Joining a society at university

By Lauren Sandhu, on 25 April 2019

Today on the blog Josh Day, a former UCL student and member of the Access and Widening Participation Office, tell us why joining a society can be one of the best things you do when studying at university.

Make new friends

University societies are a great place to make new friends when you start your degree, or at any point in your degree for that matter. Most societies hold regular social events and all members are encouraged to attend so that you get the most out of your membership and meet lots of new like-minded people. The great thing about making new friends in societies is that even if you are a little bit shy, you’ll always have one thing in common with those around you. Students often find that the friends they make in their clubs and societies become some of their best friends throughout university.

Learn new skills

Many people presume that students don’t actually get up to that much when they join a society during university. Societies are often tied with terms such as ‘Oh that’s just a first year thing’ because that’s when most students join. However, aside from having a lot of fun and making new friends, you can learn new skills from being part of a university society. For example, if you’ve always wanted to take great photographs but never had the time to learn how to use a camera, you can join the university’s photography society. Alternatively, if you’ve always enjoyed writing, you could join the journalism society and learn from others who have experience writing articles. So, whatever it is you’d like to learn, whether that be knitting, baking, or even something adventurous like scuba diving, you could learn a lot as part of a society whilst also enjoying all of the extra benefits that come with being part of a new group.

Networking

Networking might not be a word you would associate with societies but you would be surprised at how useful (and fun) society networking events can be. Some societies, especially those tied to your academic studies, hold regular networking events which give you the opportunity to meet potential future colleagues in a more relaxed and less forced way than most networking events. Companies often send their younger staff members to these events so that they can discuss with you why they joined the company and why you should think about applying for their jobs further down the line when considering your career options. These younger staff members are often easier to talk to and many students find them more approachable.

Travel opportunities

One of the really fun parts about being part of a university society (aside from the regular events) is the travel opportunities. Most societies will hold an annual group trip, either to another city in the UK or sometimes, if you’re lucky, to somewhere abroad! Students often make great memories on these trips, especially as this may be their first time traveling with a group of friends. The sports and leisure societies, for example the skiing and football societies, often take large groups of students on trips to places like Austria, Spain, Switzerland and France. These travel opportunities are one of the main reasons that these societies prove to be very popular with university students.

WPeople: Nick Witham

By Lauren Sandhu, on 11 April 2019

Today we are talking to Dr Nick Witham from UCL’s Institute of Americas because today is our Year 12 Americas Masterclass.

1.How did you come to be at UCL?

I finished my PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2012, and then worked for three years teaching American Studies and History at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. I was very excited to join UCL in 2015, not only because of its amazing reputation as a research university, but also to shape the teaching offered in my home department, the Institute of the Americas, where I led the team that designed the exciting new undergraduate programme, the BA in History and Politics of the Americas.

2. What is your job at UCL?

I teach twentieth century American history to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I lead a whole range of modules that cover politics and culture in the United States, in particular during the Cold War (c. 1945-1989). As well as this teaching, I am Programme Director and Admissions Tutor for the BA History and Politics of the Americas programmes, which involves ensuring that the degree is running smoothly from admissions all the way through to graduation (our first cohort of students will graduate in 2021). Beyond this, I am the author and editor of several books and journal articles, the research for which informs all of the teaching that I do.

3. How are you involved in Widening Participation?

As Admissions Tutor for the BA History and Politics of the Americas programmes, I run all of my department’s undergraduate admissions, which includes widening participation.

4. Why is Widening Participation important to you?

Studying for three or four years at university is a rewarding and enjoyable experience for all students. But from the outside, the idea of attending UCL can seem quite daunting. I am committed to making the exceptional teaching that is on offer at UCL in the History and Politics of the Americas, as well as the opportunities for language study and study abroad, available to everyone. I want to show that these subjects are a brilliant way of seeing and understanding how the world works, through the lens of a diverse and endlessly fascinating region, the Americas.

5. Tell us a bit more about the History and Politics of the Americas Masterclass

The History and Politics of the Americas Masterclass is a two-hour session devoted to giving prospective students an insight into what it means to study the degree programme at UCL. Based around the theme of “Encountering the Americas”, which is the title of one of the degree’s Year 1 modules, and delivered by the tutors who teach on that module, the session will give students an understanding of how and why we need to understand the connections between Latin America, North America and the Caribbean if we are going to properly understand the region’s history and politics.

6. How would you describe the Masterclass to some who has never heard of it before?

This is an opportunity to learn about History and Politics, two fascinating and important disciplines that sit very well alongside each other. It is also an opportunity to discover a hugely important region of the world, the Americas, which encompass a global superpower (the United States), a large emerging economy (Brazil), important regional actors (i.e. Canada, Mexico, Argentina), developing nations (i.e. Bolivia, Haiti). Putting the region into these perspectives will help you to understand many of the major historical and political dynamics in the modern world.

7. What would be your main bit of advice for someone thinking about studying History and Politics of the Americas?

If you are primarily interested in History or Politics, or in the United States, the Caribbean, or Latin America, this will be an important entry point into our degree. But you should also remember that studying the other discipline and other regions will hugely increase your overall knowledge and your understanding. It will also give you a wider-ranging set of transferable skills to take into the job market.

8. What would be your advice to young people who want to learn more about the history and politics of the Americas?

Read, think, debate! There are many websites and blogs out there that will help you to better understand the History and Politics of the Americas. From mainstream daily newspapers like the New York Times to alternative online publications like NACLA, you should aim to draw on as wide a range of information as possible, to help you understand the region and its political and historical development.

A word from the writer: 

I am a historian of the twentieth century United States, with a particular interest in the ways that protest has shaped American politics and culture. I teach the undergraduate modules “The Making of Modern America, 1920-present”, “The United States and the Cold War”, and “American Radicalisms, 1945-1989”.

UCL Verbal Feedback Project

By Lauren Sandhu, on 28 March 2019

To what extent does Verbal Feedback* implemented over two terms improve student engagement** among disadvantaged pupils*** in Year 7 or 8?’

This is the question that the UCL Access and Widening Participation Office is trying to answer through the Verbal Feedback Project, led in partnership with Ross McGill of Teacher Toolkit and Mark Quinn from the UCL London Centre for Leadership in Learning. The Verbal Feedback Project reflects UCL’s commitment to school-based research that informs teaching and learning and supports the progression of disadvantaged students in particular.

We are delighted to be working with the following schools on the Verbal Feedback Project:

• Batley Girls’ High School, West Yorkshire
• London Nautical School, Lambeth
• Oakgrove School, Milton Keynes
• Ranelagh School, Berkshire
• Reigate School, Surrey
• Trinity Catholic School, Warwickshire
•  Westminster City School, London

The teachers involved in the project come from a broad range of subject disciplines from English to Science, via Geography and MFL, but they all share a commitment to implementing verbal feedback techniques that aim to improve outcomes for their students. We also hope that this area of work will positively impact on teacher workload. Each teacher researcher is currently working with a Year 7 or Year 8 class and using verbal feedback techniques that reflect their classroom style, the needs of their students and subject area. Techniques used include teacher modelling, whole class feedback, and coaching.

Early signs are encouraging, with one teacher reporting that a focus on verbal feedback has led to more time planning and less time marking, which in turn has changed the nature of her lessons. Teachers are also reporting that relationships with students are beginning to change, because they are now spending more time engaging in conversations and noticing small shifts in the teacher/student relationship.

It’s important to recognise that participating in a research project whilst teaching full-time is not without a time cost, and participating teachers are spending time gathering evidence, recording the use of verbal feedback techniques and reflecting on their impact for the purposes of evaluation. We are fortunate to be working with a committed group of professionals who not only want to improve their own practice, but also make a contribution to the wider verbal feedback research base and support teachers across the sector.

The UCL Verbal Feedback Project will conclude in July 2019, and we will be reporting on the outcomes in autumn 2019. Project outputs will include a report produced by the UCL London Centre for Leadership in Learning and a toolkit for teachers written by Ross McGill.

If you are interested in learning more about the project, would like to speak with the teachers involved, or hear from our project facilitators, we will be hosting a Verbal Feedback Project event in September 2019 at the UCL Institute of Education. To register your interest in attending please complete the online form to receive further details.

This post is written by Carly Sandy, a Senior Access Officer in our team and a former secondary school teacher. Carly manages the Verbal Feedback Project and the Teacher Action Research Project. The post was also published on the Teacher Toolkit blog. 

*Verbal Feedback as applied according to the professional judgement of different teachers working in different contexts. (Each will explicitly describe their approach in their reflective journal)

**Engagement as defined as: ‘Written, non-verbal and verbal responses from students that demonstrate their active involvement in their learning.’

***Disadvantaged as defined by the UCL Access and Widening Participation Office

UCL Teacher Action Research Project – interview with teacher Martin Hanlon

By Lauren Sandhu, on 22 March 2019

Today we catch up with Martin Hanlon @martinhanlon369, a teacher (at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy, London) who is currently participating in our UCL Teacher Action Research Project (TARP).

I got involved with the UCL Teacher Action Research Project through my involvement with UCL’s Teacher Summer School. I am always aware that there is an academic world of educational research in universities that too often in the past hasn’t always aligned with the world of education in the classroom. During the summer school, it became clear that there was an opportunity to engage with this academic world of research and to attempt to bridge the gap between research and practice, as well as developing and improving my own pedagogy.

My area of focus on the research project is retrieval practice exercises, such as low-stakes content quizzes, free recall activities and direct question and answer sessions. The emerging findings from academic research suggest that student outcomes will improve if students are given multiple opportunities to recall key pieces of curriculum content and knowledge. I am interested in exploring this area as it seems fairly easy to plan and integrate into lesson plans, it is easy to explain to students and as the processes are designed to be low-stakes then it doesn’t create any stress or anxiety for the students.

The school that I work in has a large proportion of Pupil Premium students and a large number of Black Caribbean and African students. My particular focus is on the students who have managed to make it to Key Stage 5 and are currently studying in Year 13. All of the students intend to go to university and the majority of them will be the first generation to attend. The barriers to university – especially the more prestigious ones – are significant and it is pleasing to note that there are a number of social mobility programmes helping us to remove some of the barriers. But the most significant barrier is the simple fact that our students don’t get the grades to get them to prestigious universities in the first place. The attraction of retrieval practice is that it helps the students learn content in a clear, precise and identifiable way. Clearly, A Levels expect more than information retrieval but it seemed to me that students who have lots of knowledge are at an advantage over those who don’t – and therefore if we are going to genuinely enable social mobility, we need to bridge the knowledge gap and give our students the tools to become successful learners.

Implementing the research so far has been quite challenging. In my own practice I have had to adapt and grow methods that suit my teaching style. I soon learned that a process of teaching content followed by a quiz was fairly dry stuff. But it has been interesting to consider different approaches and to see the effects that successful recall of knowledge has had on the students. Similarly, many other teachers have begun to utilise these practices and to develop their own. We have set up a small Research and Development (R and D) group in school and I send out a weekly update of interesting research and practice to the whole staff, so the project has helped to fire enthusiasm and engagement.

In the short term, I plan to blog more about my experiences and to encourage other members of the R and D group to do the same. We are going to be collecting our experiences together in the summer term and producing a booklet for the rest of the staff to use and will hopefully get some CPD time to explore our findings and to disseminate them to the staff as a whole as piece of training. As a member of the Ark Network, I am also hoping to be able to disseminate findings across the wider network and to continue my work with a wider group of teachers.

I firmly believe that more teachers should be engaged with the process of action research and the task of reading articles about learning – it is easier now than it has ever been and I would heartily recommend that if any teacher is interested, they should definitely have a go.

If you are interested in learning more about the Teacher Action Research Projects, including an opportunity to hear from the teachers involved and the project facilitators, why not join us on Monday 9 July 2019 (6.00pm-7.30pm) for a special project event. The event will explore the impact of the projects and offer practical advice for teachers approaching research in schools. Please complete this online form to receive further information.  

Applications for the UCL Teacher Summer School 2019 are open until Friday 10 May 2019.

A word from the writer:

Martin Hanlon: I have worked as a teacher and leader in South London for over twenty five years, and was a founding member of staff at Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton. Passionate about teaching, I engage with educational research with the intention of providing my students with informed strategies to help them learn more effectively, gain better grades and go on to lead productive, rewarding and happy lives.