Leadership & Management

MSc programmes in the School of Computing Science

I joined the University of Glasgow in 2001 as Director of the MSc(Information Technology) programme, leading an interdisciplinary team of academics from a range of Schools across the university, and providing a broad conversion programme for students whose first degree was not in Computing Science.

In 2004, I led the introduction of an Advanced MSc programme for students with Computing Science backgrounds, and in 2008 diversified the MSc portfolio to include five different research-led specialist programmes, as well as MRes counterparts. These MSc programmes comprise a selection of courses with Honours and MSci students.

In 2018, with rapidly increasing MSc enrollments, I proposed a radical new MSc programme structure that decouples the teaching of Honours students from that of Masters students. Staff resource constraints means this structure is not yet feasible; in December 2018, I proposed an interim model that can be fulfilled under current staffing, and which provides Masters-only taught courses for semester 1.

University of Glasgow Course Evaluation Policy

From 2013 - 2017 I led the University of Glasgow Education Policy and Strategy Committee initiative to introduce a university-wide consistent Course Evaluation Policy using the EvaSys software.

I convened the Working Group that devised the new University Course Evaluation Policy - a task the university has previously attempted several times without success. I was subsequently invited by the Director of the Senate Office to be the Convenor of the EvaSys Advisory Board to oversee the implementation of the Policy university-wide.

As a contentious issue, with strong and varying opinions university-wide, careful negotiation, extensive consultation with staff at all levels, attention to detail, and clear thinking has been crucial in ensuring this project’s success. The focus on enhancing the quality of our teaching (rather than on managing staff performance) has been a significant factor in gaining staff acceptance.

In December 2018, I was invited by a member of the Academic Support Office at the University of York to act a consultant for their own course evaluation project.

GUSTTO: Teaching Tips Online

I initiated and led the University GUSTTO ‘Teaching Tips’ project, securing two-years funding from the University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Development Fund. GUSTTO allows academics to share successful teaching practises in an online forum – using social media and gamification approaches, and a simple template. This system provides a repository of growing, searchable ‘best practice’ resources that is more readily accessible than a list of resources on a website. As at 25/12/18, 106 teaching tips had been uploaded since the November 2016 launch, with 473 academics signing up.

GUSTTO is a university-wide project: I have led a team which comprises three academics from the other colleges, three staff from the LTU and the Senate Office, as well as two PhD and two undergraduate students.

Previous activities

I undertook a review of all teaching within the Human Computer Interaction section of the School of Computing Science, with the aim of devising a coherent HCI curriculum over all levels. This was as much an HR management task as a curriculum task, since the courses we teach are so closely related to the people who currently (or can) teach them – as such, careful negotiation, consultation and persuasion was required.

I was convenor of the School’s Recruitment and Internationalisation committee – with a focus on on increasing international undergraduate enrolments (through GIC, 2+2 and 4+2 programmes), and on investigating the potential for financially viable MSc collaboration with Chinese universities. In 2016, undertook an extensive review of a proposed joint MSc with one such university – considering curriculum design, recruitment, staffing and financial aspects, ultimately demonstrating that the collaboration would not be financially viable.