its first members it has received nearly 11,000
applications for membership. At the beginning of October it had over 8,300
members, 63% of whom had joined via the Initial Entry Route for Experienced
Staff.
* Of the applications received by September 2001, 40% were from
pre-1992 universities, 41% from post-1992 universities and 13% from Higher
Education Colleges.
* Ten universities now number more than 100 ILT members among their
staff and four have over 150, the top recruiters being the University of
Leeds, the Queen's University of Belfast, the University of Paisley and the
University of Huddersfield.
* The ILT's Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2000-01 are now
available on the website and can be read at
http://www.ilt.ac.uk/AnnualReport2001/Contents.html.
* The ILT has welcomed the report by the National Association of
Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) on part-time lecturers and
postgraduate tutors. See http://www.ilt.ac.uk/news/n20011019.htm for the
ILT's response and planned actions.
* Successful and well-attended Members' Regional Network Forums have
been held in Portsmouth and Newcastle in October, following those already
held this year in London, Wales and Scotland. Further Forums will be held
in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury and Liverpool in
November and December.
* The ILT is also organising a workshop in conjunction with the
Association of Learning Technologies (ALT) on Getting Published in the
Academic Domain. It will be held at the Telford Campus of Wolverhampton
University on 29 November and is suitable for those who have little or no
track record of publishing their research. Further joint events with ALT
are planned.
* 16 grants of up to £1,000 have been made to ILT members under the
new Small Grants Scheme. These grants are available to 'make a difference'
in the support of learning and teaching in areas such as networking (live or
virtual), publication and dissemination, exchanges including experts brought
into the UK from overseas, conference attendance, shadowing or research
activity on learning and teaching. Details will be published on the ILT
website as soon as the applicants have been notified of the results.
* As part of the ILT's ongoing commitment to good practice, its Equal
Opportunities Committee has set up a Working Group to develop an action plan
in support of the ILT's Equal Opportunities policy. The Working Group has
been charged with producing the draft plan by early Spring of 2002. The
membership of the small group represents the diversity of the ILT community
and encompasses all areas of ILT activity. The plan will be informed by
established best practice and research into appropriate benchmarks.
* On 18 October, winners of the 2000 and 2001 National Teaching
Fellowship Scheme, which is managed by the ILT, were invited to a meeting
with the National Co-ordination Team, together with representatives from the
ILT and HEFCE. The meeting was a networking opportunity for all the Fellows
and enabled them to share their experiences of being a National Teaching
Fellow and discuss their progress.
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