The CAMEL Trail: SEDA Conference 2010

After a gruelling 5.5 hour train journey last week, Andy and I arrived in Leeds, ready to present with the rest of Curriculum Design Cluster B, at the SEDA Conference. The conference aimed to explore and debate the issues around ‘Communities of Learning’.

Our Cluster Group ran a session called ‘The CAMEL Trail’, which aimed to share the collaborative and supportive ‘CAMEL’ approach that we have adopted, the activities and themes that we have explored as a group, and how each project has gained from being part of a CAMEL community. Through the session, we aimed to explore the benefits of using the CAMEL approach and shared top tips that session participants may be able to apply to their own contexts.

We started the presentation with an introduction to the CAMEL model and how it has been adopted by our cluster group. We outlined the themes that have been focussed upon during face to face meetings, the activities that have been run, the tangible outputs that have been achieved and the benefits of adopting the approach and working collaboratively.

Following this initial introduction, a wider open group discussion took place, exploring the benefits and pitfalls of the approach in more detail. Discussion started around the funding required to help facilitate such collaboration. JISC (funders of the Curriculum Design and Delivery projects) have allocated funding specifically for CAMEL Cluster meetings. The host institution receives a set amount of funding to contribute towards the costs of running a CAMEL meeting. Participants at the SEDA session were interested to find out, ‘what’s in it for the funders?’. Marianne Shepherd, Co-ordinator of the JISC Design and Delivery Programmes advised that JISC had found the CAMEL approach useful in providing projects with another layer of support (i.e. peer support), an opportunity to build upon commonalities between projects so as not to reinvent the wheel, and had also resulted in programme level outcomes (e.g. Dissemination at Conferences, journal articles etc).

During the session, we discussed other approaches and models to facilitate collaboration and support across the HE sector – for example the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs), amongst others. There was a general feeling that there is a need on a national level, for a more consistent approach towards the management and co-ordination of support networks. Also, it was felt that more emphasis needs to be placed on the coordination and sharing of project and outcomes, both at a University level and on a wider scale. It was felt that a Central Educational Development Unit (or equivalent) would be the most appropriate and useful place to share outcomes within a University.

It was suggested that given the nature of the Curriculum Design projects, it may be useful to host a CAMEL event aimed at the Pro-Vice Chancellors from the institutions in the cluster… now there’s food for thought…..!

I attended a couple of interesting sessions during the rest of the Conference, including a workshop exploring the Student Experience of Final Year Students and a talk from the soon-to-be President of the National Union of Students (NUS), Aaron Porter.