I joined the University of Birmingham in 2016 and subsequently moved to the newly formed campus in the regional hub of Dubai in 2018 to lead the delivery of our Undergraduate and Postgraduate Computer Science programmes as Programme Director. My Senior Fellowship journey coincided with my Programme Director role over the past 3 and a half years. As a Programme Director, I was able to practice, acquire, and experience the skills needed to demonstrate alignment with Descriptor 3 of the Professional Standards Framework and ultimately, achieve Senior Fellowship status.
Since I joined the Dubai campus in its early stages, it meant that I had the opportunity to lead on the coordination of cross-campus teaching and education experience development for our Computer Science students. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, we were required to switch very quickly to a hybrid mode of delivery like many other institutions.
Cross-campus teaching coordination
On the cross-campus teaching coordination front, first and foremost, my role required taking the lead in forming a close cooperation and coordination relationship amongst the teaching staff across our Birmingham and Dubai campuses. This was crucial to enable us offering the same high-quality curriculum and teaching experience in the newly opened campus. It also meant forming processes for checks and reflection on the adherence to quality control for delivery across teaching, assessment, and feedback practices. For example, I coordinated the peer observation process in Dubai, where observers from within our staff were assigned to observe learning sessions and provide constructive feedback to continuously enhance teaching practices. While aligning our teaching practices with our academic home school of Computer Science based in Birmingham was of paramount importance, at the same time, it was also important to support Dubai based teaching staff in exercising and developing their academic freedom which is an important factor in ensuring their professional growth.
Education experience development
While curriculum delivery through teaching is one part of education experience development, I viewed education experience with a wider lens that encompassed tutorial support, industry engagement activities (e.g. guest lecture, field visits) and co-curricular activities which we strived to offer to our students. This was with the objective of enriching student experience and forming long lasting contacts with them. Another important aspect of education experience development was listening to students’ feedback and reflecting on it for continuous enhancement of our practice. This was created by not only following established processes and practices, but importantly forming relation and connection with students where they feel encouraged to openly share constructive feedback.
Online and hybrid teaching
Back in February/March 2020, with the onset of the pandemic and government lockdowns, we were forced to switch almost overnight to online learning. At this stage, I led and coordinated the teaching plan to deliver the rest of teaching and final assessments for the remaining four weeks of term in online mode. This involved catering to the staff and student needs for digital tools which was crucial for a successful switch. It also included adapting the teaching style to include an interactive element in pre-recorded videos along with being approachable and accessible to students via instant messaging apps and email to answer any queries and to address their concerns about the switch. I coordinated the teaching team response in our Dubai campus and organised weekly meetings to reflect on our newly found online teaching practice to promptly respond and continuously improve.
The design and planning of learning activities has considerably changed in the current times of pandemic, where I have followed a blended approach as per University of Birmingham’s Framework for Education Resilience (FRED) to support the learners under diverse circumstances. To meet the diverse needs of students and to promote wider participation and engagement, I designed the teaching of a specific topic in three sessions: pre-recorded (i.e asynchronous), online (synchronous), and on-campus. Assessments were designed to consist of creative, problem-solving style questions due to their ‘open-book’ nature and allowing for the diversity of students in various locations. The submission process was considerate of students requiring additional time for typing and/or photo capturing before submission to ensure fair opportunity for all students.
Senior Fellow recognition
The Senior Fellow application preparation was a very good reflection opportunity for me to understand my professional accomplishments and learnings over the past few years, and I am very happy to receive a formal recognition of that. The support and mentoring received by me from colleagues within Dubai campus and my home school of Computer Science in Birmingham was extremely valuable on this journey. The numerous CPD opportunities within the University, in particular through Engineering & Physical Sciences college and broadly from the Higher Education Futures institute, were helpful in enhancing my general practice and getting me ready for the hybrid teaching. The University of Birmingham’s Beacon scheme also offered numerous webinars, examples, learning resources, and mentorship which enabled me to prepare my application for Senior Fellowship.
Receiving Senior Fellow status enhances my passion and resolve for my teaching practice, while it encourages me to continue taking leadership opportunities in providing support to colleagues and students alike.
Kashif Rajpoot is Programme Director for Computer Science at the University of Birmingham’s Dubai campus since February 2018. He moved there in the pioneer stages of Dubai campus opening. He is passionate in supporting the development of new generation of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science professionals.
Senior Fellow Writing Retreat - 30 March 2022
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