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Welcome to the secondSCEPTrE Newsletter
We have been busy in thelast two months, moving intoour Centre
and starting to
use the spaces for a range ofevents. This letter willhopefully
give you a flavourof what we have been doingand how you could use
thespace if you wish.
On 19 Jan we started offSCEPTrEs formal life byinviting those
who had beenkey players in the creation ofthe SCEPTrE concept to
spendthe morning looking at thequestion What shouldSCEPTrE
be/become? FredBuing, a facilitator inorganisational change led
theworkshop which proved to be adynamic and thought
provokingexercise in developmentalstrategy.
30 Jan the team moved to theCentre!
Straight away we had ourinaugural lunchtime meeting on
1 Feb, inviting Senior Tutors toconsider & help develop
theinitial ideas on how SCEPTrEmight work. This was certainlya
pioneering meeting theentrance still had the noticePlease wear
overshoesprovided causing someconsternation! *
Since then we havewelcomed a range of peoplethrough our doors
here is ataste of the activities:
We hosted the 1st UK GRAD
South East meeting on behalfof the Centre for
LearningDevelopment. Penny Burdencommented: On Wednesday8th
February 2006, the inauguralmeeting of the UKGRAD SouthEast Hub
took place at UniS.Staff from universities acrossthe south east
congregated atUniS to discuss this excitingdevelopment, set the
agendafor the next twelve months andto debate some of the
issueswhich are facing staff andresearch students. Themeeting was
very timely aswere able to hold it in the newlyopened SCEPTrE
Centre whichallowed us to take advantage ofthe light and airy
roomsavailable for events such asthis. The main meeting washeld in
Room 1 with lunch beingserved across the corridor inroom Room3
demonstrating theflexibility of the area. Room 1proved an excellent
meeting
room with comfortable seatingand plenty of room to allow usto
break into smaller discussiongroups. Being able to moveinto an
alternative room againwith comfortable seating forlunch was another
advantageas we werent interrupted by thearrival of lunch, or by it
being
cleared away. Having thisadditional facility to use formeetings
and workshops is agreat benefit to the University.If you havent
been through thedoors of the SCEPTrE Centre
yet, then I recommend that youdo so at the first opportunity.The
University needs flexiblespace like this and SCEPTrEcertainly
provides it.
We held a lunchtime meetingfor heads of committees ofTeaching
& Learning to discusswith them the possibilities thatSCEPTrE
has to offer theSchools.
We hosted the psychologyfocus group here are somecomments about
the session:The SCEPTrE centre proved tobe an ideal venue for
JacquiAkhurst from the HE Academyto conduct a focus group withfinal
year students. She islooking at Employability forPsychology
graduates andspent an hour and a half talkingto 8 psychology
students whohad done their placements in awide range of
organisations
from the Metropolitan Police,Holloway Prison, the RoyalMarsden
Hospital, HarvardMedical School to AllianzCornhill Insurance. Their
rolesencompassed research, humanresources, marketing,laboratory
work and hands-onwork in clinical and custodial
Newsletter March 2006
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settings. Not only was Jacquidelighted to hear about thehuge
range of tasks and highlevels of responsibilities that thestudents
encountered duringtheir placements but thestudents also
appreciatedtaking a bit of time out of theirintensive final year
programmeto reflect again on the manybenefits that they have
accruedfrom this experience.The venue was convenientlylocated,
comfortable andconducive to the lengthydiscussions that took
placethere.
Open house lunches wereheld for two weeks in February.
A general invitation went out toall staff and a number of
in-depth discussions took place onthe impact the Centre couldhave
on a range of researchinterests and professionaltraining year
issues.
Two morning sessions wereorganised to look at how theCentre can
inter-react with theprofessional training year.These proved to be
informative
and thought provoking sessions so much so that, on theadvice of
her colleague, a tutorrearranged a days leave tocome to the second
session and she thought it was worth itafterwards!
Here are some commentsabout the session:The Professional
TrainingTutor and Administrator Forum,as held on the 24th
February
2006, proved to be extremelyhelpful in defining the key rolethat
SCEPTrE will play in
supporting the further development of ProfessionalTraining over
the course of thecoming years. Moreover, theevent cemented
thefoundations for the centre'sfuture work and strengthenedthe
network of all thosemembers of staff who willultimately play a
vital part inhelping SCEPTrE achieve it'sobjectives." *
A lunchtime seminar was heldon What have we learnt
aboutenquiry-based learning throughthe L2L project? This was
auseful networking event forthose involved in EBL. *
The Centre Openingwas heldon 6 March & we weredelighted that
the Vice-Chancellor was able to attendand officially open the
Centreafter giving a speech on WhySCEPTrE is important to
theUniversity. Fifty fivecolleagues joined us forchampagne and
snacks tocelebrate the event. TheEstates team who refurbishedthe
building put together a
collage of before & afterphotos on two boards. Theseare now
in the reception areaand you will be very welcome tocome & have
a coffee & seethe difference a few monthshas made.
The e-learning practitionersseminar was hosted by theCentre and
the venue provedso popular, the rooms wereimmediately booked for
the
next meeting.A Teaching Seminar was heldon Learning through
Enquiry:
What does it mean in theSchool of Arts, Communicationand
Humanities? Thisinteractive seminar examinedwhat enquiry means in
thecontext of study & professionalpractice in the disciplines
thatcomprise the School of Arts,Communication & Humanities.The
feedback was very positiveand we are aiming to holdsimilar seminars
for otherSchools who are interested.
* Please [email protected]
if you would like thenotes of these meetings.
Team news. The team hasnow been formed and is asfollows:
Norman Jackson, Director
Jo Tait, Assistant Director
Clare Dowding, CentreManager
Di Whitelock, Admin Assistant
Future events Please look onthe next page for our plannedevents
and contact DiWhitelock if you would like toattend.
We would be pleased to hearfrom you if you would like touse our
spaces for an eventthat links into the work of
SCEPTrE.
To find out more, look on our website or email
[email protected]
SCEPTrE website:http://portal.surrey.ac.uk/sceptre
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
