Choosing a university with teaching quality is of the highest importance for every single student. Sheffield Hallam was named the University of the Year for Teaching Quality. In order to have success in the classroom and beyond, it was essential for me that teaching content is structured and delivered in the right way, engaging and easy to understand and process, and also well received by students. Based on my experience of doing the MSc Sport Business Management course, I would like to share the teaching quality content we had and how it was delivered:
- Teaching and sharing from personal experience.
The majority of our course professors are experts and practitioners within their industry. Everything they teach, they know from their own professional experience, which is an advantage for students. For example, the sports consultancy module was taught by a professor who is a successful sport business consultant for many big sport organisations in the UK and abroad, so at his lectures we always had real-life examples and case-studies.
- Having engaging visual teaching materials
At every module and for every seminar and lecture we always had a presentation. The presentations were usually visually attractive, with appropriate amounts of information, videos and graphics. Some professors would use printed materials to make the learning process more dynamic.
- Adapting Content For Every Student
Taking into consideration the cultural diversity and different professional backgrounds of everyone in our group, our professors always adapted their teaching materials to everyone, avoiding cultural stereotypes and assumptions. On the contrary, they were always asking us to share how it works in different countries to see the differences and find similarities.
- Engaging everyone
While doing some practical work during lecturers and seminars, our professors always divide us into teams and groups, so everyone would feel included and engaged, learning and developing teamwork skills. The same was for assignments – some professors split students into groups for working on an assignment specific project, which was a good opportunity to learn how to work and collaborate with your peers – this student engagement matters.
- Providing support with assignments
Our professors always helped us with assignments. If we had any question or a concern if we were doing work in a right way, we could always make an appointment with a professor and get a consultation. I remember how I was very nervous for my very first assignment because I did not know if I was writing it in the way required. So I took an appointment, my professor checked my assignment draft in advance and gave me some useful feedback, explained how I could do it better and this helped me a lot.
- Providing opportunities to learn outside of the class
Outside of our class our course professors organise different activities for students to learn and network. We have had several sessions where different sport industry experts were invited to share their career path stories, with invited guests from F1, Kitlocker and the local football clubs. Previously, a group of our students were able to attend the Football Agent Summit in London. We also have a LinkedIn group where our module leaders share job opportunities, training and seminars, scholarships etc.
At the end of every module students could fill in a survey, giving feedback on the module and teaching quality. The University constantly improves teaching quality and prioritises delivering the best services possible. For me, teaching quality has the greatest impact on student learning.
Written by #HallamInsider Zhanna Tlegenova
