UKCLE Wales e-newsletter

The third UKCLE e-newsletter for academics based in law schools in Wales was sent to our Welsh contacts on 5 July 2010.

It is intended as a complement to the main UKCLE e-newsletter and will appear three times a year.

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The UKCLE Wales e-newsletter highlights news, events and resources of particular interest to law teachers based in Welsh higher education institutions. Send any items for inclusion to Richard Owen, UKCLE’s consultant for Wales, on rowen@glam.ac.uk.

News

1.1 Acting Head of Policy and Partnerships, HE Academy in Wales

Dr Helena Lim is the new Acting Head of Policy and Partnerships for the HE Academy in Wales.

1.2 HEAT 4 Wales

The fourth round of the JISC TechDis HEAT Scheme is now underway in Wales.

The HEAT scheme provides staff working in higher education (teaching staff, library staff, careers officers, staff developers, IT specialists and accessibility or support specialists) with technology with which to develop or uncover an aspect of good inclusive practice. This may be specific to the teaching of a particular discipline, supporting a specific role area, or may have more generic applicability across the sector.

1.3 Students and Sustainability

Swansea Students’ Union and Aberystwyth Guild of Students, have been awarded the Silver Standard in the 2010 National Union of Students Services Limited (NUSSL) Sound Environmental Impact Awards, and Bangor Students’ Union have been awarded the Bronze Standard.

1.4 Routes into Languages Cymru

Routes into Languages Cymru which is being managed by the Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Subject Centre, is now in operation.

1.5 European Award for Languages

An initiative to help Welsh speakers in the Mold area improve their language skills has been awarded a European Award for Languages on 29th June at the Emirates Stadium in London.

The people behind this particular initiative are known as the Welsh Language Social Group C3. The group is co-ordinated by Eirian Conlon, Tutor-Organiser for Welsh for Adults in the area for Bangor University, aided by Pauline Owen.

1.6 Welsh Language Board’s Response to QAA’s Monitoring Report for its Welsh Language Scheme for 2009

The Welsh Language Board identified the following as good practice:

• There is a dedicated Team Wales committee responsible for implementing the scheme, made up of representatives from across QAA
• There is a strong awareness of the scheme among QAA staff
• QAA can ensure that review teams contain a Welsh speaker, and can conduct institution reviews in Welsh
• There are a range of bilingual communication services on offer, with Welsh correspondence actively welcomed by QAA
• QAA was successful in completing all the agreed targets of the original scheme

1.7 Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) Chair Re-appointed

Roger Thomas OBE has been re-appointed HEFCW Chair from 5 May 2011 to 4 May 2014.

1.8 Coleg Ffedral Implementation Board established

The Implementation Board will develop arrangements for handling funding, incorporating the Centre for Welsh Medium Higher Education, developing the Coleg’s management and staffing structure and handing over to its governing body, the National Council, so that the Coleg can admit its first students in September 2011.

1.9 Foundation Degree Policy

HEFCW has been asked by the Welsh Assembly Government to prepare a Foundation Degree policy and it is hoped that the policy will be published in July 2010.

1.10 Stakeholder Survey

HEFCW will soon be appointing consultants to carry out their second stakeholder survey in autumn 2010. The survey will be asking higher education institutions and other bodies in Wales and more widely about their performance and relationships since the last survey in 2007.

1.11 Consultation on Draft QAA Handbook for the review of higher education in further education colleges in Wales

The closing date for responses is Friday 23 July 2010.

Resources

2.1 Change Academy at the University of Glamorgan – Putting Assessment at the Heart of Learning

The University of Glamorgan participated in a year-long Change Academy project run by the Higher Education Academy in 2008–09. You can read an article about the project written by Alice Lau and Karen Fitzgibbon of the University of Glamorgan on the Higher Education Academy website www.heacademy.ac.uk/wales/ourwork/changeacademy.

2.2 Wales Retention Event

Resources from the Higher Education Academy/HEFCW Conference Improving retention and success: retaining students to and through higher education in Llandrindod Wells on 12 May 2010 are now available

2.3 Research and Teaching Nexus resources

A new publication Linking research and teaching in Wales, which includes 29 case studies demonstrating innovations currently practiced in Wales to strengthen the links between research and teaching, is now available

Resources from the Newport NEXUS conference, 14–15 June 2010, held by The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) and the Research and Enterprise Department (RED) in association with Academy Wales are also available

2.4 Simulated learning activities video

The Simshare project has launched a video of a case study of simulated learning activities carried out by the University of Glamorgan Law School. To view the video and see the resources available visit the Simshare website

Events and calls for papers

UKCLE events

28-29 January 2011: Learning in Law Annual Conference 2011: Experiencing Legal Education. University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL. Deadline for abstracts Friday 10 September 2010. Abstracts should be submitted to Melanie Hughes: melanie.hughes@warwick.ac.uk

Other events

QUILT Workshop: Introduction to GradeMark 12 July 2010. Tŷ Dewi Sant, Cardiff University. Registration is now open

QUILT Seminar: Electronic Resources and copyright: A brief look at copyright law. 16 July 2010. Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University. Registration is now open

Supporting the Student Experience: A Welsh Perspective. 19-20 July 2010. Medrus Conference Centre, Aberystwyth University. Registration is now open

Quilt Workshop: Organising your own VLE Module. 29 July 2010. Julian Hodge Building, Cardiff University. Registration is now open

Quilt Workshop: Questionmark Perception, browser based training. 5 August 2010. Julian Hodge Building, Cardiff University. Registration is now open

Quilt workshop: New Tools for Audio Feedback. 26 August 2010. Julian Hodge Building, Cardiff University. Registration is now open

International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference: Action in Enterprise Education. 1 – 3 September 2010. Cardiff University. Registration is now open

Educational Research Symposium. 13 September 2010. Glamorgan Conference Centre, University of Glamorgan. Keynote address to be given by Professor Lewis Elton (Honorary Professor at UCL and Times Higher Lifetime Achievement Award winner). Paper titles and abstracts (max.200 words) should be submitted as Microsoft Word attachments to Dr Elaine Huntley (ehuntley@glam.ac.uk) by Wednesday 14th July.

Developing an employer responsive learning provision. 27 October 2010. Newport Business School. To book a place at this seminar, please email Emma Burnell or Alison Durstan on ELP01@newport.ac.uk

Cardiff Law School Annual Lecture 2010. Lord Sedley. 4 November 2010. More details to follow shortly.

Simshare event. 8 – 9 November 2010. University of Glamorgan. More details to follow.

The Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Annual Conference 2010. 14–16 December 2010. Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, South Wales. Registration is now open

Advance notice – Association of Law Teachers 46th Annual Conference: Crossing Borders: Legal Education United. 18 – 20 April 2011. St. David’s Hotel, Cardiff.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010