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Temple Quarter Try It Out Sessions TODAY & TOMORROW
With the official opening of the Sloane Robinson Building taking place in TQEC yesterday, we’re all set to welcome new students (and staff) to the campus. If you will be teaching in the Bill Brown Forum, the lecture theatre in-the-round, there is a final chance to try out the facilities and tech before TB1 starts. We’ll also repeat the sessions at the start of TB2 in January.
Places are strictly limited, but at time of writing, there are still some available for this afternoon (Tuesday 8th) and tomorrow (Wednesday 9th). The 60-minute sessions are a chance to use the space with your own presentations. An experienced voice coach will be on hand to give some tips and answer any questions you may have.
More information is available on our webpage, including the link to sign up.
We also have a further event to provide an informal space to share and think about how you can make good use of the active learning spaces in the short time before lectures start. This will take place in The Sloane Robinson Building on Wednesday 16 September, primarily for anyone who may have missed our previous workshops, but open to all. More details and link to sign up on our event page.
Congratulations to our National Teaching Excellence Award winners
As you may have seen in the Weekly Edit, BILT’s CREATE team recently won the prestigious national Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) in recognition of its partnership-led approaches that have enhanced educational practice and student experience at Bristol.
Alongside this award, Scott Abbott Paterson, Associate Professor in Anatomy, and a long-time BILT collaborator, was awarded an Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding impact on teaching, learning and student outcomes. We’re looking forward to working with Scott more closely in the new academic year.
We’re incredibly proud of both winners, and we’re sure you’ll join us in congratulating both Scott and everyone involved in the CREATE team, led by Dr Hannah Grist, Senior Lecturer in Academic Development.
The 2026 National Teaching Fellows and CATE recipients will be formally recognised at an awards ceremony on 24 September 2026 in Edinburgh.
BILT Conference 2026 Revisited
It seems a lifetime ago now, but back at the beginning of July, we held our fourth in-person annual conference at The Victoria Rooms, and we’re very grateful that so many of you attended to help make it our most successful to date.
Over the summer, we added videos of the two keynote presentations from Dr Jo Hartland and Dr Susan Kenyon to the conference homepage, alongside the links to slides and posters from all the other presentations on the day, as well as several images taken by our official photographer.
If you did attend the conference, there’s still time to give feedback on the day’s events, which we would very much welcome, as we begin to plan next year’s conference, taking place at Temple Quarter on 30 June, 2027.
REMINDER: BILT Student Fellow applications closing soon
We still have two student fellow positions available for the coming academic year. The roles are for Generative AI and Assessment Design, and Future Skills Development. If you know of any current students who may be interested in this paid position, please share our webpage with them, which contains a link to the MyCareer website where they can complete an application form to send to us, along with their CV.
Applications will be accepted until 16 September 2026, with employment in the role beginning in mid-October.
Blackboard workshops
Over the next couple of weeks, the Digital Education Office will be running Blackboard workshops for staff designing and refreshing their unit courses for the next academic year.
During the sessions, you will be able to build and update your course content, review it against the Blackboard Baseline Course Standards and apply quick fixes to make your course more accessible and usable for all students.
The workshops are available on Develop:
Designing your course in Blackboard Ultra
Get your Blackboard Course Ready for the Start of Term
Book launch – How to Become an Education-Focused Professor: Strategies and Stories from Business Schools and Beyond
You are warmly invited to a book launch event on Wednesday 9th September at 3-5pm in 3.32 Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, for the launch of How to Become an Education-Focused Professor: Strategies and Stories from Business Schools and Beyond, edited by Dr Rushana Khusainova (University of Bristol Business School) and Professor Sally Everett (King’s Business School).
We’ll have a fantastic panel discussion asking some of the big questions around education-focused careers. Is being an excellent teacher enough? How do you find your ‘thing’, build your impact and navigate a career when there’s no single pathway? And what still needs to change to achieve genuine parity of esteem? We’ll also look ahead to where education-focused careers might be going next.
To register, use this link.
Blogs and resources
- From Theory To Practice To Promotion
We’ve caught up with recently promoted Pathway 3 colleagues to hear about their approaches to scholarship of teaching and learning and what advice they would give to others planning on applying for promotion.
An Interview With Ros Death
An Interview With Sheila Amici-Dargan
- Integrating AI into learning quantitative research methods: inviting student discussion and reflection
A case study from Dr Jennifer Whillans, Senior Lecturer, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
- Inclusive assessment in quantitative research methods: Creating multiple pathways to success
A case study from Dr Jennifer Whillans, Senior Lecturer, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
- Active Learning Case Studies: lively, dynamic and engaging Lectures
BILT’s Joe Gould in conversation with Paul Wyatt, Professor of Chemistry and Education. discussing his approach to active learning.
- What Does Good Feedback Really Look Like?
Dr Bex Pike and Dr Claire Hudson with a comprehensive update from their recent HALSEN Assessment & Feedback Special Interest Group workshop.
- Supporting Neurodiverse Medical Students in Clinical Settings
A case study from Dr David Rogers, Medical Programme Co-Director (Clinical), Bristol Medical School.
- Maximising active learning spaces inclusively
With teaching about to start in the new Sloane Robinson Building active learning spaces, Fiona Hartley brings us a timely reflection on how to make the most of these spaces.
Latest case studies from BILT Education Development Projects 2025-26
- Unit-specific AI chatbots: Reducing the search burden for students
- Future-ready by design: developing skills for the digital workplace through assessment
- Industry-linked group mini projects in Chemistry
- Building Students’ Research Literacy and Public Engagement Skills with AI‑Supported Reading and Writing Tools
- From Feedback Fatigue to Feedback Fluency: Enhancing Student Learning Through Assessment Innovation
- Pedagogic Research and SoTL Culture 2025-26
- Pedagogic research 2025-26: Enhancing Research Literacy Through Critical Engagement with Generative AI in Psychological Research Methods Units
- Evaluating student assessment experience, exploring barriers to inclusive assessment, and co-creating ideas for inclusion that are integral to assessment
Events
Visit the BILT events calendar for a full list of all our forthcoming events
September and January
As part of BILT’s ongoing programme of training/familiarisation events to support colleagues transitioning to teach at TQEC, we’re pleased to announce a series of ‘Try it out’ sessions at the newly named Bill Brown Forum (lecture theatre in-the-round) at Temple Quarter.
There are 4 sessions in September and 2 in January. Places are limited to 10 people per session, so sign-up quickly.
Full details and registration links here.
Workshop series primarily for BILT Education Development Project and Associate Project holders
Pedagogic Research Ethics Workshop Wednesday 23 September | 2 pm – 5 pm | Verdon Smith Room Royal Fort House
Qualitative research methods and data analysis workshop (online) Wednesday 30 September |10:00 am – 11:30 am
Recruiting students workshop (online) Wednesday 7 October | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Designing and delivering student focus groups workshop Wednesday 11 November | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
The BILT Briefing is published and distributed fortnightly by The Bristol Institute of Learning and Teaching (BILT). If you no longer wish to receive a copy of The Briefing, please send an email to bilt-info@bristol.ac.uk from the address you are registered with, containing the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the title line.
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