Forth Valley College lecturing and student facing support staff welcomed peers from a partner college in Northern Ireland to a Creative Learning Conference held at the Stirling Campus recently (Wednesday 15 August).
Attending from South Eastern Regional College (SERC) were: Paula Philpott, Head of SERC’s Learning Academy, Anthony Johnston, Deputy Head of School, School of Computing and Engineering, Neal Johnson, Deputy Head of School, School of Performing and Creative Arts, Michelle Devlin, Head of School, School of Health, Early Years and Adult Education and Ronan McAnespy, Lecturer, School of Applied Science, Sport and Access to Education.
A reciprocal FVC team consisting of David Allison, Vice Principal Information Systems and Communications, Fiona Jackson, Curriculum Manager for Science and Maths, Dougie Ross, Curriculum Manager for Engineering and Tracey Coupland, Lecturer for Make-Up Artistry headed over to Northern Ireland to spend a training day with their peers at SERC, where the conference was taking place simultaneously on three SERC campuses.
This year’s event entitled ‘Creative Learning Conference: Celtic Connections Edition’, focussed on key contemporary themes in learning and teaching including – Technology Enhanced Learning, Cyber-Security and Internet Safety, Student Stress and Resilience and Peer Learning with Student Collaboration. The Conference was developed as a collaboration with the Human Resources Department, Learning and Quality and supported by Lecturers across the two colleges.
The day began with a welcome and keynote address from Principal Dr Ken Thomson, followed by an address from Ken Webb, Principal of SERC. Working collaboratively with colleagues from across the College, teams then completed a series of challenges related to the key themes. A group of staff from SERC joined FVC for the day with opportunities for online chat with other colleagues in Northern Ireland throughout the day.
Fiona Brown FVC Associate Principal and Executive Director - Learning and Quality, said: “We were delighted to partner with our colleagues from SERC to run a joint Creative Learning Conference this year. Staff and students from the two colleges have been working together throughout the year on innovative collaborative projects and this was a great opportunity to showcase these projects and the positive impact they have had for our students.
“The conference itself was a great event and there have been some excellent ideas generated for future collaboration. The day was very worthwhile and a great opportunity for lecturers to work in smaller groups and develop ideas and initiatives that could potentially work very well within both colleges. We hope everyone enjoyed the activities and that this Creative Learning Conference will further strengthen our links with one of Northern Ireland’s best colleges and that our students and staff will benefit from working closely with SERC over the coming years.”
In September 2017, FVC and SERC entered into an innovative partnership link up and signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
As a result, during 2017-2018, groups of staff and students from seven curriculum areas (Science; Art and Design; Design and Manufacture; Electronics; Sports; Make-Up Artistry; and Early Learning and Childcare) have been working together on collaborative projects with their counterparts in the partner college.
Staff from the two colleges worked together to co-design curriculum projects that were relevant to the students, ensuring that they met learning outcomes for awarding bodies in both countries, and actively engaged students in collaborative planning, research and problem solving with their peers across the Irish Sea.
