Campus News
University of Nottingham Online and HyperionDev offer coding bootcamps
November 14th, 2022
HyperionDev, one of the largest global providers of online coding learning, is now working with The Department for Education (DfE), University of Nottingham Online and the University of Manchester to bridge the widening tech skills employment gap in England.
Through its partnership with HyperionDev, the DfE is offering over 1,400 potential learners the chance to enrol in a government-funded online coding bootcamp. With half the places already taken, the deadline to apply for the remaining 700+ is 25 November 2022. Applicants should be over 19 years old, live in England, have the right to work in the UK and be available to study from December 2022 to March 2023.
The coding bootcamps in Data Science, Software Engineering and Full-Stack Web Development can be completed within just 16 weeks. Learners are given a non-degree certificate from HyperionDev, with limited certifications issued in partnership with University of Nottingham Online and the University of Manchester.
Riaz Moola, founder and CEO of HyperionDev says: “According to the UK government 2021 report “Quantifying the UK Data Skills Gap”, 48% of UK businesses were recruiting for roles requiring data skills. Of those, around 46% are struggling to find suitable candidates, meaning that there is a huge skills gap in this area. In the current economic crisis, the ability to code could significantly improve present and future employees’ salary expectations. I strongly believe that accessible tech education is the future of upward social mobility for tens of thousands of people across the globe.”
In a competitive job market, skills such as coding have become crucial both for young people and for experienced professionals looking to reorient their careers. According to Tech Nation’s “People and Skills” 2022 report, tech salaries in the UK are on average nearly 80% higher than non-tech salaries. This reality has increased demand for bootcamps such as those designed and delivered by HyperionDev, which has expanded its operations significantly to keep up with the demand for its services.
The HyperionDev programming bootcamp courses are targeted at individuals who are looking to give their careers a boost, explore other career paths or to keep up-to-date with the latest job market requirements. They can generally be completed within three to six months and have been designed to help learners become fully-fledged developers, whether they are from a tech background or not. All students have a specifically designated mentor to help them adapt their level to the courses and advise them on their future professional development.
Sarah O’Hara, University of Nottingham Online CEO, highlights: “We are delighted to be partnering with HyperionDev to offer coding bootcamps. Coding skills are in high demand across the UK and this unique opportunity allows anyone, regardless of their background, to gain these skills and boost their career aspirations.”
In Spring 2022, HyperionDev joined forces with the University of Edinburgh – another Russell Group university – to offer three flagship online coding bootcamps. As of November 2022, nearly 3,000 students have already completed a trial bootcamp with many of the candidates on track to complete one of the three courses. The company, which was first launched in 2012, is also due to announce future international agreements.
Tags: HyperionDev, University of Nottingham Online, UoN Online
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Teaching and Learning Conference 2023: call for papers and registration
November 14th, 2022
This year’s Teaching and Learning conference will take place on Wednesday 26 April 2023, from 9.30am – 4.30pm (UK time) in the Monica Partridge building – with online, hybrid, and/or in-person options connecting colleagues both within and across campuses (UNUK, UNNC & UNM)
If you are involved in Teaching and Learning and/or the student experience anywhere in the university, this conference is for you. The call for contributions from staff and students is now open and should align with the conference focus: Student Engagement and Partnership.
Click to register to attend the Teaching and Learning Conference 2023
We welcome contributions from across job families, campuses, and disciplines, and particularly encourage collaboration and co-creation between staff and students. Submissions should address one of the following Student Engagement and Partnership themes:
- Curriculum Design, Development and Delivery
- Approaches to Student Engagement and Partnership in Teaching and Learning: Beyond the Formal Teaching Curriculum
- A Partnership Learning Community
UNUK colleagues and/or students, please submit an abstract.
UNNC and UNM colleagues and/or students, please submit an abstract.
The deadline for submissions is Friday 24 February 2023 and the final programme will be confirmed in April 2023.
Please find full details on the conference page.
The Student Engagement and Partnership theme central to this year’s conference also underpins a series of SoTL Talks launching early 2023, and threads through both 2022/23 UoN TeachFest’s.
Key Dates
Deadline for contributions (abstracts): Friday 24 February 2023
Reviews completed: Friday 17 March 2023
Notification of review outcome: Wednesday 29 March 2023
All revisions (if appropriate) submitted: Wednesday 13 April 2023
Tags: Teaching and Learning Conference, Teaching and Learning Conference 2023
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Safeguarding Adults Week 2022
November 11th, 2022
From Monday 21 November – Sunday 27 November is Safeguarding Adults Week 2022.
Since its launch, Safeguarding Adults Week has gone from strength to strength, with the 2021 campaign reaching an estimated 79.4 million people on Twitter alone. Safeguarding Adults Week 2022 promises to be the biggest yet.
2022 also happens to mark an important milestone for The Ann Craft Trust. As the Trust was first founded in 1992, during Safeguarding Adults Week they will be celebrating 30 years of Safeguarding Adults at Risk with a special charity dinner in Nottingham.
30 Years of Safeguarding Adults at Risk
Professor Todd Landman, FRSA, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Nottingham, said:
“The Ann Craft Trust is the UK’s leading organisation with expert knowledge, policy formation and knowledge exchange in the broad and increasingly important area of safeguarding. Housed within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham, the Trust has strong and productive relationships with staff and students, primarily in our School of Sociology and Social Policy, as well as with colleagues in the University’s world leading Rights Lab, which researches modern slavery.
“The Trust reaches a significant milestone this year as it celebrates its 30th Anniversary, and I am proud to attend the conference and work with and support the Trust to continue its success for the future.”
Dr Deborah Kitson, CEO of The Ann Craft Trust, said:
“This year is a really special year for the Ann Craft Trust as we celebrate our thirtieth anniversary. We were established in 1992 as NAPSAC, relaunched in 1998 as the Ann Craft Trust and have had quite a journey over the years. There have been events throughout the year looking at the work that has been done since our inception, what has been achieved and, importantly, what we need to focus on over the next 30 years.
“The Ann Craft Trust is now committed to safeguarding adults at risk and disabled young people of any form of abuse and harm. We are fortunate to work nationally with many individuals and a range of diverse organisations that share our commitment to ensuring that everyone can live their lives free of the fear of abuse.”
Events and Free Training Opportunities
To raise awareness during the week, The Ann Craft Trust will be hosting three online seminars to help people from all backgrounds learn more about safeguarding best practice:
- Mon 21 November– Ann Craft Trust AGM & Self-Harm and Safeguarding Adults Seminar
- Thursday 24 November – DBS: Safe & Fair Recruitment When Working With Adults at Risk
- Friday 25 November– Using the Power in Your Role to Create Safer and Stronger Cultures
On Wednesday 23 November, The Ann Craft Trust will host their annual Safeguarding Adults Conference in Nottingham, with a special focus on acting against adult exploitation.
Find more information about the conference, including the full programme at the Ann Craft Trust webpages.
You can also find lots of free resources to help raise awareness of key safeguarding issues.
Tags: Safeguarding, Safeguarding adults, Safeguarding Adults Week, Safeguarding Adults Week 2022, Safeguarding training
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New study with care-experienced academics
November 10th, 2022
Dr Neil Harrison at the University of Exeter is leading a new research study about care-experienced academics working in higher education in the UK.
The aim of the new study is to discover more about pathways into academic careers for care-experienced people, particularly focusing the role of school and university. It will also be exploring how academic careers can require renegotiations of identity and the extent to which universities recognise and support their care-experienced staff.
If you are a care-experienced academic working in higher education in the UK, please consider completing a very short online questionnaire about your career experience so far. You can find a link to the survey below:
Colleagues are also being asked to share these details to any care-experienced academic staff or any relevant staff networks.
The study is funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Small Grants Programme.
Tags: care, care-experienced academics
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Professor Sarah Sharples Delivers Queen’s Lecture, Berlin
November 10th, 2022
Professor Sarah Sharples, currently seconded to the Department for Transport as its Chief Scientific Adviser, delivered the prestigious Queen’s Lecture in Berlin on Monday.
Drawing on her expertise as Professor of Human Factors, Professor Sharples spoke about designing and delivering a human-centred future for transport policy in areas such as self-driving vehicles, decarbonisation and whole systems thinking, as well as emphasising the value of embedding diversity and inclusion in our future transport systems.
The Queen’s Lectures were founded by the late Queen Elizabeth II as a gift to the City of Berlin on the occasion of her state visit in 1965, where each year a renowned British scientist delivers a lecture on their area of expertise. The Queen’s Lecture is a collaboration between Technical University Berlin, the British Embassy in Germany, and the British Council Germany.
A recording of the lecture is available on YouTube.
An interview with Professor Sharples about the themes of the Queen’s Lecture is also available on the TU Berlin website: Interview Professor Sarah Sharples
Over the past 27 years Professor Sharples has engaged with a range of technologies to understand the interaction between people, technologies, and their settings. Her work has been based in transport, healthcare, and manufacturing, and many of her projects have involved developing and implementing methods for capturing results in real world and laboratory settings.
Professor Sharples was the President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors from 2015-2016. From 2018-2021 she was Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People at the University of Nottingham.
Tags: Berlin lecture, Professor Sarah Sharples, Queen's Berlin Lecture, Queen's lecture
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Sustainability Green Gown win for pharmacy technician
November 9th, 2022
A technician from the university has been recognised for his commitment to sustainability by being awarded a prestigious Green Gown Award.
Lee Hibbett is a Technician Manager in the School of Pharmacy and won the Sustainability Champion staff category in the Green Gown Awards. These annual awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the world.
Three years ago, Lee set up the Technical Sustainability Working Group (TSWG) for the university. The TSWG is a group of lab technicians from across all UK campuses, working to see where best practices from different departments can be rolled out to the whole university.
The TSWG has implemented a number of practical solutions to improve sustainability that are having an impact on reducing the carbon footprint of the university. They have removed water condensers from chemistry labs and replaced them with air condensers, saving over 3 million litres of water.
They have also driven a project to become the first university to pilot a new solvent recycler to recycle waste acetone, saving 2,000 litres acetone a year that would otherwise go for disposal. A polystyrene recycling initiative has also been set up across the university
The group has also signed up to the Lab Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) and set up a Midlands Innovation Group universities sustainability committee, with the aim of getting technicians and sustainability teams working together to share ideas.
Lee Hibbett, Technician Manager in the School of Pharmacy
The Green Gown judges commented: “You have gone above and beyond to not only embed sustainability into your role and team, but to ensure the good practice is spread across the university, and beyond. By taking on a secondment within the sustainability team, your technical expertise around labs and sustainability is built into decision-making and will influence many more people than if you’d solely operated within your own lab. You have shown how to take responsibility in your specific role and how you can influence the sector!”
Professor Shearer West, Vice Chancellor of the University of Nottingham said: “I am delighted that Lee has received this prestigious award in recognition of his work to Champion Sustainability within our Technical staff and laboratory environments. Lee has galvanised others at the university with his dedication and innovative ideas, which is helping to drive sustainable behaviours and activity across the university.”
The University of Nottingham was also highly commended in the Research with Impact – Institution category with the Trent Basin project, a housing development made up of more than 70 energy-efficient homes being built on the banks of the River Trent that forms an active energy community.
The pioneering scheme enables residents to generate, store and use solar electricity and, so far, is estimated to have saved the equivalent of 34 tonnes of CO2per year and benefited at least 262 people. The university’s micro prospectus was also a finalist in the Building Back Better category.
Tags: Green Gown, Green Gown Awards, Lee Hibbert, sustainability, sustainability champion
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National Industrial Action at the University
November 9th, 2022
The University and College Union (UCU) has announced that industrial action will take place at 150 universities nationwide, including the University of Nottingham, in the form of three days of strike action on 24, 25 and 30 November 2022.
Action short of a strike, where staff work to contract and do not undertake voluntary activity, will start on 23 November 2022.
The University recognises that any period of industrial action will be challenging, appreciates that colleagues do not undertake industrial action lightly and respects their right to participate.
We also recognise that students will be concerned about the potential impact of industrial action on their studies and the University’s priority will be to minimise this.
The university has published staff information about the industrial action as well as student FAQs and we will keep staff and students updated with further information as it becomes available.
For further information, please visit:
- Universities and Colleges Employers Association (national pay negotiators)
- USS 2020 Valuation (national USS pension)
- University and College Union (UCU)
Tags: ASOS, Industrial Action, strike action, UCU
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UoN works with AccessAble to create accessibility guides
November 8th, 2022
The University of Nottingham is working with AccessAble, the UK’s leading provider of detailed disabled access information, to create detailed access guides to teaching/meeting spaces and routes across all UK campuses.
The guides include information, description and photographs which help people navigate the levels of accessibility of university buildings, services and rooms.
They cover everything from parking to hearing loops, walking distances and accessible toilets. As well as guides to buildings and rooms, the app will also identify potential issues for neurodivergent people and provide locations of breastfeeding rooms and female-only showers.
The free accessibility guides are for students, staff and visitors to the university.
They are due to launch in March 2023 and will be available on the AccessAble website, on the AccessAble App and will be integrated into university-based services including FM:interact.
As part of the university’s central Disability Recognition Month event, David Livermore from AccessAble will be presenting a talk on how the university is working with AccessAble to survey all of its UK campuses to create the new digital accessibility system.
On Thursday 17 November, he will deliver a short online demo session to showcase what staff and students can expect from the new digital system.
For more information about the project, please contact Dean Eales, Head of Partnerships at AccessAble.
Tags: AccessAble, AccessAble app, accessibility, accessibility guides, Disability Recognition Month 2022
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Preparing for University of Nottingham Online
November 7th, 2022
The university’s new online learning offering, University of Nottingham Online (UoNO), is preparing for a series of pilots taking place in early 2023.
University of Nottingham Online will deliver small blocks (10 to 20 credits) of competency-based online learning, targeted at a new set of learners where the university currently has very limited reach. Learning will be delivered and assessed entirely online.
Since we announced University of Nottingham Online last year, the project team have had the challenge of creating a new end-to-end and best-in-class online learning experience that meets the expectations of the external market whilst accommodating the diverse needs and expectations of the university. This has led to new thinking and investment spanning how we identify and design the products, how we deliver them to learners and how we ensure that learners’ success is fully recognised.
The initial focus of University of Nottingham Online will be on postgraduate-level learning to support upskilling and reskilling for a professional market. The online learning design and delivery model will provide the flexibility and consistency that is needed so learners can fit study around their work and other commitments.
Business-to-business relationships are currently being developed where employers engage in the development of University of Nottingham Online learning and employees can choose from a range of learning blocks, with the opportunity to complete assessments to gain university credit (stackable micro-credentials). Once a learner has gained sufficient credit, they may be able to apply for a university award.
The project team are working with the Quality Standards Committee (QSC) and colleagues in Regulatory and Statutory Compliance to finalise the regulations needed to ensure a high quality and robust learning experience is delivered that merits the award of university credit.
An overarching roadmap for assurance has been approved and this will be put in place by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. The design and development of learning blocks has been completed and the approach will be piloted in the School of Architecture and Built Environment, the School of Health Sciences, and Digital Marketing (NUBS).
In terms of the enabling services that will support the end-to-end journey for learners, the project team are now in the final stages of procuring a commercial online store to showcase online learning blocks. This will provide a quick and simple route for learners to purchase and join learning cohorts.
The store will be fully integrated with our new Totara learning platform and Mahara e-portfolio software that will enable learners to complete and submit assessments. A proof-of-concept environment has been created with Catalyst which will support the pilots taking place in early 2023.
After a learner successfully completes a block of learning, they will earn a digital badge containing information on the block of learning they have engaged in and the skills they have gained. Our digital badges will be issued by a third-party badging company called Accredible. The combined system will be branded for the university and will provide a modern, fully integrated and seamless learning experience.
The next 12 months will be important for University of Nottingham Online as we move from our pilot phase into our initial delivery phase. A significant scaling up of activity is anticipated in the second half of 2023.
Further information, including opportunities to get involved with University of Nottingham Online, can be found on the SharePoint site. If you have any questions, please email UoN-Online@nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: reskilling, University of Nottingham Online, UoN Online, upskilling
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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning talks
November 7th, 2022
New to the university in 2022/23, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Talks put contemporary issues in teaching and learning in Higher Education (HE) under the spotlight.
Each SoTL Talk focuses on a specific SoTL theme.
Through lively debate and discussion with panels of experts drawn from across the University, SoTL Talks traverse the boundaries of teaching and learning theory, policy, and practice to fully explore contemporary issues and live questions in teaching and learning and the student experience in the round.
In 2023, three SoTL Talks sessions will build up to and continue the conversation following this year’s Teaching and Learning Conference: Beyond satisfaction: Student Engagement and Partnership in Teaching and Learning, Wednesday 26 April 2023.
Delivered through MS Teams, each Spotlight Sessions will explore a key aspect of student engagement and / or partnership and distil insights, lessons learnt, and effective practice(s):
- Session 1: Learning Community
- Tuesday 7th February 2023, 1-2pm, click on this form to register for this session. A calendar invite will be circulated in due course.
- Session 2: Student Belonging, Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Thursday 2nd March 2023, 12-1pm, click on this form to express interest in this session. A confirmed date via a calendar invite will be sent to you as soon as is possible.
- Session 3: Inclusive and Authentic Assessment
- Wednesday 10th May 2023, 1-2pm, click on this form to express interest in this session. A confirmed date via a calendar invite will be sent to you as soon as is possible.
We look forward to seeing you at a SoTL Talk soon.
Tags: scholarship of teaching and learning, SoTL, teaching and learning
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