CMALT portfolio

Mr McMahon, is a highly valued member of our TEL team.  He has a rare mixture of technical expertise, pedagogical understanding and an eagerness to try and test new approaches and solutions. He has been instrumental in disseminating best TEL practice within the faculty by managing and facilitating our faculty group of expert TEL users (TEL champions). In this role he has led organised workgroups of 8-12 advanced TEL users that help cascade the faculty’s core and supplementary TEL skills requirement within academic and professional staff population.

He is an expert user of a number of industrial standard content authoring tools.  Mr McMahon is also development lead on a number of high-profile courses, within this role has been a key participant in discussions and  provided expert guidance on pedagogical design and delivery of materials. providing valuable advice on selection of different delivery formats to ensure an effective and efficient use of resources so that the best possible results are achieved within the resources and time frame available.

Ehsan Khan MSc, PhD, RN, NT,
Senior Lecturer in Nurse Education

As Programme Leader for our new curriculum, one of my chief goals was  to develop innovative assessment strategies for students.

One of the ideas I had for this  was to  make a film, ask students to watch it and then answer a series of questions arising from it as part of an Open Book  exam. I had no idea of where to start, and asked Ken for advice. He was really keen from the beginning, and I could not imagine anyone more helpful.  

He met with me to discuss my  requirements in terms of the timeline, the length of film, how many actors would be involved, location, soundtrack  – all the details.

Right from the start he gave expert, realistic advice, told me exactly what I needed to do, calculated a budget,  and together we organised filming dates.

Ken directed the film, was on location the entire time we filmed it (over two days), and organised the lighting, the sound, the cameramen, directed the actors, gave advice on stage sets and generally ran the show. We worked really efficiently to the timeline and the actors (all professional I had hired for the job) praised Ken for his direction and his clarity and calmness under stress.

Ken then edited the film, provided transcript, credits, and converted it onto digital format suitable for distribution – again, all done expertly within the timeline.

Since making that film,

• I have had many students (amazingly) tell me that they actually enjoyed taking  the exam because they learn so much from it and it was such a  “different” way of being assessed
• Other Faculty staff have asked to use it for their teaching
• I have won a King’s award for innovation for teaching and assessment
• I have been promoted to senior Lecturer, partly on the back of my innovation in assessment and teaching (citing Ken’s film as the chief example of this)
• My assessments  have been commended by independent external examiners for the quality and nuance of the film and for the educational and assessment value

Ken has always been a delight to work with, but especially  during this “high-stakes” project, and was unfailingly  reliable, calm, kind and professional. He has been an invaluable help to me over the last few years and I am hoping to make another film with him, and could not recommend him more highly for any future work or development opportunities

Dr Ruth Ohlsen PhD RMN Dip Nut. PGCAPHE FHEA
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead BSc Mental Health Nursing

I liked the way the workshop was structured and the step by step approach taken to explain about the use of breakout rooms. It was also helpful to hear about the ways to address the current limitations of breakout rooms. Although the workshop was focused on teaching I was able to draw on learning to use for group work with research participants.

Anonymous

The link to padlet was good but I hadn’t used that before so an explanation and also how to set up would have been helpful.

Anonymous

I enjoyed the interactive nature and hearing other ways to enhance teaching and learning.

Anonymous

I initially thought of presenting this case study resource as a word document. Ultimately the end result exceeded my expectations. There are a number of things that iTEL achieved for me that I did not even know were possible and they really brought my module to life. The resources are visual and draw you in. You can watch them multiple times and slow them down or speed them up. The work that iTEL did on this is truly extraordinary. Certainly something that I could not have done alone. I will be changing my approach in other modules that I teach and run both nationally and internationally. I am more aware of the simple changes that can be made and the benefits these changes make to the learner’s experience.

Sarah Curr, Module Lead, Legal and Ethical Issues for Professional Practice.

note: This fedback is for a different case study-based  resource which followed a similar format and which I also produced.