The Innovation in Learning & Teaching Award is made in recognition of a significant contribution to innovation in curriculum design, content or delivery.
Dr Peter Sloan was recognised by the Committee as having demonstrated high levels of innovation in learning and teaching. Feedback from Dr Sloan’s students has indicated that his commitment and expertise are combined with a passion for his subject and a level of care well beyond that which would normally be expected.
in particular, Dr Sloan has adopted creative approaches to course design, delivery and assessment to enable active learning of highly complex, non-intuitive concepts whilst maintaining student engagement in the subject of physics. Most notably, these have included UNiLAB, a major new initiative that offers undergraduate students the opportunity to develop confidence and skills outside of the formal teaching laboratory setting, but still within a well-supported environment. From its introduction in 2017, using University Santander Technology Fund and Faculty funding, this ‘maker space’ now has an academic steering group and operates at full capacity. Other innovations introduced by Dr Sloan are the introduction of a pioneering formative assessment method for one unit whereby each student is provided with unique computer-generated questions and solutions, and a popular University Christmas Physics Lecture series, which showcases frontier research to undergraduates.