Communities and networks

The Innovation and Initiatives (I&I) Unit coordinates a portfolio of institutional Communities of Practice (Internal link). These will support an institutional conversation about critical themes in teaching, learning, curriculum design and student support.

Current strategic CoPs

These are thematic areas identified as critical in the mobilisation of the strategy. They will provide a space to open discussion and collaboration of critical themes. Please see themes and the appropriate contact below for more information:

The purpose of this CoP is to give all community members the opportunity to develop their thinking and practice in relation to educational technology by talking about research, teaching or projects they have been involved with linked to EdTech, and to share examples of practice and ‘theory into practice’ from both within and outside the institution.

Find out more: Ed Tech CoP website.

Contact the Educational Technology CoP: Janet Lord [email protected].

SPACE is for all staff members with an interest in employability to share ideas, insight and practical solutions about curriculum integrated employability. Good practice in employability can already be seen widely across the university: SPACE pulls this expertise together and empowers colleagues to develop and refine their approach. As such, members regularly share ideas from their own practice and the wider HE sector about curriculum design, delivery and evaluation. 

The community is driven by the Curriculum Development Workstream, a group encompassing careers staff, academics and colleagues in LEED who are passionate about integrating employability in innovate and effective ways. The workstream feeds into the 2020 – 25 Graduate Outcome Strategy, and our institutional target of 80% of students to be in a positive graduate outcome upon graduation. It also supports the drivers of the Education Strategy: Future-focused curriculum and delivery, excellent graduate futures and supported and empowered staff.

Join SPACE

Contact for more information:

Lisa Law, Careers Consultant ([email protected])

Karen Butterworth, Faculty Careers and Employability Manager ([email protected])

A warm welcome to the Teaching and Learning Community

An MS Teams space for all those interested in learning and teaching from across Manchester Met aiming to nurture teaching talent and help us become a more connected academic community.

TLC will offer live sessions, opportunities to share your pedagogic work, further develop your ideas with others and also identify opportunities to disseminate your work through events, conferences, other communities and networks as well as publications internally and externally.

TLC is open to all colleagues at Manchester Met, but will be of particular interest to those in teaching or teaching-related roles. It will also be useful for those pursuing a Professional Recognition or career advancement via the Education, Pedagogy and Citizenship pathway or a apply in the future for a National Teaching Fellowship or a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence. The leadership of the TLC will be on a rotational basis and for 1 academic year, each time with diverse representation from across our institution.

Join the TLC in Teams

This special interest group will explore VRAR as part of the student experience, and the opportunities for staff to engage with ‘the immersive experience’. Universities provide digital tools; this SIG will explore students as partners in the development, procurement and use of digital technologies. The SIG is about taking leadership and ownership of this form of technology to engage students. The work of the SIG will focus around two key areas: the sharing of ideas and practices, and the tackling of problems and unpicking issues through action learning sets.

Find out more: ALT Immersive Technology SIG page
Contact the Immersive Technologies SIG: [email protected]

The #creativeHE community aims to support pedagogical rebels and free-thinking innovators in experimenting with, developing, sharing and getting support for novel learning and teaching ideas as well as initiate and disseminate research activity around these that have the power to transform the student and staff experience within and beyond institutional boundaries.

Members of #creativeHE are members of staff and students who share a common interest in creativity and innovation in learning, teaching and research. The #creativeHE team consists currently of 16 members in 13 different organisations in 3 countries.

Explore the #creativeHE blog 

This is a group of people from around the world who share an interest in teaching, learning, assessment and pedagogical research in the Higher Education sector. This site is designed to facilitate networking, collaboration and sharing of resources. The group was initiated by Dr Gladson Chikwa, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE) and an experienced Educational Developer working at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. The vision, objectives and values of the group are shown below.

If you would like to know more about the activities of the group and how you can participate, please contact us at: [email protected].

A community created by the wider academic community to support each other’s professional development in learning and teaching in the form of weekly tweetchats.

You can find out more on the #LTHEchat blog, including an archive of past tweetchats and information on how to take part.

Follow @LTHEchat on Twitter to vote for topics to be discussed, and join in the conversation at #LTHEchat 

An online network of networks to share, connect and collaborate in one place is facilitated by network groups, forums, media centres and group projects. Specific communities around employability, inclusion, student success and many other HE topics.

Find out more: #AdvanceHE Connect

A network of staff and students in the higher education across the world who are working and/or interested in researching and promoting student engagement.

Find out more: RAISE website

A body of professional practitioners and researchers interested in all aspects of student advising and personal tutoring in Higher Education in the UK.

Find out more: UKAT website