"AdvanceHE is the new name for the UK Higher Education Academy, formed by its merger with the Leadership Foundation and the Equalities Challenge Unit, and this session was aimed at helping participants considering submitting an application to AdvanceHE for Associate Fellowship, Fellowship, Senior Fellowship or Principal Fellowship, depending on role, experience and the participants personal track record. This participative workshop was designed to: Explain the application process; Help participants decide which category was best for them; Explain what is meant by Areas of Activity, Core Knowledge and Professional Values, all of which participants would need to evidence in their submission; Help participants start drafting at least part of their application; Clarify where the UK scheme fits alongside the emergent Irish National Professional Development Framework."

"Assessment is a complex, nuanced and highly important process and if we want students to engage fully, we must make it really meaningful to them and convince them that there is merit in the activities we ask them to undertake. To focus students’ effort and improve their engagement with learning, we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to make sure assessment is for rather than just of learning, with students learning while they are being assessed rather than it being merely a summative end process. We also need to ensure that we provide explicit and implicit messages to students and indeed all other stakeholders about how we assess. By the end of this workshop, participants had had opportunities to: Consider how to make assessment truly integrated with the learning process; Review what kinds of feedback can be helpful to students in achieving their potential; Discuss how to make assessment manageable without losing the learning payoff that fit-for-purpose assessment can bring."

"If we want to improve students’ engagement with learning, a key focus of enhancement can be refreshing our approaches to assessment. Sometimes we need to take a fresh look at our current practice to ensure assessment is for rather than just of learning. In addition, we as educators in higher education understand the importance of giving good feedback to students, both to maximize achievement and to support retention. Research in the field suggests that good feedback has a significant impact on student achievement, enabling students to become adept at judging the quality of their own work during its production. In this workshop, the following aspects of assessment were considered: Fit for purpose assessment: designing assessments to promote student learning Assessing more students: ways of using productive assessment with large numbers Assessing first-year students well to promote retention Streamlining assessment: giving feedback effectively and efficiently"

"The seminar consisted of two components – presentations and a collaborative workshop. Presentations focused on some key theoretical perspectives and were delivered by Professor Sally Brown and drew on her rich experience in this area as well as ideas from the text she has recently co-authored with Kay Sambell and Linda Graham – Professionalism in Practice. The presentation considered aspects such as drivers for change in higher education and outlined the impact that the professional development framework has had in the UK and the increasingly professionalised nature of higher education in the UK. Change management and the role that Heads of Department and Heads of Schools have in leading change within their disciplines were explored as well as the processes that are available to encourage all staff to engage in professional development – especially in the context of educational development as opposed to developing disciplinary-specific knowledge and skills. In the workshop, participants explored the Irish National Professional Development Framework and identified the likely opportunities that would arise from staff engaging with this Framework as well as the challenges and barriers they are likely to face. The workshop concluded by exploring ways in which the opportunities can be maximised and barriers minimised. The aim of this seminar and the accompanying workshop, was to ensure participants: Understand the drivers for change in higher education, the professionalisation of the higher education sector, and in the context of the UK experience, the benefits arising from engaging with a national professional development framework Have an appreciation of the opportunities afforded by the Professional Development Framework to both themselves and the staff within their departments as well as the barriers to engaging with it. Understand the role of Heads of Departments and Heads of School in leading change within their disciplines Learn about ways of engaging staff in their own professional development"