Mark Peace

I am currently the School Director of Teaching and Learning (SDTL) and therefore oversee the quality assurance of ISLI’s academic programmes. In the past couple of years this has significantly involved overseeing the implementation of the University’s Portfolio Review Process for ISLI’s programmes as the University moves to a semester model for the academic year. With ISLI managing the University’s Foundation programmes this required close coordination with the 11 Schools owning programmes with an integrated foundation year. It is this close relationship with other Schools that makes the SDTL role in ISLI somewhat unique.

An important part of the SDTL role is overseeing the School Teaching Enhancement Action Plan (STEAP) and key priorities for ISLI have been the further development of our Pre-sessional English Programme, improving Foundation student outcomes, piloting a lockdown browser for secure online language testing and the successful migration of online teaching materials from Blackboard Learn to Blackboard Learn Ultra. Moving forward continued work will be done in these areas, but responding to the rise of generative AI and it’s impact on assessment and how ISLI responds has become a new key priority. Of course the technology is rapidly evolving and therefore so should we, ensuring we benefit from the opportunities and benefits to student learning it can offer while mitigating against the risks to academic integrity it clearly poses.

Prior to the SDTL role I was acting Director of Foundation Year studies and School Director of Academic Tutoring and School Director of Recruitment and Admissions. As a Senior Tutor on the International Foundation Programme, I was the Senior Academic Tutor, Director of the January Start IFP and taught Academic Skills and Physics.