Evaluation and Development of Methodologies for the Measurement of Learning Gain in Undergraduate Science Degree Programmes

The measurement of ‘learning gain’ in U.K. Higher Education has gained momentum in recent years through the funding of 11 pilot projects to the value of £4m by HEFCE in 2015 (Staffs Uni is a partner in one of the pilot projects with Birmingham City, Liverpool John Moores and Coventry Universities) and the expectation that learning gain will be an explicit measure within the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in the near future. A number of methodologies have been proposed, developed and tested in recent years across U.K.

HEIs for their suitability of the measurement of learning gain but, to date, no single approach has been identified as being appropriate, robust and reliable. Many issues have arisen during the testing, many of them due to the large scale upon which they have been attempted to be undertaken.

This project aims to take a more focussed approach to the design and development of a methodology by focusing upon the measurement of learning gain for undergraduate science students. The project will evaluate currently available methodologies, identifying aspects of best practice that may be applied in our own work, develop a bespoke learning gain assessment specifically aimed at science undergraduate students, and undertake a pilot evaluation of this across a number of science curriculum areas at a number of UK HEIs.

The School of Law Policing and Forensics
The School of Law Policing and Forensics at Staffordshire University are inviting applications for Partial Scholarship PhD projects within our school. This scheme gives you the opportunity to enrol on to a PhD project without having to pay any tuition fees. In exchange for this, you would be expected to provide a maximum of 250 hours of teaching support to the Academic Staff. Please note, that no bursary or any other funding will be provided.

If you have any further questions regarding the scheme, please contact Dr Graham Williams at [Email Address Removed]

Applications
To apply, in the first instance contact the relevant supervisor with your interested project who will discuss the project with you and advise you on how to apply for the PhD. You will need to contact the supervisor directly before applying for the PhD project.