Programme and module leadership

Programme and module leader guidance

Programme and module leaders

Colleagues who lead programmes play a crucial role in improving the experience of both students and staff at Manchester Met. Our programmes come in varying sizes, levels, content, and delivery, which sometimes causes an overlap between the roles of Programme and Module Leaders. This resource is, therefore designed to support staff working in either capacity, helping them to reflect on and enhance their knowledge of current Learning and Teaching practices while also providing opportunities for their Continued Professional Development.
As agents of change, educational leaders are often required to demonstrate competence in a range of complex situations: for example, dealing with professional bodies, designing assessment strategies, and ensuring quality processes. These roles offer leaders a unique opportunity to develop a shared programme philosophy or Theory of Change to guide the experience of students and staff and ensure the most interesting, engaging experience.
Approaches which inform this guidance
In designing this guidance, we have taken a systems approach, drawing on the literature around enhancing teaching and learning in higher education. The three relevant levels of organisation are the department, programme and module or module. These occupy what Trowler (2019) would identify as the Meso level of analysis, it is here that the biggest impact can be made through developing the Teaching and Learning Regime (TLR), that is the group of staff and their practices engaged in an ongoing sustained effort to enhance the student experience on a particular course.
As a framework to promote a consistent approach throughout this Meso level, we have taken the reporting areas of the NSS with the addition of Student Outcomes (continuation and completion analysis) as a starting point. These offer a consistent and efficient way of framing conversations aimed at enhancing teaching, learning and the student experience from the departmental level through to the level of the Programme or Module. First principles (supported by templates and other guidance) can be used across the academic year, responding to data as it emerges and collecting actions to be evaluated in due course and reported on in line with university processes. Or simply considered as part of a self-identified opportunity for reflection and review.
Key areas of consideration
Student outcomes.
Teaching.
Learning opportunities.
Assessment and feedback.
Academic support.
Organisation and management.
Learning resources.
Student voice.

Programme leaders are in a position to be instigators of genuine positive change

(Robinson-Self, 2020)

First principles

Assessment

The Assessment Lifecyle sets out stages of assessment management and design and should be the starting point for teaching teams to think about assessment. Make sure your teaching team explore ways of enhancing both student and staff assessment and feedback literacy, consider the different types of assessment and feedback, consider use of language that students understand and consider providing timely feedback that facilitates feeding-forward. This includes moderation, verification and calibration can provide reassurance and build confidence in the programme team in relation to assessment and marking. These processes are also useful for showing transparency in processes with our learners.
Talking points
Discussions with students and colleagues may consider:
•   Whether assessments are appropriately spaced to avoid bunching.
•   Whether assessments genuinely assess learning outcomes.
•   Over-assessment, quality is often better than volume.
•   If current assessments are considered Authentic.
Constructive alignment
Constructive alignment ensures that the module’s Intended learning outcomes are aligned with the Teaching and Learning Activities and the Assessment and Feedback activities, i.e., effective deployment of Biggs’ Constructive Alignment model.
Talking points
Discussions with students and colleagues may consider:
How understandable the learning outcomes are.
To what extent do activities allow for them to be achieved/considered.
How do we know if they have been met?
Dialogue with students and colleagues
Allow time for informal opportunities to speak with students and colleagues. These conversations are opportunities to develop relationships, build trust and explore individual experiences. Student voice is key in understanding the extent to which module and programme approaches have been successful or not and ensuring practices are inclusive and enjoyable. This can be challenging in larger groups where Apps might be a more suitable mechanism for the retrieval of feedback or post-it-notes used in sessions to take anonymous temperature checks.
There are also a range of formal mechanisms, for example: Student Union-led Student Voice activities, Student Voice meetings, Course Rep engagement, and three primary student surveys which seek to understand student satisfaction levels. These surveys include the Student Voice Survey, Unit Surveys, and the National Student Survey (NSS).
Talking points
Discussions with students and colleagues may consider:
Mechanisms for collecting student/staff feedback.
Appropriate ways to respond to feedback.
Evidencing how feedback has developed/changed practice.
Peer observation of teaching
Peer observation of teaching promotes critical and reflective dialogue about professional practice in relation to learning, consider how you can set this up and support each other through this process. Remember, the scheme is not intended to provide any kind of proxy measure of teaching quality. Its value rests in the reflective and critical dialogue about practice and the ideas, insights and developments that can emerge from this exchange.
Talking points
Discussions with students and colleagues may consider:
Identifying key aspects of the session that promote inclusive practice.
Identifying key aspects that promote active learning.
Identifying opportunities to embed key elements in future sessions.
Opportunities to share good practice.

Curriculum design

This Curriculum Design Framework is deliberately high level, framing action planning around these three questions, which should be regularly collectively and individually explored by programme teams:
•   Who are your students?
•   How do you assess their learning?
•   Describe the graduate you would like to see in the world.

Reality	Reflection	Resources
Department/Programme/Module	Who are your students? How are you assessing them? What kind of graduate do you want to produce?	Inclusion. Representation. Role Models. Alumni. Constructive Alignment. Learning Outcomes. Mapping Subject Benchmark Statements. Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs). Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ChatGPT. Climate Crisis.
Lecturer	Teaching philosophies	To facilitate learning in HE (Higher Education) I believe the most crucial factors are ….., ….., and ….. This is because ….. My teaching experience has made me realise ….. My own experience of learning influences factors such as ….. When observing colleagues I have noticed ….. In dialogue with a colleague, I started to think about ….. An influential piece of reading for me was ….. because …..

One student helping another in a one to one session

Inclusive teaching toolkit

An inclusive curriculum involves and reflects the diversity of both society and the student body. There are different approaches to designing and delivering an inclusive curriculum, which the resources in the inclusive teaching toolkit support.

Learn more

Curriculum and Assessment Framework (CAF) toolkit

The Curriculum and Assessment Framework (CAF) toolkit (internal resource) has been designed to support individuals that are involved with curriculum and assessment design and management, at Manchester Met. In particular, it has been designed to support curriculum development activities in response to the CAF framework and to serve as a guide for the development of new modules and programmes, as well as the review and enhancement of existing modules and programmes. The toolkit is an interactive, online resource in the Staff Resource Area, comprising six smaller learning modules, which can be navigated in and out of as required.

Helpful links

Awarding gaps

Awarding gaps in higher education refer to the unequal distribution of academic achievements and outcomes among different student demographic groups. These disparities often stem from factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other aspects of a student’s identity, resulting in certain groups consistently receiving lower grades, experiencing higher dropout rates, or encountering barriers to academic success.
Alternative assessment activities

Alternative assessment activities features a collection of assessment types produced to support course planning activity in workshops or meetings. This resource was produced by the University Teaching Academy (UTA). For more guidance on assessment, see the assessment section of our website.
Authentic assessment

Authentic assessment refers to the assessment of learning that is conducted through ‘real world’ tasks requiring students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in meaningful contexts’ (Swaffield, 2011). Authentic assessments are designed to measure a learner’s ability to apply learning to real-world contexts.
Working with international students

Getting to know your students reflects on how the population at Manchester Met is increasingly diverse, with many international students who may have different language backgrounds and educational experiences. To support their integration and learning, it’s essential to understand their individual needs and potential challenges. Building meaningful relationships between teachers and students, as well as among peers, is crucial for effective learning, especially when accommodating international students in the classroom. This resource offers some guidance on teaching a class of international students.
Example standard descriptors

Standard descriptors offer a standard or shared language to describe student achievement. In this short video, Orlagh McCabe will talk you through the standard descriptors and explains how you might use them in your practice.
We have a digital version of our example standard descriptors if you need examples to help get you started. Alternatively, download the Word version of the example standard descriptors.
Personal tutoring

The Personal Tutoring Policy sets out foundational values, principles and expectations of personal tutoring at Manchester Met. The personal tutoring framework used in the policy is based on findings from an Office for Students Project, and identifies the systems and processes required for the creation of a Personal Tutoring System that provides an integrated, student-centered experience, in line with the university’s Education Strategy.

References

Robinson-Self, P. (2020) The practice and politics of programme leadership: between strategy and teaching. In Potter, J and Devecchi, C (Eds) Delivering Educational Change in higher education: A transformative approach for leaders and practitioners. London, Routledge

Trowler, Paul, ‘Teaching and Learning Regimes: From Framework to Theory’, Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes: Higher Education and the Practice Sensibility (Oxford, 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 Jan. 2020), https://doi-org.mmu.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/oso/9780198851714.003.0002, accessed 25 Sept. 2023

Kirsteen Aubrey

Senior Lecturer in Academic Development

Academic Developer and Designer