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Early Career Educator

Department: Management Leadership and Marketing

Biography

Fodhla McGrane PhD FHEA began a Lecturership in Leadership in the Dept of Management, Leadership and Marketing, Ulster University Business School in 2020. Fodhla has 21 years of teaching experience in FE and HE around the British Isles. Her teaching interests are in the following subjects: contemporary business leadership, workplace conflict resolution, and business ethics.

Her learning and teaching interests are in using assessment as a learning and teaching opportunity, enhancing the 21st century skills of students, and exploring the use and benefits of digital capabilities in the classroom. She will present on these themes at the Chartered Association of Business School’s annual Learning, Teaching and Student Experience conference in September 2020.

Fodhla’s current research interests are in authentic and ethical leadership. Her PhD research, international conference presentations and subsequent publications are in the field of interpersonal dispute resolution in the workplace.

Fodhla’s primary degree and PhD are from UU’s School of Communication. She also holds a Masters in Christian Theology from University of London and a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education from University of Southampton. Fodhla recently received her Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy and an Early Career Educator Excellence Award from UU’s Distinguished Education Excellence Panel. The case study for the award involved a live case study with the recently opened Hillsborough Castle & Gardens under the new management of Historic Royal Palaces. The story featured in UU’s Insight magazine in May 2020

Title

Leading Changes’ in Learning and Teaching

Summary

This case study details how and why I redesigned elements of a postgraduate MBA module, ‘Leadership and Change’. My aim was to enhance the student experience and increase attainment of the module’s learning outcomes by means of two main innovations:

  1. Business Partnering:
  2. Assessment using a live case study: I negotiated the creation of a novel, ‘live’ case study with NI’s renewed and recently opened Hillsborough Castle and Gardens. The case study formed the main part of the module assessment.
  3. Guest speakers: I collaborated with topical, relevant, experienced business leaders to create and deliver interactive classes with the students.
  4. New assessment strategy:

I implemented a new, two-stage assessment strategy to benefit students by ‘feeding forward’ their learning from one assessment into the next, with the aim of increasing learning outcomes. Both assessments were integrated with and timed alongside the business partnering.

Key Words

Business, partnering, assessment

Read the case study