Guidance for scheduling of teaching

Students should have a minimum of three days a week where face to face activity is scheduled on campus.

On Wednesdays, timetabling is generally between 9am and 1pm, in order to retain the afternoon for social interaction and SU clubs and societies. 

Students’ weekly learning should include on average one to two days (and at least one day) of learning where they are not required to be on campus (see 4 below).  

• where possible contain more than one kind of activity, so there is variety across the day, e.g.  
  • Practical/hands-on teaching  
  • Small group teaching   
  • Interactive seminars/collaborative workshops  
  • Whole class lectures 
  • Whole-class interactive sessions in lecture theatres/teaching rooms
• include regular breaks for students, e.g. a lunch break, and regular breaks (designed in and enacted by teachers in-class) where there are blocks of 2h+ sessions (e.g. 10 mins after every 40-50 mins)
• some online and/or independent learning may be expected as part of an on-campus day, for example where students need to do follow-up research after a PBL session. If possible, consideration should be given to how/where students can engage with these aspects of their learning whilst on campus
• whole class interactive sessions may be built into a learning week or scheduled towards the end of a module, in order to consolidate learning and develop higher order thinking. 

On-campus days should be ‘worth coming in for’, and so scheduling a day on campus with a single (e.g. 50 minute) lecture and no other activity should be avoided. Where this is not possible, such single sessions should be either: 

• in teaching spaces equipped to facilitate optional remote attendance via Teams (‘hybrid’ session). A requirement for hybrid teaching should be signalled to the Timetabling team
• redesigned for asynchronous learning (bite sized lecture on Canvas) off-campus.

• involve a range of activities from clearly structured directed asynchronous learning, such as:
  • engaging with bite-sized lectures, formative assessment or learning checks, to more independent self-directed learning, such as:  
    • wider reading and research, reviewing on-campus learning, preparing for formal assessments etc. 
• be designed to integrate coherently with on-campus days, ensuring that there is a manageable balance for students within the overall learning design. For example there should be sufficient time for students to work through asynchronous lecture or other preparatory material that is required as preparation for on-campus activities
• main live lectures should take place on-campus and extensive scheduling of live online sessions should generally be avoided (see 4 for the exception of single short lectures). For sessions that are designed to augment on-campus face-to-face teaching (e.g. Q&A, collaborative work, etc.), use may be made of live online interaction. 

• All live lectures must be recorded and made available to students in line with the Live Teaching Recording Policy.
• The use of previous years’ live lecture recordings for asynchronous online learning is discouraged, although may be necessary in cases where, for example, an expert guest lecture cannot be repeated. In such cases, students should be made aware of the reason for using a previous live lecture recording.
• Where it is unavoidable to use a previous year’s live lecture recording, the recording must be carefully reviewed before it is used for asynchronous learning.
• Programme teams are encouraged to make use of the recording facilities and hands-on support for making high quality asynchronous online resources that can be requested from CTiE. Pedagogy and Effective Educational Practice guides and resources, as well comprehensive guidance on supported learning technology resources is available on this website.  

Whether in small group or large group teaching or study groups, course planning and teaching delivery should include deliberate opportunities for students and staff to develop relationships, build community and sustain connections.

Such opportunities might include: expressing and sharing lived experiences, linking personal interests to the curriculum, the articulation of personal learning goals. 

Particularly at the early stages of study (typically first year), students should be supported to develop their capacity to learn in a digital environment (both on-campus and remotely), to become self-directed in their learning, to interact with teachers and to collaborate with peers.

• Learning checks (which might include formal assessments) should be designed-in to help teachers identify where students are struggling or falling behind.
• Students should be signposted to self-access learning development resources within the Study+ module on Canvas, and/or have access to course specific guidance on efficient and effective blended study.  

As a  minimum,  all personal tutors should meet with their tutees once a semester i.e. twice during the academic year. In addition, for first year students, tutors should meet with their tutees very early on in the academic year and preferably in person; this can be a group or individual meeting.

There should then be another individual meeting later in the first semester, and another in the second semester. In-person meetings are usually preferable, but where appropriate tutees can be given the option of meeting in person or online. 

Further details regarding personal tutoring are available here.

It is recommended that a session is identified towards the end of a teaching block/module where students are invited to give feedback on their learning experience and have time to fill in the Student Online Learning and Teaching Survey (SOLTS).