Course format
All our courses are available on-line, so that you can take them at a time that suits you, from wherever you are based, and will have access to the materials throughout your time at the University of Birmingham
We have aimed to make the Canvas courses as accessible as possible but that we will also be happy to provide material in alternative formats. Just let us know what you need.
Course requirements
You are required to spend up to three hours working through an ILT. Your participation will only be registered after you completed the course, and you have actively contributed to the discussion task. Your deadline is the end of the month that you have been registered. If you were registered in the last week of a month, then the end of the next month is your deadline. Each academic year you will be able to participate in our ILT courses from the beginning of September until the end of June. See additional requirements for ILT010: HEFi Open Classroom below.
Registration
Request a place by completing the online form for the courses of your choice, from Monday 2 September 2024. You will receive an enrolment link for your chosen course after filling in the forms. We are no longer manually enrolling students onto the Canvas course, but for tracking purposes, we need students to complete the registration forms.
Bookings will be processed within two working days, and that all confirmations and course information will be sent to your university email address.
Courses
ILT001: Introduction to learning and teaching in Higher Education
Overview
This introductory course considers both practical and theoretical approaches to teaching and learning. It examines how students learn and also focuses on how the diverse natures of our students affect our teaching activities.
- Suitable as an introduction or refresher to all.
- Must be taken by all PGTAs who teach (before they start), to be followed by one more ILT session of their choice.
Learning outcomes
- Identify and understand some key aspects of the higher education context in which they will be teaching or providing academic support
- Consider some general approaches to teaching and supporting learning, and how they might apply these to different teaching contexts
- Begin to explore practical approaches to teaching and providing academic support
- Recognise the increasingly diverse student community; consider how this impacts on everyday teaching and on our responsibilities towards supporting students
What participants have told us
- "You made me think more deeply about my own teaching and learning approaches".
- "ILT001 really helps and serves as good preparatory training for teaching in the University of Birmingham and anywhere teaching and learning takes place in the world".
- "This course was really well structured and as someone who has no previous experience with teaching, I feel the resources provided have made me a lot more confident for when I do start teaching".
Register
To request a place, please complete the online booking form.
ILT002: Small Group Teaching (Labs)
Overview
This course introduces effective approaches to preparing and facilitating laboratory classes to ensure that undergraduate students both acquire required skills and consider the learning implications of their laboratory tasks.
Learning outcomes
- Identify and assess the benefits of lab practicals
- Understand their role as a demonstrator
- Prepare for a lab practical
- Explore a range of approaches to lab teaching situations
What participants have told us
- "I enjoyed this ILT and wouldn't change anything about it!".
- "Thank you, it was a good course and I learned a lot".
- "Videos, slides and resources are useful".
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT003: Small group teaching (Seminars)
Overview
This course explores ways of planning and structuring seminar-type classes to encourage discussion, with a particular focus on developing questioning techniques to promote student participation and learning.
Learning outcomes
- Understand some underpinning principles useful to small-group teaching
- Identify core tutoring / facilitating skills
- Explore and apply some practical small-group teaching techniques, including planning, structuring and evaluating seminars
What participants have told us
- "I’ve found a lot of the information in this course useful, particularly as my upcoming module is the first time I will be teaching, and I found the prospect of small group teaching quite intimidating".
- "Some of the issues on this course I hadn't explicitly thought of before, but I can see that it will be beneficial."
- "I found this module very Interesting and extremely helpful. I will be involved in facilitating small group teaching as and the suggested methods were highly commendable. I may end up using them all to address specific challenges, as the day progresses!"
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT004: Principles of Assessment and Feedback
Overview
Introduction to assessment and feedback considers underlying purposes and principles of student assessment, and provides guidance on how to give useful feedback to students in different learning contexts. It also introduces participants to mechanisms for assessing and evaluating teaching at the University of Birmingham.
If you are involved in marking, your department will also give you more specific training, e.g. standardisation meetings.
Learning outcomes
- Identify and understand key purposes and principles of assessment
- Demonstrate awareness of University assessment processes
- Explore a range of approaches to providing effective feedback
What participants have told us
- "I have not got any experience yet, but I feel more equipped and aware of what this sort of activity consists of".
- "I found the content very engaging and informative. As a former secondary school teacher, I particularly appreciated the mature and non-patronising tone of this ILT. Thanks for a great course."
- "It was very informative and I will apply what I have learnt."
- "This has given me some ideas for assessment improvement which I will take back to my department to discuss".
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT005: Teaching with Digital Tools
Good teaching can happen with and without technology. Living in the digital age brings opportunities to think about digital tools and how they can be put to best use.
This course is not about teaching remotely, nor is it a guide on how to use technology. The focus is on effective ways of teaching with digital tools. It also includes links to guides on how to use these tools practically, so that you can use the technology effectively once you have decided on how they can be used to achieve your students' learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this session you will be more equipped to teach well using digital means. That is because the learning outcomes are:
- be able to discuss the differences between face-to-face and online teaching
- be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of synchronous and asynchronous teaching
- be able to link learning theories to digital teaching methods
- explain the importance of inclusive online teaching
- be able to locate and start using the University of Birmingham digital tools for teaching in appropriate ways
What participants have told us
- "There is so much helpful information which is useful in my teaching context. Thanks for designing such an interesting course."
- "I enjoyed the course and found the information extremely useful and practical, it will also be a course that I will refer back to."
- "This was worthwhile – really interesting and stimulating considering the era or state of global education currently."
- "I enjoyed it and it provides a wide 'toolkit' to improve the use of digital technologies for teaching."
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT006: Inclusive Teaching
This course addresses ways of teaching and supporting learning which take into account the diversity of the student body – this includes students’ disability, ethnicity, religious belief, age and other characteristics. The course explores a variety of potential scenarios to develop teaching skills, and provides information about both the legal responsibilities of the University and the services available to students.
Please note that this course is open to all but is aimed at UK-based participants; the legislation and contexts are different in a non-British environment, such as e.g. our Dubai campus.
Learning outcomes
- Consider what is meant by inclusivity, equality and diversity
- Be aware of the legal context and duties
- Explore ways of supporting diversity
- Know where students within the University can go to access support
What participants have told us
- "I felt that this was to the point and covered all the important aspects".
- "It raised very interesting issues that I hadn't thought about".
- "This course increased my awareness, while also providing 'real-case' tips".
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT007: Large Group Teaching (Lectures)
Overview
This course explores a range of lecturing styles and techniques, providing participants with an opportunity to practise organising information in meaningful ways and to develop their own preferred styles.
Learning outcomes
- Identify the purposes of a lecture
- Consider how to plan and design a lecture
- Consider how support materials, teaching aids and technology can be used to make a lecture more effective
- Explore a range of lecturing styles and techniques
What participants have told us
- "This Canvas course has been really helpful and I anticipate that I will come back to it numerous times to follow the discussions on this page, and to revisit the resources on the previous parts of the course."
- "Being made aware of techniques on how to manage the space, enable audience participation/engagement and using specific body language has been really helpful and I will make sure I utilise these tips and tricks moving forwards!"
- "I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I started it with the intention of doing as little as possible but I found myself to be taken by the valuable tips and real life experiences of academics that have been in the field for many many years. Many thanks!"
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT008: Teaching Academic Writing
Overview
This course is for anyone who want to help students develop their academic writing in ways that are accepted and expected in their disciplines. It is for those who teach writing development (or wish to do so) in 1-1 tutorials or in small groups, and those who want to incorporate writing advice in their modules. You will engage with and reflect on literature, learn about the principles and practice of good writing advice, and complete activities to develop your understanding.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this session you will be able to facilitate effective academic writing teaching and learning sessions. This is because you will have:
- identified features of 'successful' academic writing in undergraduate scripts (focus on the product)
- developed the ability to recognise some common difficulties associated with essay-writing at undergraduate level (common concerns)
- considered a range of strategies that can help students develop to become successful academic writers (focus on the process)
- identified and acknowledged ways of providing formative feedback in a range of formal and informal teaching and learning situations
What participants have told us
- "The course was important in providing tangible, transferable examples of questions and exercises to work on with students. This is immensely helpful as a source of best practice and a great way of ensuring the learnings from this course can be applied easily in teaching (especially for teachers who may have had less formalised training on teaching academic writing)".
- "One of the most important points in this course was encouraging academic writing practitioners to use their teaching and feedback in a way which empowers students to have the confidence to apply the advice and examples provided for future work".
- "I found the example tutorial questions really useful as it gave examples for each academic writing scenario that may arise e.g. discursive, open 'planning' question examples for students who have trouble managing all the material they have read".
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT009: Teaching international students
Overview
This course considers some of the issues and benefits of teaching groups from diverse cultural backgrounds in the UK higher education setting. Specific content includes ways in which various culture-based practices and beliefs might influence behaviours in the classroom and an introduction to current trends in UK higher education relating to cultural diversity.
Learning outcomes
- Consider the multicultural context to teaching at UoB and its relationship to equality and diversity legislation
- Be aware of the strategies we can employ to deliver an inclusive learning experience and the support services available to international students
- Consider the delivery of enquiry-based learning within a multicultural context
- Be more skilled and confident to teach effectively in the University’s multicultural environment
What participants have told us
- "I have found the written guides very useful. They are good reference booklets that can support us when preparing a class after meeting international students for the first time".
- "I have found this course very interesting as it considers not only the needs of students but also educators".
- "ILT009 complements nicely with ILT003 Small group teaching and ILT004 Introduction to assessment and feedback".
- "I am happy I took this course. Apart from confirming once more that I am on the right path, I have been able to learn new approaches that help in understanding different challenges encountered by international students, as well as useful strategies, that better respond to the needs of these students. This course perfectly complements ILT 002- Laboratory-based small groups".
- "As a native English speaker, I'm really glad I took this course to help me realise just how much more difficult learning can be for international students."
- "This module really resonates with my personal learning experience (i.e., being an international student). It is important to know that there are people to support you and you are not alone".
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
ILT010: Open Classroom
Overview
Suitable for: anyone involved in teaching and/or supporting learning. This includes PGTAs, early-career academics, colleagues from professional services and optional professional development
This course will offer a space for anyone currently involved in direct teaching and/or supporting learning with students the chance to observe each other’s teaching practice in a safe, developmental space, and to be able to reflect on the impact of this on their professional development.
This course is facilitated via Canvas and is primarily participant-led. We will facilitate the pairing of colleagues, but after this it will be your responsibility to contact your peers to organise observations of practice. Your participation will only be registered after you completed the course, and you have actively contributed to the reflective activity at the end.
If you select to 'Observe only', participation will depend on the availability of colleagues who select a reciprocal observation. We ask that if you are available to, and are teaching during the term you select, to choose a reciprocal observation.
Learning outcomes
- understand the benefits and challenges of peer observation
- identify areas of learning as a result of observing your colleague’s teaching and/or supporting learning practice
- discuss the relevance of any observed teaching techniques and their application to your own teaching practice
- reflect on areas of future personal and professional development as a result of the feedback received from your peer
What a participant told us
'My favourite part was seeing - and enjoying! - a new discipline and a different teaching style, with different tools and different preoccupations'. (Anonymous, 2021)
Register
To request a place please complete the online booking form.
- Registrations for Term 1, 2024/25 academic year: register between 26 August and 6 September 2024
- Start on: week commencing 30 September 2024
- Complete by: 6 December 2024
- Registrations for Term 2, 2024/25 academic year: register between 18 November and 29 November 2024
- Start on: week commencing 13 January 2025
Complete by: 21 March 2025