Dr Fiona Work

Tell us something people may not know about you.

I’m interested in extreme sports. Up until around 12 years ago, I used to paraglide until I fell 100 feet, broke my back and took 35 weeks to learn to walk again. I still water-ski and snow ski.

I’m also Chair of a flood group. I’m interested in flood management, community resilience and how communities work together to empower themselves to take action around flood management. I’ve led the group since 2012 when my own house flooded and I was homeless for ten months. I then worked with the Scottish Flood Forum to set up a multiagency group to raise money for flood defences and prevention in the area.

What made you apply for the Teaching Excellence Fellow position?

I was a Teaching Fellow already, and I had achieved that status two years prior to the Teaching Excellence Fellow commencing. I was already aware of the process of how to compile a portfolio of evidence. I found the previous experience to be a celebration of successes. We don’t often take the time to look back at all the things that we’ve achieved. I enjoyed the positive reinforcement during the first process, so I was encouraged to take myself forward for the Teaching Excellence Fellow position.

Tell us about your teaching style?

My teaching style is focused on co-learning. I enjoy a partnership relationship with the students, whether that’s at undergraduate, postgraduate or with my colleagues on the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning, Teaching and Assessment that I’m module leader for. The co-learning approach indicates the partnership that empowers the student to take responsibility for their own learning, but also that they share their learning with me. Together, we progress through the module and at the end we've both learned something new about the subject matter.

What are you most proud of?

I think I’m most proud of a project that I led in 2015, where I managed to take the school paper free. All of our summative assessments were marked with feedback and feedforward within our digital platform. The project ran for a year where we took different modules onto the platform in a staged approach. All summative assessments were marked by academics online. Built within the paper-free environment, students didn’t just get feedback on their work, they got quality assured statements with links to articles or support services within RGU. This enhances future submissions of assessments by giving students a direct path to follow to improve their learning. I knew this was successful when the National Student Survey results increased by 26 percent that same year.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy having the ability to be innovative and to introduce new technologies, new ways of learning within the role and having the freedom and pleasure of leading teams in an innovative practice.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Applying for the Teaching Excellence Fellow is a celebration of success and allows individuals to have some time to reflect on the good practice and good work they're doing. That opportunity is a very positive experience, especially when it comes to the references. The references you get back from your colleagues is something you don’t really expect, and I found them really insightful. It’s the things we don’t say to each other on a day to day basis. I found it to be a really positive experience.

Teaching Excellence Fellow is a Grade 9 role which looks to promote those who have achieved a significant level of activity in the effective enhancement of Teaching & Learning. If you are interested in applying for a Teaching Excellence Fellow position, take a look at the Annual Appointment Process document.