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This new initiative allocates a significant proportion of our budget and manpower in support of a few selected departments at a time. We hope that by concentrating our efforts in this way we can provide more structured and effective support to those departments that are already committed to improving their teaching practice. A number of these departments were identified through initial funding given as part of the Teaching Development Grants Scheme.

This initiative is designed to support the activity of departments that are:

  • Introducing new modules or courses, OR
  • Re-developing modules or courses to incorporate new approaches to learning, teaching and assessment
  • Willing to commit staff time to the programme and work in close partnership with UKCME

The Supported Change Programme (SCP) provides a package of support measures, tailored to the needs of the department, including:

  • A grant to buy in teaching support and free up academic staff time
  • Staff development workshop(s) in the department, on themes relevant to the programme, and delivered by Materials lecturers experienced in the field
  • Student consultations facilitated by UKCME staff to collect feedback that might usefully inform the programme
  • An Educational Adviser with particular knowledge of Materials-related teaching and learning to work with departmental staff, in the department
  • Continuous remote support from all Centre staff
  • A professional Educational Evaluator to help plan the development work and study the impact it has on student learning.

The programme is divided into two stages: the first for the development of the new approach, the second for its implementation and evaluation. However, the exact format and timing of these programmes have been kept flexible so as to accommodate differing departmental circumstances.  

A package of funding and support has been awarded to the following academic groupings since 2004, and these institutions continue to receive extensive support from the UK Centre for Materials Education:

  • Department of Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield
  • Department of Engineering, Bradford College
  • School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast
  • School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews
  • School of Technology, University of Derby
  • Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge

The Centre is currently in the process of initiating a new Supported Change project with the School of Materials, University of Manchester.

If you would like to discuss a SCP for your department please email our Supported Change Programme Adviser, Adam Mannis: a.mannis@liv.ac.uk