MA — 2026 entry Higher and Professional Education

This module aims to introduce participants to a range of key theories in learning and teaching within higher and professional education and provide the opportunity to interrogate the value and relevance of these to our understanding of learning and teaching. This will foreground individual values towards learning and teaching and how these are shaped by different social values developed by different groups (such as the institution, society at large, professional bodies and so on). These values will be used as the basis to consider how  signature concepts raised are interpreted and then used. The notion of signature concepts will be initially based around that offered by Shulman but will be further developed to consider alternative interpretations and link to contemporary work being undertaken within the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to consider the appropriateness of the notion that teaching should consider how to require students to do, think, and value what practitioners in the field are doing, thinking, and valuing. This will allow participants to recognise how significant their own perspectives are on how these ideas are understood, how they may have been shaped by their own thinking and developed within their different contexts. Through the introduction of notions of professionalism, values, uncertainty and disjuncture, the key theories will be debated, reinterpreted, discussed and challenged to offer participants additional perspectives through which to understand orthodox and unorthodox views of learning and teaching in Higher and Professional Education.

This module focuses on the concept of mentoring of peers in contemporary higher and professional education. It draws on personal experiences of mentoring in combination with reflection upon the appropriateness of mentoring models and approaches across a range of different disciplines and professional contexts (i.e. Nursing, Psychology, Business and Education) in supporting teaching and learning in higher and professional education. Participants will be encouraged to examine different conceptions of mentoring and how these are applied within different organizations. This will inform reflection upon how context influences the application to, and perceptions of, mentoring and will be supported through critiquing current models in collaboration with peers. Each participant will reflect upon how their personal and professional values inform their approach to mentoring and will design and / or develop a particular mentoring scheme to explore and then reflect upon how this could be applied to future practice. Completion of the module will support participants to develop a critical understanding, and to be better equipped to guide and shape the role of mentoring in transforming personal and professional development.

Teaching observations are an integral part of practice in professional and higher education. There are a range of different types of teaching observations depending on context and purpose. Whilst the literature highlights the observation process, there is very little attention given to the feedback stage of teaching observations. This module aims to critically evaluate the notion of ¿effective¿ teaching which underpins teaching observations, and to critique a range of teaching observation types including purpose, process and criteria. The module will also highlight the critical role that feedback on observation plays in the development of teaching knowledge and practice.

Design for learning is a multi-layered, deliberate and social process where designers (e.g., educators, professionals with interdisciplinary expertise) transform ideas and knowledge into artefacts, products or services to facilitate and enrich other people's learning. In the dynamic and continuously shifting landscape of higher and professional education, design plays a key role in any learning and teaching context and can have a significant impact on learners' engagement and growth. This module will enable participants to develop a holistic and contemporary understanding of the theory and practice of design for learning. It takes evidence-informed, systemic and creative approaches to design, and aims to empower participants to become competent and confident in designing meaningful and pedagogically sound learning and teaching in different contexts. Participants will be enabled to reflect on their professional practice, and recognise their learning design needs, values, challenges, and future aspirations. Through activity-based, collaborative and inquiry-led learning opportunities, they will explore a range of frameworks, case studies, tools and new directions in the field to expand their practice and support them in taking informed design decisions. There are many current debates about design for learning, and a wide range of design contexts, opportunities and challenges for us to delve into and find inspiration, as part of this module. So, this is an exciting time to consider crucial elements of design practice in higher and professional education contexts and shape your future practices.

In this module, participants will have the opportunity to explore key issues related to digital learning and develop a critical awareness of the roles and impacts of digital technologies and pedagogies in their professional practices. The higher and professional education sectors have evolved, and there is a growing appetite for embracing more critical and mature perspectives on digital education. Participants will delve into contemporary literature, emerging trends, and fresh perspectives, transcending traditional narratives that view digital technologies merely as supplements to learning and teaching, or as driven by technological innovation. This module aims to empower participants to cultivate a critical, comprehensive, and forward-looking understanding of theory and practice in digital education. Participants will be encouraged to investigate the underlying purpose of digital education, engaging in thoughtful reflection and examination of their own professional practices and aspirations within the broader context of education and its future directions. Through engaging in debates and interacting with research, participants will be prompted to position the 'digital' within the context of education futures. This lens can offer valuable insights into contemporary themes and envisioning potential future practices. This module will engage participants in active, collaborative and inquiry-led learning opportunities, to explore a range of perspectives, frameworks, and case studies. A significant part of the module will be shaped by the participants themselves as they will be guided to choose a personally identified education futures scenario and analyse its potential implications for their own practice and for other key stakeholders practices. Participants and the teaching team will learn from each other and will engage in discussions to define desirable education futures.

Many colleagues find themselves moving from a standpoint of focusing on their own academic/professional development, to a consideration of (and responsibility for) guiding and supporting the development of others as they progress in their university careers. This development and leadership role may be as a module or programme leader; head of department; director of teaching, or associate dean for teaching, or in a more central role within a university structure or other learning organisation role, for example, as a full-time academic developer or PVC for teaching and learning or someone involved in others professional development.   As there are no set routes into  leadership roles, the trajectories for colleagues entering this field are personal and idiosyncratic. This module will, therefore, focus on participants’ auto-ethnographic analyses of their academic journeys. This will be considered in the context of professionalism, expertise, culture, gender, discipline etc. so that participants may better articulate the origins of their identity as a ‘developer of others’ and how this contributes to their perceptions of their development role. This module focuses on leadership through  activity not on formal management roles.   A consideration of issues from participants’ “home discipline” and/or professional context will be used as a starting point to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar; offering a consideration of generic and specific academic issues.   Development of leadership is often tied to national education agendas. Participants will be asked to place the role of the leader against a relevant framework (for example in the UK the  Professional Standards Framework).   Participants will be guided to reflect on a number of central questions. What is the role of a leader? Should a leader be considered to have technical competence in the field of learning and teaching, or should we be looking towards a more holistic conception of the leader as a particular type of expert/scholar within higher and/or professional education?   Are leaders simultaneously insiders and outsiders? What contributes to this dual identity and is this an essential part of the role, or an impediment to the professional role of the leader?   Example of summary of links within the module, here with an emphasis on academic leadership:

The importance of the student voice has grown within universities in recent years. Not only are students’ views and opinions now sought, but students are playing an increasing role in the decision-making processes in universities. The view of the student as a customer is now being replaced with the view of the student as the ‘co-enquirer’. This is linked to ideas about student learning and the transition from the view of students as ‘receivers of information’, to students as ‘producers of knowledge’. The implications and emerging issues and possibilities will be explored in this module. In addition to enhancing practice, the action research project may help participants to think about potential perspectives for their MA dissertation.

This module enables participants to interrogate and evaluate higher and professional education research that they have encountered in previous modules and beyond. Through this approach, participants will weigh the research in recommending policy and/or practice to their context. This module aims to encourage critical and reflective thinking with respect to educational research within and across disciplines. In particular, participants are encouraged to assess the validity of findings for a particular policy and/or practice through the lens of various epistemological, theoretical and methodological perspectives. This module is a good complement to the ¿Researching in Higher and Professional Education¿ and ¿Research Dissertation¿ modules. Participants will work collaboratively, sharing their evaluation of research and reflecting on viewing research through different lenses.

This module enables participants to develop a holistic and contemporary understanding of the theory and practice of assessment and feedback in higher and/or professional education within different disciplinary, professional, global, and cultural contexts. Assessment and Feedback are some of the most hotly debated aspects of academic practice, and often the element of their educational experience with which students are least satisfied.  However, research indicates that whilst teaching and learning have increasingly become more student-centred in nature, assessment and feedback practices have been much slower to adapt. Through engaging in self-evaluative inquiry-led approaches to investigating and reflecting critically on their practice, participants are encouraged to identify and develop connections between theory and practice and integrate research and scholarship into the development of their practice. Learning in this module will be developed and applied in subsequent modules throughout the programme. 

This module aims to introduce participants to a range of key theories in learning and teaching within higher and professional education and provide the opportunity to interrogate the value and relevance of these to our understanding of learning and teaching. This will foreground individual values towards learning and teaching and how these are shaped by different social values developed by different groups (such as the institution, society at large, professional bodies and so on). These values will be used as the basis to consider how  signature concepts raised are interpreted and then used. The notion of signature concepts will be initially based around that offered by Shulman but will be further developed to consider alternative interpretations and link to contemporary work being undertaken within the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to consider the appropriateness of the notion that teaching should consider how to require students to do, think, and value what practitioners in the field are doing, thinking, and valuing. This will allow participants to recognise how significant their own perspectives are on how these ideas are understood, how they may have been shaped by their own thinking and developed within their different contexts. Through the introduction of notions of professionalism, values, uncertainty and disjuncture, the key theories will be debated, reinterpreted, discussed and challenged to offer participants additional perspectives through which to understand orthodox and unorthodox views of learning and teaching in Higher and Professional Education.

This module focuses on the concept of mentoring of peers in contemporary higher and professional education. It draws on personal experiences of mentoring in combination with reflection upon the appropriateness of mentoring models and approaches across a range of different disciplines and professional contexts (i.e. Nursing, Psychology, Business and Education) in supporting teaching and learning in higher and professional education. Participants will be encouraged to examine different conceptions of mentoring and how these are applied within different organizations. This will inform reflection upon how context influences the application to, and perceptions of, mentoring and will be supported through critiquing current models in collaboration with peers. Each participant will reflect upon how their personal and professional values inform their approach to mentoring and will design and / or develop a particular mentoring scheme to explore and then reflect upon how this could be applied to future practice. Completion of the module will support participants to develop a critical understanding, and to be better equipped to guide and shape the role of mentoring in transforming personal and professional development.

Teaching observations are an integral part of practice in professional and higher education. There are a range of different types of teaching observations depending on context and purpose. Whilst the literature highlights the observation process, there is very little attention given to the feedback stage of teaching observations. This module aims to critically evaluate the notion of ¿effective¿ teaching which underpins teaching observations, and to critique a range of teaching observation types including purpose, process and criteria. The module will also highlight the critical role that feedback on observation plays in the development of teaching knowledge and practice.

Design for learning is a multi-layered, deliberate and social process where designers (e.g., educators, professionals with interdisciplinary expertise) transform ideas and knowledge into artefacts, products or services to facilitate and enrich other people's learning. In the dynamic and continuously shifting landscape of higher and professional education, design plays a key role in any learning and teaching context and can have a significant impact on learners' engagement and growth. This module will enable participants to develop a holistic and contemporary understanding of the theory and practice of design for learning. It takes evidence-informed, systemic and creative approaches to design, and aims to empower participants to become competent and confident in designing meaningful and pedagogically sound learning and teaching in different contexts. Participants will be enabled to reflect on their professional practice, and recognise their learning design needs, values, challenges, and future aspirations. Through activity-based, collaborative and inquiry-led learning opportunities, they will explore a range of frameworks, case studies, tools and new directions in the field to expand their practice and support them in taking informed design decisions. There are many current debates about design for learning, and a wide range of design contexts, opportunities and challenges for us to delve into and find inspiration, as part of this module. So, this is an exciting time to consider crucial elements of design practice in higher and professional education contexts and shape your future practices.

In this module, participants will have the opportunity to explore key issues related to digital learning and develop a critical awareness of the roles and impacts of digital technologies and pedagogies in their professional practices. The higher and professional education sectors have evolved, and there is a growing appetite for embracing more critical and mature perspectives on digital education. Participants will delve into contemporary literature, emerging trends, and fresh perspectives, transcending traditional narratives that view digital technologies merely as supplements to learning and teaching, or as driven by technological innovation. This module aims to empower participants to cultivate a critical, comprehensive, and forward-looking understanding of theory and practice in digital education. Participants will be encouraged to investigate the underlying purpose of digital education, engaging in thoughtful reflection and examination of their own professional practices and aspirations within the broader context of education and its future directions. Through engaging in debates and interacting with research, participants will be prompted to position the 'digital' within the context of education futures. This lens can offer valuable insights into contemporary themes and envisioning potential future practices. This module will engage participants in active, collaborative and inquiry-led learning opportunities, to explore a range of perspectives, frameworks, and case studies. A significant part of the module will be shaped by the participants themselves as they will be guided to choose a personally identified education futures scenario and analyse its potential implications for their own practice and for other key stakeholders practices. Participants and the teaching team will learn from each other and will engage in discussions to define desirable education futures.

Many colleagues find themselves moving from a standpoint of focusing on their own academic/professional development, to a consideration of (and responsibility for) guiding and supporting the development of others as they progress in their university careers. This development and leadership role may be as a module or programme leader; head of department; director of teaching, or associate dean for teaching, or in a more central role within a university structure or other learning organisation role, for example, as a full-time academic developer or PVC for teaching and learning or someone involved in others professional development.   As there are no set routes into  leadership roles, the trajectories for colleagues entering this field are personal and idiosyncratic. This module will, therefore, focus on participants’ auto-ethnographic analyses of their academic journeys. This will be considered in the context of professionalism, expertise, culture, gender, discipline etc. so that participants may better articulate the origins of their identity as a ‘developer of others’ and how this contributes to their perceptions of their development role. This module focuses on leadership through  activity not on formal management roles.   A consideration of issues from participants’ “home discipline” and/or professional context will be used as a starting point to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar; offering a consideration of generic and specific academic issues.   Development of leadership is often tied to national education agendas. Participants will be asked to place the role of the leader against a relevant framework (for example in the UK the  Professional Standards Framework).   Participants will be guided to reflect on a number of central questions. What is the role of a leader? Should a leader be considered to have technical competence in the field of learning and teaching, or should we be looking towards a more holistic conception of the leader as a particular type of expert/scholar within higher and/or professional education?   Are leaders simultaneously insiders and outsiders? What contributes to this dual identity and is this an essential part of the role, or an impediment to the professional role of the leader?   Example of summary of links within the module, here with an emphasis on academic leadership:

The importance of the student voice has grown within universities in recent years. Not only are students’ views and opinions now sought, but students are playing an increasing role in the decision-making processes in universities. The view of the student as a customer is now being replaced with the view of the student as the ‘co-enquirer’. This is linked to ideas about student learning and the transition from the view of students as ‘receivers of information’, to students as ‘producers of knowledge’. The implications and emerging issues and possibilities will be explored in this module. In addition to enhancing practice, the action research project may help participants to think about potential perspectives for their MA dissertation.

This module enables participants to interrogate and evaluate higher and professional education research that they have encountered in previous modules and beyond. Through this approach, participants will weigh the research in recommending policy and/or practice to their context. This module aims to encourage critical and reflective thinking with respect to educational research within and across disciplines. In particular, participants are encouraged to assess the validity of findings for a particular policy and/or practice through the lens of various epistemological, theoretical and methodological perspectives. This module is a good complement to the ¿Researching in Higher and Professional Education¿ and ¿Research Dissertation¿ modules. Participants will work collaboratively, sharing their evaluation of research and reflecting on viewing research through different lenses.

This module enables participants to develop a holistic and contemporary understanding of the theory and practice of assessment and feedback in higher and/or professional education within different disciplinary, professional, global, and cultural contexts. Assessment and Feedback are some of the most hotly debated aspects of academic practice, and often the element of their educational experience with which students are least satisfied.  However, research indicates that whilst teaching and learning have increasingly become more student-centred in nature, assessment and feedback practices have been much slower to adapt. Through engaging in self-evaluative inquiry-led approaches to investigating and reflecting critically on their practice, participants are encouraged to identify and develop connections between theory and practice and integrate research and scholarship into the development of their practice. Learning in this module will be developed and applied in subsequent modules throughout the programme.