The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has received the Staff Development Forum (SDF) Developing Excellent Practice Award 2018 for the work its Learning & Development team is doing to support staff across the University.

My SDF story

'My SDF story' aims to facilitate learning from each other within a large professional community, by sharing the stories of its members.This time, Ian Whiting from Oxford Brookes shares his personal and professional story with us.

There are many perfect pairings – the seaside and fish and chips; the SDF and quality, challenging thought-provoking speakers.

You know when you’ve found a great conference. You begin by taking notes, tweeting and downloading slides. But then you find yourself sitting back, really listening to the speakers and feeling enriched as a result.

Higher education institutions have vast pools of diverse talent to draw on to make them succeed. But how often do we draw on these resources to help each others' development? 
 
Advance HE's Future Professional Directors programme for example, brings together staff from a wide range of practices, thanks to its work with stakeholders from nine sector bodies. 

Collaboration across an organisation not only builds a sense of shared purpose and identity, it can bring more personal rewards.
 
In the teaching and learning sphere, Dr Ruth Pilkington Professorial Fellow, Liverpool Hope, shares her reflections on the value of peer dialogue.
 

This article on coaching, performance management an inclusive leadership is by Marshall E-Learning, one of the sponsors of the SDF conference and a company that has continuingly supported the work of the SDF.

In an ever more competitive economy, forward-thinking organisations are doing whatever they can to be more attractive to the best candidates regardless of their personal characteristics.

They are also very engaged with increasing their productivity and creativity within their organisations, through coaching and performance management.

Mindflick® has recently become a new sponsor of the SDF conferences. Since the conference in November, we are keen to continue our engagement and connection with the SDF. This article offers a little introduction to some ideas we are passionate about…

 
When we first meet with clients who are tackling what appear to be complex, messy, mission critical problems, they’re often surprised to hear that what we really want to talk about is pigs…and the perils of wrestling with them.

"I am always taken aback by the way participants are committed to a mythical department"

In career development, there are many ways of gaining the experience which will equip you for your next step or help you in a new role. In some of its programmes, Advance HE employs the technique of live simulation, in which actors join programme attendees to role-play situations they might face as, for example, the head of a department. Far from being an unpleasant experience, candidates say they have found the technique beneficial. 

Paul Hessey who leads on this activity for Advance HE's Leading Departments programme, explains why the method produces effective learning.