Teaching partners

Teaching staff
The Learning Design Consultancy Team provides UOC teaching staff with specialized pedagogical advice (specific to each of the university's areas of study) on the design of programmes, courses and training. The support process aims to equip teachers with the skills to constantly improve the teaching and learning they design and autonomously transfer to the classroom. Through regular advisory activities, the team of experts provides support in many areas, including the pedagogical design of online programmes and courses, how to define and apply active teaching and learning strategies and methodologies, the definition of learning outcomes, the design of learning challenges and the required competency outcomes, setting meaningful activities, the use of teaching methodologies, and the design and implementation of formative feedback and the application of assessment strategies.
 
The team also participates in and leads educational innovation projects, and its role in the educational model makes it an agent of change in the UOC for the improvement of teaching and learning.
 
 
The team collaborates to produce resources and guides, which teaching staff can access in the eLearning Kit, the site for learning design resources. 

Training for teaching staff

We contribute to the professional development of teaching staff by implementing a training plan we designed to addresses all areas of activity: research and innovation, teaching, and the academic management of teaching teams. To ensure it is flexible, motivating and useful, it is structured around specific thematic pathways with training options in a range of modalities and formats, differing in duration and depth.
 
Our focus is on initial and continuing training in the methodological use of the learning and communication areas and the associated tools in the learning environment, the inclusion of various methodologies and strategies in teaching and the assessment of learning, and the analysis of indicators to improve how learning activities are monitored and assessed.
 
We provide teaching staff with information and training resources, we organize workshops and face-to-face and online work sessions on specific topics, and we provide individual support sessions according to the needs identified.
We help teaching staff apply a challenge-based methodology to the design of courses.
 
The team of teaching partners (Learning Design Consultancy Team) offers specialized advice to teaching staff on the design of challenge-based courses.
According to this methodology, each course is conceived as a sequence of activities that we call challenges.
 
It aims to:
  • Ensure that the design of the courses, based on the learning outcomes of the programme, is transferred in a real, effective way to the classroom and to the students' training.
  • Link the competencies (or learning outcomes of the programme) to activities and specify them in learning outcomes for the activity that can be assessed.
  • Distribute the student's time for each of the activities, according to type, workload and relevance, taking into account the credits allocated to the course.
  • Design courses based on contextualized learning activities and real needs, and not on the basis of content (situated learning).
  • Identify resources and provide guidance for their use, indicating the recommended minimum time for the activity (content curation).
  • Approach the course from a gender perspective.

What do we do?

The Learning Design Consultancy Team provides methodological and pedagogical support to teachers in the implementation and development of the UOC's educational model using different approaches and taking into account the challenges facing the university.
 
Support is provided for teaching staff in the following areas: 

Personalized advice on the design of training

  • We provide advisory services that enable experienced teaching staff to improve their teaching practice.
  • We provide guidance to new teaching staff on the application of the challenge-based teaching and learning methodology.
  • We provide support for the UOC's faculties in programme design in relation to all methodological issues.
  • We generate content and training activities designed to help teaching staff improve the design of learning.
  • We give workshops, webinars and conferences.
  • We compile innovative teaching experiences and publish details of good practice in the implementation of feedback strategies in the classroom, formative assessment and specific methodologies for bachelor's and master's degree final projects or external internships, among other activities.
  • We write resources and guides for teachers, sharing them via the eLearning Kit, the site for learning design resources.

Teaching and learning innovation projects

The team is a promoter, member and leader of institutional and innovation projects that are key to the development of the university's educational model. The issues covered by these projects include generative artificial intelligence; microcredentials in education; the Canvas learning and Aula Futur project management system; digital assessment, feedback and artificial intelligence; teacher training for online teaching; the Equality Plan; assistance for students with disabilities; the university's portfolio strategy, and active teaching and learning methodologies

Networks and connections

We represent the eLinC and the UOC in institutional initiatives and programmes that enable us to network with other university teaching communities and incorporate constant reflection and debate to improve our work, for example:

 

  • The Margalida Comas programme, Directorate-General for Universities, Government of Catalonia. Working group on initial teacher training.
  • International Conference on University Teaching and Innovation (CIDUI)
  • Spanish University Teaching Network (RED-U)

eLearning Kit

Site for learning design resources
 
A resource site that brings together the content that the Learning Design Consultancy Team (teaching partners) selects, generates, periodically updates and makes available to teaching staff.