Two new Principal Fellows of the HEA announced at the University
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Dr Susanne Voelkel, Senior Lecturer in the School of Life Sciences and Professor Eann Patterson, School of Engineering, have achieved Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) through the University of Liverpool Teaching Recognition and Accreditation Framework (ULTRA).
Both Dr Voelkel and Professor Patterson presented their claims for fellowship at a recognition panel which included an external and two Liverpool based Principal Fellows.
The recognition process included the submission of a detailed evidence in relation to demonstrating sustained and effective strategic leadership in academic practice, professional development and high quality contribution to the university’s student experience.
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Dr Susanne Voelkel from the School of Life Sciences.[/caption]
Applicants’ reflections on their success
Susanne’s application demonstrated her innovative approaches towards technology-based teaching to support key developments in student engagement and assessment methods. Her innovations have been disseminated widely through good practice events and pedagogic publications. At the end of 2016, Susanne’s work was recognised through the award of a National Teaching Fellowship, a prestigious accolade for staff demonstrating excellent practice and outstanding achievement in learning and teaching in higher education. Susanne, reflected on her ULTRA application by saying:
“I am delighted about the Principal Fellowship award, and I am grateful for all the support and encouragement I have received during this process! I see preparing a fellowship application as an excellent learning opportunity which ultimately benefits the student experience. I’ve done it twice: first in 2014 to become Senior Fellow through the Higher Education Academy, and now to apply for Principal Fellowship through ULTRA. I enjoyed the experience on both occasions, but ULTRA offers more support through workshops and a mentor scheme, which is fantastic.”
Eann’s contribution evolved from his work on support for student learning through the use of everyday engineering examples towards addressing diversity issues in teaching by pioneering the development of two high-quality MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) to. These courses have reached thousands of students all over the world making Engineering topics accessible to diverse student cohorts. His findings and the impact of his work have been shared through academic publications, good practice events in the UK and USA and his blog. Eann, commented on his ULTRA experience by adding:
“The process of building my evidence matrix caused me to pause and reflect on strategic leadership in teaching and learning – what it is and how to do it. The support that received from my ULTRA mentors was terrific and I look forward to giving back to the process.”
The ULTRA Framework
Over the past three years, the University of Liverpool has been growing the number of Fellows of the HEA via the ULTRA scheme. Susanne and Eann join a group of 9 Principal Fellows, 70 Senior Fellows, 20 Fellows and 6 Associate Fellows who have received recognition for their teaching practice via ULTRA.
More information about ULTRA can be found at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/eddev/ultra-cpd/ .