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Course Overview
The Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PGCertHEP) is a part time course run over two academic years and is aimed at people involved in supporting student learning in Higher Education. The PGCertHEP is made up of two modules (30 credits each): the first module is Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through Reflective Practice and the second module is Practice-Based Inquiry.
The PGCertHEP is accredited by Advance HE and students who successfully complete the first module are awarded Associate Fellowship with Advance HE whilst students who successfully complete the entire course become Fellows.
The course is designed to help you to develop effective classroom practice (Module 1) and to develop a wider understanding of the curriculum and the wider structure of what is involved in HE teaching nationally and internationally.
Structure
Module 1 is designed to introduce you to some of the key issues involved in teaching in higher education as listed below:
Semester 1 covers:
Planning for learning in higher education
Developing assessment for learning in higher education
Improving feedback in higher education
Creative teaching and designs for learning
Teaching with technology
Semester 2 covers:
Teaching small groups
Teaching large classes
Inclusive teaching
Reflective practice
Becoming a professional university teacher
The module is designed to be delivered entirely online and the webinars are repeated three times (in addition to being recorded) in order to provide you with the maximum opportunity to fit the module into your work. Throughout the module the focus will be on developing teaching strategies that are designed to help students to learn, this being the basis that learning is the most important aspect of what we, as teachers, try to develop.
Module 2 is taught using a blended approach of online and in person sessions. The content of the second module is based around key themes in teaching in higher education which go beyond teaching and include:
Curriculum design
Principles of education for sustainable development (ESD)
Digital literacies
The value of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Teaching critical thinking in the post-truth era
Futures literacies
Some of these topics – such as criticality or digital literacies – are longstanding concerns which have received a new impetus in the ‘post-truth’ society. Issues such as sustainability and futures studies are becoming mainstream in higher education in response to global pressures, so new lecturers may need help to design curricula that respond to these trends. Becoming familiar with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning provides a foundation for enhancing practice. Using the prism of curriculum development can enhance and enrich the experiences of both learners and educators. The module will provide opportunities to develop a personal stance towards these topics.
Teaching
The teaching on this course will seek to model best practice and will be based on small group sessions along with whole class activities with minimal use of formal whole class lectures. The ethos is reflective, learner-focused, dialogic and constructive. The wide variety of disciplines represented by the participants on the PGCertHEP means that there is not, nor can there be, a “one size fits all” approach to content or teaching methods. Instead participants are invited to engage in activities, reflect on them in terms of their own practice and then adapt or adopt techniques and ideas to suit their own needs.
Assessment
In module 1 during the first semester, participants are asked to engage in the production of a patchwork text as a formative activity run over the duration of the module. Participants are placed in small peer groups (5-6 people) where each participant shares their work (patches) and receives regular formative feedback. The final summative assessment for module 1 is an hour-long evaluative conversation which takes the form of a three-way conversation involving the participant and two academics discussing the participant’s teaching based on the patches they submitted during the module. The first module is assessed as pass/fail.
For module 2 there will be a formative ‘collaborative enquiry’-based task and the summative task will be an option in which participants select one area on which to focus from the following options:
Option 1: conducting a desk-based review of curriculum design practice
Option 2: developing a teaching philosophy statement for an aspect of curriculum design
Option 3: reviewing the literature on an aspect of curriculum design
The final assessment for module 2 will be graded as pass/fail.
In addition to the written assessments for modules 1 and 2, you will also be required to undertake two observations of your teaching practice. The first observation (Year 1) will be undertaken by your school mentor and the second observation (Year 2) will either be undertaken by one of the teaching team or a Senior Fellow of the HEA. The observations are both graded on a pass/fail basis.
Entry Requirements and Intakes
Applicants need to be employed at UEA or at a partner college in a role requiring them to be actively supporting learning/teaching on undergraduate or post graduate programmes. Successful completion of the PGCertHEP and hence Fellowship of the HEA is usually a requirement for probation.
Intakes
There is only one point of entry per year which is in September.
For further information about applying for the course and if you have any queries about Fellowship, contact mahep@uea.ac.uk.