The Learning and Teaching Fellowship scheme was first introduced at the University of Bolton in February 2002 to support the implementation of the University Learning and Teaching strategy.

The fellowship role is concerned with promoting excellence in learning, teaching and retention.

The University currently has eight University Learning and Teaching Fellows.

Debbie Abdel Nabi, Health and Social Sciences
Email: a.nabi@bolton.ac.uk|
Personal Development Planning and Personal Tutoring (2008-2011)

The remit of the Fellowship is to review and develop existing University of Bolton policies on Personal Tutoring and Personal Development Planning (PDP) with the ultimate aim of improving the 'First Year Experience'.

It is widely recognised that students benefit from academic and pastoral support ('Personal Tutoring') while learning, especially during the transitionary period into HE of the first year; it provides the newly enrolled undergraduate with someone from within the organization with whom they can form a close, working relationship, something which may serve to ameliorate stresses relating to the necessary social adjustment and their evolving identity as a university student.  As such, all undergraduate programmes within our university have implemented personal tutoring schemes but current provision is diverse. 

Stated, fundamental aims of PDP within academia (including current PDP provision at the University of Bolton) are to encourage student autonomy, while providing feedback and guidance which enable students to reflect upon their learning and gradually develop their own processes and strategies for personal and career development.

The project that I propose to conduct aims to introduce an educationally and developmentally beneficial synergy between Personal Tutoring (which historically at the University of Bolton, has been used to provide academic and pastoral support 'on-demand') and Personal Development Planning. It is planned that it will be achieved by students negotiating annual, curriculum-focused 'Individual Learning Plans' (ILPs) with their Personal Tutors. These documents might then be used to inform the structure and nature of reflective exercises conducted with their Personal Tutor as part of PDP procedures at the end of each semester or academic year. An innovative aspect of the proposed project is that this will be facilitated by the use of fairly recent multimedia technology known to carry learning advantages, i.e., screen capture software. This will allow students to compile multimedia journals of their personal and academic development in light of their ILP-stated learning goals and strategies.

David Kitchener, Arts, Media and Education
Email: d.a.kitchener@bolton.ac.uk|
Widening Participation and Retention (2007-2010)

David has completed the first of his 3 year fellowship role and produced a paper highlighting the complex relationship between widening participation and retention. Retaining students remains a challenge for the University with its performance falling below the UK average. The published HESA performance indicators relating to full-time undergraduates for 2005-06 show that 32% of the University's students fail to complete, compared to its benchmark of 23%. The second year of the fellowship will concentrate on discovering examples of good practice which will be disseminated widely across the University and sector.

Cassandra O'Connor, Arts Media and Education
Email: c.oconnor@bolton.ac.uk| 
Employability and Entrepreneurship (2008-2011)

The following broadly sets out the overarching aims as envisaged at the onset of the project. The main themes of the project are graduate employability and entrepreneurship. 

• To undertake an extensive literature review of current understanding, debate and practice in the Higher Education Sector both in the UK and internationally, and to use this research as the basis for a variety of dissemination activities such as, workshops, reports, potential papers and conference presentations etc.
• To support improvement in student employability and entrepreneurial potential, by working with each School within the University of Bolton, to enhance these issues throughout the curriculum, promoting opportunities for developing employability skills, employer engagement and seeking to further graduate entrepreneurial activities.
• To widely disseminate information within University of Bolton and through appropriate national channels, report research findings and highlight the issues, which may be utilised through a variety of channels, ie website, papers or conferences.

Brian Pederson, Built Environment and Engineering
Email: b.pederson@bolton.ac.uk|
Diversity (2008-2011) 

I have been appointed as a Learning and Teaching Fellow for Diversity. The areas of diversity that I have specialised in for over three years are disability and age, particularly in relation to product design, employment, self employment and study opportunities within Higher Education.  I have worked with several national organisations with a view to developing social inclusion and benefited from that experience.  I am now working with colleagues from across the University so that we can develop a better understanding of what diversity is, what it represents in terms of an agenda for the emerging student profile and am contributing to the development and implementation of various policies, procedures and practices.  Analysis of the student life course will be a priority and should assist in the development of improved strategies for widening participation, enhancing student recruitment and engagement, improving progression and retention through developments in learning and teaching and improved employability prospects.  This work will enable the University to demonstrate its commitment to the equality and diversity agenda.  

In addition, I am working externally with colleagues from key organisations across the northwest region to develop and share best practice so that life opportunities are enhanced for all groups in the community, particularly in terms of employment, economic activity and public transport.

I am enjoying working with all of my colleagues and contributing to the development of a vibrant, stimulating and diverse student environment within the University and in the northwest region generally.

Anne Marie Reid, Health and Social Sciences
Email: a.reid@bolton.ac.uk|
Work Based/Related Learning/Employer Engagement (2008-2011) 

Work based learning and employer partnerships are a key element in the University's aim to become renowned as a 'Professional University'. The recent Leitch Report (2006) emphasised the role of Higher Education in the development of a high-skills economy, and employer partnerships are central to this.  However, for those of us with experience of employer engagement and partnership working, the policy documents driving this development fail to acknowledge the politics of partnership, and the cultural and resource constraints which may hinder it. Greater understanding of how to engage with employers and overcome some of these constraints is potentially of great value to the University at this time.

Ged Clarke, Bolton Business School
Email: g.clarke@bolton.ac.uk|
Development of eLearning Skills (2005-2008) 

It feels strange to be coming close to the end of my fellowship.  Overall it has been a fantastic experience and enabled me to work on projects and activities with staff at the University and HE sector. 

My initial focus was on the development of e-learning, specifically staff awareness and engagement.  My belief had been that WebCT (our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)) would be the key platform for staff and students to experience e-learning.  However, with guidance from Professor Oleg Liber and practitioners in the University I came to realise that eLearning was far more than a VLE.  

Practical outcomes from my fellowship include a university-wide survey of eLearning activity in 2005/6 (shared with Poppy Pickard, retired University Learning and Teaching Fellow), a number of professional development sessions relating to WebCT, social software, and more recently TurnitinUK.  In 2007 I became the facilitator of the group created to lead the University's engagement with the JISC/HEA Benchmarking of eLearning in UK Higher Education activity.  The national benchmarking report has recently been published, and although we only joined at the second phase of the benchmarking we have raised our profile.  

In recent months, I have chaired a sub-group of the University's Learner Experience and Professional Practice Committee with a target to publish a new eLearning strategy for the University in January 2009.

Shirley Ward, the Library
Email: s.ward@bolton.ac.uk|
Information Literacy (IL) (2005-2008) 

I have been a Learning and Teaching Fellow since November 2005, and my work has been around the production of an Information Literacy Framework for the University of Bolton. 

I started my work by carrying out an exhaustive literature review, to see what had been written on the topic, and find out what other universities did in the area. 

I conducted a survey of academics within the University of Bolton, to see what their perceptions of Information Literacy (IL) were, and to find out if the topic was actually taught on any of our courses. The picture was a little sketchy, so it was decided that I would run some 'awareness raising sessions' as part of the Professional Development for Staff programme. 

I also ran workshops at the Staff Conferences in 2006, 2007 and 2008, both to raise awareness of the topic, to inform staff of the progress of my fellowship and to get feedback on the draft framework. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as Learning and Teaching Fellow, and valued the opportunity to take 2 days per week away from my 'day job' to undertake the research. I was the first non-academic in the University to be awarded a fellowship, so it was an honour to be chosen. I have had the opportunity to meet, and work with, a lot of people in the University whom I did not previously know, and I think that there is now a better understanding of what IL is. 

There is still a long way to go in rolling the concept out to all courses, programmes etc. but I am hoping that I will be able to continue what I have started and become an IL 'champion' for the University. 

Gill Whittaker, Arts Media and Education 
Email: g.whittaker@bolton.ac.uk|
Mentoring (2005-2008) 

Becoming a Learning and Teaching fellow has presented me with opportunities to engage in research, debate and inter-disciplinary collaboration that would not have been possible otherwise.  

My focus has been on mentoring and over the last three years I have been able to lead mentoring workshops at Bolton and other universities. I have presented papers at our own Learning and Teaching Staff Conferences at Bolton as well as Oxford, Cardiff and Budapest. Central to my fellowship work was setting up a mentoring task group where we have produced a mentoring policy for the University for consideration. This is now in its final stages and should be in place fairly soon. My engagement with others across all disciplines has raised the profile of mentoring as an important vehicle for collaboration and collegial engagement within our developing culture of professionalism and, although my fellowship comes to an end in October this year, I will continue to lead several mentoring initiatives within the University which include the professional development of mentors and mentoring qualifications. Closely connected to this has been further research into reflective practice and reflective thinking and I have had a chapter published on this subject in a book on transnational education.  

My appointment as a Learning and Teaching Fellow has provided an opportunity to deepen my research, while simultaneously widening my reach. I would liken the fellowship effect to the familiar 'pebble in the pond'; at the centre has been a prompt to remain focused and tenacious. Spreading from this has been the possibility of collaboration with colleagues from my own school of Arts, Media and Education, then spreading to the wider University. Outer ripples are represented by engagement with organisations such as the Higher Education Academy and other universities, and finally to researching with colleagues from as far away as Australia.