For me the most interesting initiative was supporting academic staff in the School of Engineering and Material Science who wanted to implement peer assessment. The problem we were trying to solve was giving timely feedback on writing assignments in modules with a large student cohort. Our solution was to trial peer assessment, where students would mark and give feedback on four peer assignments. The role of academic staff would be to set up and moderate the peer assessment.
We started with a small-scale project, initially funded by the HEA, and this grew and was extended to other modules, such as a first-year module with 280 students. An online system for submission, distribution of peer marking and calculation and distribution of marks and feedback was developed. Initial evaluations of peer assessment by students were mixed but we refined the implementations and, over a few years, received favourable reviews particularly from students on the large first-year module.
I also introduced the idea of academic writing retreats for PhD students and academic staff. I am a real fan of academic writing retreats; I think they can help PhD students develop strategies for writing a large document and can help students complete. I tried running writing retreats for academic staff; these were very well received and staff reported completing journal articles, book chapters and, in one case, an inaugural lecture during the writing retreats.
I am a member of the London Socialist Film Co-op, which has a great programme of socialist films and speakers, and a keen supporter of Open House London, as I get the opportunity to visit government and private buildings that are not normally open to the public.