Innovation and Teaching Excellence Learning Lab (I-TELL)

This project addresses three objectives:

• It identifies and explores the provision of evidence-based business analytics, with a focus on:
  • people analytics
  • forming a learning community that informs future-focused teaching
  • learning focused upon evidence-based people analytics
• It develops an integrated programme of activities that address the skill requirements for innovative and authentic forms of assessment for post-COVID students including analytical, business knowledge and digital literacy.
• It initiates an integrated Rise unit in people analytics to support non-cognate students across the faculty.

This project aims to contribute to the development of a future-focused curriculum that delivers opportunities for stakeholders, including students and staff, to engage with the proliferation of analytics tools and relevant skills (analytical, IT and business knowledge Chiang, 2012) informed by ethical practice. 

Student academic progress can be enhanced, particularly noting how students can be engaged in a learning community through a panel for people analytics.  This is envisaged to benefit not only units directly involved people analytics but also for research projects and business projects that are challenging for students.

Project lead

• Andrew Rowe

This project will use plot archetypes as a way of engaging and understanding experiential learning, primarily with post-experience learners from a managerial or entrepreneurial background, a majority of whom rely significantly or wholly on their experience over any formal training or education.

While the use of narrative structures in learning design is relatively well established if under-used, the use of plot structures (such as Booker’s seven basic plots and the various incarnations of Campbell’s monomyth) is much less well-developed.

The primary aim of this project is to use these models to develop a tool for enabling post-experience learners to better understand their own story by analysing it as an archetypal story with an inherent lesson, in much the same way our childhood is filled with myths and fairytales with morals and learning points. 

The initial focus will be on managerial learners because of their heavy reliance on experience over formal education, but the final tool could offer a new assessment method for all experiential learners, and the work to develop this will also help inform the use of plot in the design of learning journeys.

Project lead

• Rob McKay

The aim of the project is to develop an alternative action research teaching and learning framework for project-based assignments that enables students, individually or as part of a group, to:

• apply their academic knowledge and conceptual skills to address a live organisational issue
• work collaboratively with others
• critically reflect on their own way of working, enabling them to develop confidence and a range of high-level management and problem-solving investigative skills

The project aligns itself with the University’s educational strategy toprovide an outstanding education experience and excellent graduate future.

With an emphasis on authentic learning and emergent enquiry, the action research framework (define-plan-act-evaluate-reflect) is intended to equip students with the necessary confidence and capabilities to critically engage with and through action resolve workplace challenges.

Project lead

• Tom Scanlon

The personal tutoring relationship is crucial to a great student experience. It can be the difference between a happy and unhappy student journey and can determine whether a student progresses and graduates.

The project uses a mixed-method approach to obtain, collect and analyse data, including surveys to obtain quantitative data and semi-structured interviews to obtain qualitative data from both staff and students.

The analytical methods used are thematic analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis. It is also a piece of critically reflective research, using Brookfield’s four lenses of critical reflection, the students’ view, colleagues’ perceptions, personal experience and the academic theory and research literature in this area to reach conclusions.

It is action research and seeks to find the answers to whether what we provide is fit for purpose and allows students to belong, rather than being forced to fit in. It is not yet complete but key themes emerging are:

• students want to feel known and cared about
• staff feel they lack time and confidence to provide the best support

Project lead

• Vicky Martin

This research project aims to enhance entrepreneurial competencies among students within the Faculty of Business and Law through the development and implementation of an ‘Innovation and Creativity in Teaching and Learning Toolkit.’ The toolkit will comprise a range of guides for activities, lessons, and teaching case studies that support the development of key enterprise and entrepreneurial skills. The methodology includes a mixed-method approach involving a review of existing practices, the establishment of a Community of Practice, and the creation of a comprehensive toolkit. The project will be piloted within a Level 5 unit to assess its effectiveness in enhancing student competencies, using pre- and post-intervention surveys.

The expected outcomes include the identification of best practices, the development of innovative teaching resources, and the establishment of a sustainable Community of Practice focused on creativity and innovation in education. The anticipated impact includes improved student readiness for the workforce, enhanced teaching practices across the faculty, and sparking a more innovative and creative mindset among both students and staff. This project aligns with the faculty’s strategic aims and supports the development of an inclusive and future-focused curriculum that equips students with the tools to thrive in rapidly changing markets.

Project lead

• David Yarwood

This project is planning to use plot archetypes as a way of engaging and understanding experiential learning, primarily with post-experience learners from a managerial or entrepreneurial background, a majority of whom rely significantly or wholly on their experience over any formal training or education.  While the use of narrative structures in learning design is relatively well established, if under-used, the use of plot structures (such as Bookers ‘7 Basic Plots’ and the various incarnations of Campbells ‘Monomyth’) is much less well developed.

The primary aim of this project is to use these models to develop a tool for enabling post-experience learners to better understand their own ‘story’ by analysing it as an archetypal story with an inherent lesson, in much the same way our childhood is filled with myths and fairytales with morals and learning points.  The initial focus will be on managerial learners because of their heavy reliance on experience over formal education, but the final tool could offer a new assessment method for all experiential learners, and the work to develop this will also help inform the use of plot in the design of learning journeys.

Project Lead

•  Rob McKay

The aim of this project is to provide a meaningful impact assessment of the application of degree apprenticeship learning on managerial competence and status in the workplace. It will focus specifically on the impact of learning from the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Level 6 Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) programme in NHS Trust hospitals.

Objectives of the project

1. To create a blueprint for an ideal middle manager in an NHS Trust hospital.

2. To conceptualise confidence, competence and status and establish appropriate and context-sensitive measurement methods.

3. To assess how learning builds confidence and competence through the programme in relation to the blueprint, how that translates into status and impacts on staff wellbeing and retention.

4. To provide feedback to the degree apprenticeship programme on the efficacy of the teaching approaches used and the content covered within the programme.

Methodology

The proposed methodology will be interviews with students, their direct reports, peers and managers and observations of team meetings within a selected NHS Trust: Manchester Univers.

Outcomes

The main outcomes will be demonstrable impact on the employing organisation of the degree apprenticeship programme and feedback to implement into the next review of the degree apprenticeship CMDA programme for Health and Social Care.

Impact

Not only will this project ensure that we continue to make a difference to organisations like the NHS through our teaching we can also demonstrate the return on investment of the use of the apprenticeship levy.

Project leads

• Angela Gill
• Janet Curran