Learning & Teaching

Teaching Planning Principles 2025-26

The University has committed to a campus-based, active learning experience for students who are not on our fully online degree programmes. As such, the expectation is that we are designing teaching to be engaging, interactive, and a valued experience for students that enables them to connect with one another and with staff teaching the course. This is expected to be primarily an on-campus experience with carefully considered and intentionally designed contact time being approved in advance to support student choice and decision making.

When timetabling classes, we need to keep in mind the obligations we have under the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulations, to ensure that what we provide by way of the learning experience is what is advertised to students and underpinned their study choices. If a course has been redesigned to be taught remotely or in blended form it must have gone through course approval ahead of teaching and other course documentation should have been updated to reflect this in good time to inform student choice. We also need to comply with the requirements of UKVI thresholds of online and remote learning* across a year and the means of approval and audit by UKVI of any such approach.

In planning teaching, our approach is underpinned by the following space allocation assumptions:

• Discussions about teaching space need to be framed around supporting a consistent and quality learning experience for students.
• Lecture recordings, live streaming and synchronous remote delivery are not intended as substitutes or alternatives to in-person teaching. It is, therefore, not expected that courses will adopt these forms of delivery as a strategy to meet as a single large cohort in the absence of a sufficiently large lecture theatre or other teaching space.
• The balance of online and in-person teaching must be understood across a programme for any year group given the UKVI stipulations around remote learning for Tier 4 students (separate guidance to follow).

Principles of Space Allocation

• Apart from the James McCune Smith Learning Hub, teaching spaces on campus cannot support cohorts of more than 300 students. Thus, the majority of 300+ cohorts will need to be double, or triple taught.
• Courses that, by incorporating active learning experiences require collaborative learning spaces, will be given priority in the allocation of such spaces. The specifics of this process will be clarified via the Space Management & Timetabling Team and the Deans of Learning and Teaching. It is essential that Schools engage with the College meetings in discussions about their planned teaching approach at an early 1 The Jan 2025 Home Office policy is being reviewed with a view to developing clear guidance on what it means for teaching at the University of Glasgow. Guidelines will be shared in due course. Ver 3 – final, 20th Feb 2025 2 stage so that suitable spaces can be allocated and for prioritisation to be transparent.
• When requesting teaching space, due consideration should be given to the sizes of teaching spaces available on the campus. For example, our largest flat-floored teaching space holds 282 students and we only have five rooms which can accommodate over 250 people.
• Schools will be asked to provide a range of sizes for sub-groups where there are multiple instances of a class (e.g., sub-groups for tutorials) rather than submitting requests for multiple rooms of equal size.
• Where feasible, larger spaces can be used to teach multiple, small sub-groups in parallel. This would be where Schools see merit in this from a course, teaching team and student perspective.
• A minimum class size of 8 will continue to be stipulated for all central space. Smaller groups can be taught together in a central room and Schools may wish to accommodate very small groups locally, but no central space will be allocated for fewer than 8 students.
• Capacities in teaching spaces will continue to be set based on collaborative-learning norms of 2sqm/person (min), except for fixed-seat lecture theatres.
• Laboratory teaching planning should proceed as normal with consideration given to the efficient use of laboratory space, dependant on the type of laboratory exercises planned. The same applies in the case of other specialist space types.
• Planning for exams will continue to assume a mixed-diet of online and on-campus exams. As in previous years, exam planning arrangements will be communicated with Schools ahead of the exam diets, and it is essential that any potential requests for on-campus exams are not made without prior discussion with the Dean of Learning and Teaching. Changes in modes of assessment should not be made after the course has been approved and the information subsequently published in course outlines and in the course catalogue. In the unlikely event that unanticipated issues (e.g. relating to assessment integrity) emerge only after a course has been approved and course information has been published to students, permission to make any further course changes must be sought from the Clerk to Senate. Provision of digital exams on campus will be made in light of the digital exam pilots that are underway for session 2024-25 and centrally agreed plans for expansion in 2025-26.

In support of this process and to reduce the need for late changes and reworking of allocations, in keeping with our published processes and deadlines, all courses for 2025-26 should be uploaded onto PIP and have the structure/delivery pattern built in CMIS by the end of April 2025. If this will prove problematic due to staff appointment dates, Schools should raise this with their Dean of Learning and Teaching in order that contingency plans can be put in place. No new courses can be approved after this date without sign off from timetabling and the Dean to ensure that proposed timeslots and class sizes can in fact be accommodated.

 

*The Jan 2025 Home Office policy is being reviewed with a view to developing clear guidance on what it means for teaching at the University of Glasgow. Guidelines will be shared in due course.