Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice - Part 1 - Featuring Prof. Anna Barney and Dr Hazel McCafferty, University of Southampton.

Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice - Part 1 - Featuring Prof. Anna Barney and Dr Hazel McCafferty, University of Southampton.

This episode is the first in a series of podcasts capturing the key insights and findings from the QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project: Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice [https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.qaa.ac.uk%2Fen%2Fmembership%2Fbenefits-of-qaa-membership%2Fcollaborative-enhancement-projects%2Finnovative-and-evolving-quality-processes%2Fquality-assuring-innovative-assessment-practice&data=05%7C02%7CH.E.Mccafferty%40soton.ac.uk%7C62cac12a94cd405803b508de6711ba5e%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0%7C0%7C639061522992320451%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=N1Qq5bwbsp91SVER3M7KhZ44eVElNpg0frshZgfyvH8%3D&reserved=0]. Each episode in the series brings together the researchers and practitioners at the heart of this work to share what they are learning and why it matters for the sector. Assessment is one of the most talked-about topics in higher education right now — and for good reason. As universities experiment with new and more creative ways to assess students, a critical question is emerging: how do we make sure these innovations are being done well? In this opening episode, host Nurun Nahar is joined by Professor Anna Barney and Hazel McCafferty from the University of Southampton to discuss the origins and ambitions of the project, an exploration of programme-level assessment and how it differs from the more familiar module-by-module approach, and the early insights emerging from a comprehensive literature review. Anna and Hazel also reflect honestly on the challenges institutions face when trying to shift their assessment culture, and share practical examples of what this looks like across different disciplines. A thought-provoking listen for anyone working in or around higher education — from academics and programme leaders to quality assurance professionals and educational researchers. 🔗 Access the literature review referenced in this episode: Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice — QAA [https://www.qaa.ac.uk/membership/benefits-of-qaa-membership/collaborative-enhancement-projects/innovative-and-evolving-quality-processes/quality-assuring-innovative-assessment-practice] Professor Anna Barney is the Associate Vice President for Education at the University of Southampton where she leads the Advancing Assessment project to modernise the University’s approach to assessment and chairs the Academic Quality and Standards Subcommittee. She is the Principal Investigator for the QAA-funder Collaborative Enhancement Project: Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice. [https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.qaa.ac.uk%2Fen%2Fmembership%2Fbenefits-of-qaa-membership%2Fcollaborative-enhancement-projects%2Finnovative-and-evolving-quality-processes%2Fquality-assuring-innovative-assessment-practice&data=05%7C02%7CH.E.Mccafferty%40soton.ac.uk%7C62cac12a94cd405803b508de6711ba5e%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0%7C0%7C639061522992320451%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=N1Qq5bwbsp91SVER3M7KhZ44eVElNpg0frshZgfyvH8%3D&reserved=0] Anna’s academic background is in engineering, and she has a strong interest in inclusive and accessible education practice. Hazel McCafferty is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton focussing on inclusive and innovative assessment. She has led the research elements of the QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project: Quality Assuring Innovative Assessment Practice and published a literature review in support of this. Hazel has more than 20 years of experience within higher education. She has taught at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate level and has led multiple projects in relation to inclusion, assessment and employability.  LinkedIn profile: Hazel McCafferty | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hazelmccafferty/]

Communicating What You are Good For: Building a Practitioner Portfolio That Speaks for Itself - Featuring Bimpe Kuti-Matakenya, Public Health Senior Lecturer , University of Greater Manchester

How do you prove your worth when your impact can't be captured on a CV? In today's episode, we tackle this challenge with Bimpe, who introduces the practitioner portfolio—not a static document, but a living testament to your professional identity and impact. How do academics move beyond listing credentials to articulating their distinctive value? What allows your teaching, leadership, and innovation to speak powerfully for itself? And crucially, how does your professional voice evolve authentically throughout your career? Bimpe shares transformative strategies for building a portfolio that doesn't just describe what you do—it demonstrates who you are and the meaningful difference you make. Bimpe Kuti-Matekenya is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for Public Health Programmes at the University of Greater Manchester. A passionate educator and researcher, she leads on Service User and Carer Involvement and Research Culture initiatives across the School of Health,Science and Society. Her work bridges academia, public health practice, and social care leadership, helping professionals articulate and evidence their impact through reflective practice and authentic professional identity. Through her Blog, Care Pathway [https://www.carepathway.care/] she empowers healthand social care practitioners and organisations to build person-centred approaches, values-driven practice that communicate excellence, in care quality.

Developing a Writing Culture Through Academic Leadership

What makes a writing culture feel alive—or depleted? Dr. Alicja Syska [https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/alicja-syska], Editor in Chief of JLDHE, explores how academic leaders can notice and nurture the different relationships scholars hold with writing: confidence, anxiety, joy, fatigue. Small shifts matter: when someone stops sharing drafts, or suddenly finds their voice again. We discuss how to balance productivity pressures with meaningful practice, create sustainable structures—time, community, mentorship—without adding burden, and navigate the tensions GenAI brings to authorship and identity. Can AI genuinely support scholarly growth, or does it risk diluting the very thinking that makes academic writing matter? How do we craft guidelines that feel like care, not policing? At the heart of it all: How do we help everyone feel writing is "for them" too—especially those outside traditional academic moulds? Join us as Dr. Syska offers a thoughtful conversation about holding space for both empowerment and caution as writing cultures shift, and rediscovering what it means to write with humanity in academic spaces. Dr Alicja Syska is a Lecturer in Humanities and Education at the University of Plymouth, where she previously also held a decade-long post in Learning Development. She has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University, USA, is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA), and an ALDinHE Senior Fellow. Her interests include writing, community building, Third Space identity, and researcher development.  She serves as Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education [https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe], Lead Editor at the Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal, and also co-hosts the Learning Development Project podcast.

Teaching Thinking: AI, Metacognition, and the Future of Learning - Featuring Dr Anjali Singh, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas at Austin.

AI is changing the way students learn—but is it also changing the way they think? In this episode, we take a closer look at whether we are letting machines take over too much of the thinking process and what that means for skills like critical thinking, reflection and self-questioning. We talk about how educators can design learning that keeps students actively engaged, how to spot the difference between surface-level AI use and deeper learning, and simple ways to weave metacognitive prompts into AI tasks so students stay thoughtful, curious, and in control of their own learning. Dr. Anjali Singh is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, conducting research at the intersection of Learning Sciences and Human-AI Interaction. Her research focuses on the design and study of interactive learning technologies that support reflection, critical thinking and metacognition in learners in the age of AI. She holds a PhD in Information from the University of Michigan. Her work has been published at venues such as L@S, LAK, AIED, SIGCSE, and AAAI, and has been recognized with multiple best paper awards. Links to resources mentioned in the episode:  the chapter on metacognitive prompts - the International Handbook of Metacognition and Learning Technologies [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-5546-3].  Anjali's research paper presented at a workshop at AIED: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24014 [https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24014]

Mind Over Machine: Building Student Trust in Intelligent Tutoring Systems - Featuring Adrienn Toth, doctoral student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Learning Sciences offered by ETH Zurich and EPFL.

This episode explores the balance between technological innovation and human-centered learning through the use of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in higher education. With guest speaker Adrienn Toth, we discuss the benefits of ITS—such as personalised feedback, adaptive scaffolding, and improved engagement—while highlighting the critical role of student trust. Trust, Adrienn argues, cannot be engineered by algorithms alone but must be built through intentional design that prioritises transparency, collaboration, and ethical responsibility. By engaging students in the co-creation of these systems—through design input, feedback loops, and opportunities for agency—ITS can empower learners and align more closely with pedagogical values. Adrienn also emphasises that while machines can support learning, it is trust that ensures their effectiveness. Adrienn Toth is a doctoral student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Learning Sciences offered by ETH Zurich and EPFL. She completed her studies at Corvinus University of Budapest and Erasmus University Rotterdam, with exchange semesters at HEC Montreal and Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Apart from her studies, she has always worked in the education field, first at a startup and later in a university environment, mainly focusing on content creation and curriculum development. In her research, Adrienn focuses on supporting the adoption of AI-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) in the core curriculum of higher education institutions. More precisely, she would like to understand how students perceive ITS from the data privacy perspective and what are the barriers of increasing their trust in such systems. Building on these identified concerns, the goal of her project is to enhance existing ITS with new features specifically targeting these student concerns and testing their effectiveness in controlled experiments, field studies and qualitative evaluations.