Dear Jessica
I am responsible for organising the event on behalf of ILTHE, HESDA and LTSN and I'm very sorry that you feel that we have excluded SEDA from the list of convenors. As you know, SEDA through James Wisdom and Ranald McDonald are very much involved in the joint ILTHE-HESDA-LTSN Creative Thinking Group established to
develop a deeper understanding of the way quality enhancement is supported and enabled and to advise the agencies on how a future Academy might develop its functions to work with diverse HE communities and the existing networks and associations that support enhancement. This will be an important way in which SEDA can influence and shape thinking and show how SEDA as an organisation can work with any new organisation. But I'm sure that there will be many other opportunities to discuss this both formally and informally.
The Imagining a Better Future event grew out of the desire of the three agencies, named in the TQEC report as providing the core functions of an Academy, to organise an event to enable people to come together to discuss the idea of an Academy. Given the political nature of the change involved in establishing a unitary body it seemed reasonable to seek and gain the support of higher education's representative bodies. Underlying our thinking is a desire to be inclusive. There is no attempt to exclude anyone. Had we included any other body, association or network on the list of sponsors I think we could have been charged with being selective in our partnerships.
The enormous contributions made by SEDA to the enhancement of teaching and learning, to the professional development of teachers and to the field of educational development is known and appreciated by all. There is no need for SEDA to feel excluded or sidelined. There is a need is to engage with the idea of an Academy and show how we can do things differently and better to what has gone before.
best wishes
LTSN Generic Centre
Norman Jackson
-----Original Message-----
From: Jessica Claridge [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 18 March 2003 12:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Imagining a better future: 'An Academy for the Advancement
of Learning and Teaching'
Could you explain why SEDA's name has been left off the
list of the great and the good who are being asked to
collaborate on this. As the organisation who were the
first to put together a very successful national
scheme and as the organisation Dearing commended - and
recommended as a model - surely they should be represented
- or are they being sidelined again?
Jessica Claridge
Academic Staff Development Adviser
University of Exeter
On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 10:15:28 -0000 Gill Harrison
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Apologies for cross posting
> ***************************************************************************************************************
> Imagining a better future: 'An Academy for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching'
> Monday 28th April 2003
> Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester
> In collaboration with HESDA, ILTHE, UUK, SCOP, AoC and members of the HE Quality Enhancement Network
> http://www.ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/index.asp?id=18530
> The Government's strategy paper 'The Future of Higher Education' stated that 'teaching and learning are central to the purpose of higher education. We are committed to understanding better where and how good teaching and learning take place and to take steps to ensure that standards are high and continually improved, and the best practice is effectively shared.'
> Higher education institutions and colleges of further education that provide HE make substantial investments in developing their teachers and helping them to improve students' learning and their experience of learning. They are helped in this enterprise by bodies like ILTHE, HESDA and LTSN.
> The Report of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Committee recommended that a new Academy for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching be established. The Academy would bring together the functions of ILTHE, HESDA and LTSN and develop new functions to better support the enhancement needs and interests of higher education communities.
> The conference will provide an opportunity for people to think creatively and imaginatively about the proposal for an Academy and the opportunities that the TQEC proposals provide for thinking freshly about the way we support and encourage the enhancement of teaching and learning.
> The conference will be of interest to people who lead enhancement-related activities within institutions who want to influence the thinking of those who will be responsible for developing the infrastructure to support the continuing development and improvement of teaching and learning. The event will provide a launch pad for a new Quality Enhancement Network.
>
> 10.30 - 11.45 Welcome
> Mrs Sandra Burslem, Vice Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University
> Personal perspectives on the idea of an Academy and the future of quality enhancement
> - An institutional managers perspective
> Professor Rob Cuthbert, Deputy VC, University of the West of England
> - A teacher's perspective
> Professor Carol McGuiness, Department of Psychology, Queens University Belfast
> - A staff and educational developer's perspective
> Dr Bob Matthew, Director of Teaching and Learning Services, University of Glasgow
> 11.45 - 12.45 Discussion: An Academy for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching
> 12.45 Lunch
> 13.30 - 14.30 Discussion: The future of QE: issues and challenges, opportunities and threats
> 14.40 - 15.20 Plenary panel discussion, Cliff Allan (Director LTSN), Caroline Bucklow (Acting Chief Executive ILTHE) and Sally Neocosmos (Chief Executive HESDA)
> 15.20 Closing remarks and Finish
> David Vaughan, Principal Cumbria Institute of the Arts
> 15.35 - 16.00 QE Network Meeting for people interested in helping to create a new network for people involved in leading and supporting enhancement within institutions
> There is a charge of £100 (inclusive of VAT) to attend this event.
> To register for this event please download and complete the registration form and return by 14th April 2003 http://www.ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/index.asp?id=18530
>
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Jessica Claridge
University of Exeter
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