Psychology E-Bulletin November 2011

Welcome to the Higher Education Academy Psychology e-bulletin update.  This bulletin will keep you informed with the latest news, events, resources and funding opportunities, on a monthly basis.  If you have any comments or information you would like to include in future editions of the bulletin, please email Julie Hulme, discipline lead for psychology.

Feel free to forward this bulletin to interested colleagues; to subscribe or unsubscribe, please get in touch with Julie.

HEA News

New UK Professional Standards Framework launched!

The UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning is for institutions to apply to their professional development programmes and activities thereby demonstrating that professional standards are being met. HEA supports and guide both institutions and individuals as they engage with the UKPSF.  The new UKPSF was launched on 1 November 2011, and provides a general description of the main dimensions of the roles of teaching and supporting learning within the HE environment. It is written from the perspective of the practitioner and outlines a national Framework for comprehensively recognising and benchmarking teaching and learning support roles within Higher Education.  Its central purpose is to help those seeking to enhance the learning experience of their students, by improving the quality of their teaching and learning support.   The framework has been designed to cover all aspects of teaching and learning support. If you have a substantive role in the education of students or staff, it will be relevant to your situation.  Under the terms of the new UKPSF, individual academics can now apply to be associate fellows, fellows, senior fellows or principal fellows of HEA.

STEM News

Inaugural STEM conference

Psychology at the Higher Education Academy is one of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) cluster of disciplines.  The very first HEA STEM conference will be entitled “Aiming for excellence in STEM learning and teaching”, and we hope to have a strong presence from the psychology community, with plenty of psychology-specific, as well as generic, sessions within the programme.

The STEM conference will take place on 12 and 13 April 2012 at Imperial College London, one of the world's leading centres of excellence for teaching and research in the fields of science, technology and medicine.

The key conference themes applied to psychology and the other STEM disciplines are:

• innovative practice in STEM learning and teaching
• gender issues in STEM subjects
• mathematics and statistics in an interdisciplinary context
• work-based learning in STEM subjects
• teaching and assessing large classes
• assessment and feedback
• employability
• flexible learning
• internationalisation
• retention and success

Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by Friday 16 December 2011; a response will be sent by 6 January 2012. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 17 February 2012.  Full paper submissions are subjected to double-blinded peer review and authors will have reviewers’ comments by 2 March 2012.  Camera-ready papers should be returned to the conference committee by 16 March 2012 for inclusion in the proceedings.

HEA Psychology News

A visit to your department?

Julie Hulme, HEA Discipline Lead for Psychology, would like to visit UK Psychology departments in the coming months – would you like her to visit yours?  The aim of the visits is mutually beneficial; Julie would like to find out about the key issues in teaching and learning for your department, and would also like to share with your department ways in which HEA are able to help.  She is able to give a talk to the department on funding opportunities from HEA, or to help run a workshop on a particular topic or issue (such as assessment and feedback, employability, applying for HEA funding) if you prefer.  Julie is also able to offer free consultancy from HEA to your department.  If you’d like a visit to your department, please email Julie for a discussion and to make arrangements.

HEA Psychology Facebook page

HEA now has its very own Psychology page on Facebook, and we’d love you to come and join us.  Simply “like” our page to receive regular updates on what’s happening both at HEA and within our community, and to keep in touch.

HEA Psychology Network Subject Centre update

Psychology Network has now closed.  We would like to thank all staff involved for their valued contributions, and to wish them all the very best in their new roles.  Support for psychology continues through the Discipline Lead for Psychology; please email Julie Hulme if you’d like to know more, or have ideas about how you’d like to see HEA work with our community in the future.

News from the BPS

The deadline for posters for the BPS Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology Inaugural Annual Conference is 30 November.  The theme is 'Student engagement in a changing economic climate', and the conference will take place during the annual BPS conference, 19 April 2012, Grand Connaught Rooms, London.  DTRP members can apply for a bursary to attend teaching and learning conferences.  Don’t forget, you can also apply to HEA UK travel fund for assistance with learning and teaching conference travel in the UK!

News from AHPD

The Association for the Heads of Psychology Departments (AHPD) held a meeting in London on 21 October 2011, at which HEA’s Discipline Lead for Psychology, Julie Hulme, presented a workshop.  The workshop looked at ways in which HEA and AHPD could collaborate to ensure that the needs of the psychology learning and teaching community were identified and met.  Discussions were informed by the joint HEA Psychology Network/AHPD/BPS report on the Future of Undergraduate Psychology in the UK.  Psychology heads were given information about opportunities to seek funding and support from HEA, and were encouraged to advise Julie of further areas where HEA work could be beneficial to their departments.

AHPD are currently consulting with Heads of Department on the ESRC International Benchmarking Review of Psychology.  The review made eight specific recommendations, ranging from enhancing collaboration between sub-disciplines, to an alternative format for PhD thesis submission.  The consultation by AHPD will ensure that the views of UK Psychology departments are well represented in taking forward the recommendations.

Publications, Resources and Funding

Call for events

The HEA is calling for discipline-focussed workshops and seminars, and Julie Hulme would be very pleased to hear from departments who would like to offer an event in psychology.  Participating departments receive funding and support from HEA to deliver an event on teaching and learning in psychology.  Since my last newsletter, the funding available has increased!  This is a great opportunity to work with HEA to disseminate your own good practice, and to provide a continuing professional development event for staff.

UK travel fund

Individuals and groups who are attending teaching and learning conferences within the UK are invited to apply for funding from HEA towards their travel.  We are keen to receive applications from within the psychology community that relate to our HEA themes and will have a positive impact on learning and teaching in our discipline and within the higher education sector generally.

Events

STEM Event

Clickers reloaded

HEA and Edinburgh University are pleased to invite you to an event on 7 December 2011 on the subject of using electronic voting systems (or clickers) in teaching and learning environments.  This workshop is open to academics from all disciplines, and includes speakers from science and engineering, including psychology, from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.  Places are free, and likely to be in high demand, so please do book your place as soon as possible if you’d like to attend.