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The UTS Educational Fellowship Program (UTS-EFP) offers a supported pathway towards international recognition of professional, effective and inclusive teaching. The program will be available to all UTS academic and professional staff involved in the teaching and support of high quality learning. As we prepare, we’re sharing stories from those in the UTS community who have been through the Fellowship process.

So far this year, we’ve heard from Amanda Lizier (Senior Fellow), Helena Robinson (Fellow) and Yvonne Davila (Senior Fellow) about their process and experiences applying for Fellowship. In this blog we hear from Keith Heggart, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS) and Director of the Centre for Research on Education in a Digital Society (CREDS). Keith was awarded Senior Fellowship in 2024.

Q1. Why did you apply for Fellowship? 

I’m a perennial badge-getter – if there’s a digital credential on offer, you can guarantee I’ve done the course to get it (and then shared it on social media). Beyond the buzz of short-term achievement, however, these nods from different peak bodies and organisations had a serious purpose, forcing me to pause and think about what, why and how I did something, and what difference it made. That’s an important part of growing as an educator, but one that is often overlooked in the hectic rush to tick things off the ’to-do’ list. In this context, I had looked at Fellowship previously but the significant cost had put me off; the support from UTS to apply (both financial and peer support) was a big factor in getting it done this time.

Q2. How did you find the process of putting your application together? 

If you’re not given to blowing your own trumpet, it’s an excruciating process – a bit like writing a promotion application! I really had to focus on thinking about this as learning a new kind of genre – the ‘self-promotion reflection’ genre – and that made it easier. I found that I often had to write a sentence, and then restructure it to foreground my contribution. A good tip that I learnt early on was every time I wrote ‘co-ordinate’ (e.g. ‘I co-ordinated a professional learning session’), I usually needed to replace it with ‘led’ to make my role clear in that activity.

The most enjoyable part of the process was selecting my case studies. Fortunately I had lots of different projects I could write about, and it was tough restricting myself to the two that I chose: the development of a graduate certificate, and my work to build awareness of the profession of learning design.

Q3. What kinds of scholarship, research or other evidence-informed approaches did you draw on?  

I was able to draw a lot on my own research into the development of learning design as a profession. As part of my work in designing the Graduate Certificate in Learning Design, I’d undertaken research and published a few articles; it was nice to be able to draw on them, as well as other key figures in the field, when I was constructing my portfolio. However, as I was applying for Senior Fellowship, perhaps the most important part was having to show evidence that I had influenced the practice of others; I was able to include research from some colleagues of mine on similar topics that I had helped to support through my own work. 

Q4. What kind of ‘evidence’ did you provide that showed the impact of your practice? 

I enjoyed the process of getting together all the different sources of evidence to support my application for Fellowship. I tried to get beyond the usual student feedback surveys, valuable though they are, and instead wanted to draw on the employment statistics of students who had graduated from my course, as I felt this was a better measure of its impact. I also drew on quotes from students and colleagues (with permission) and external factors like the number of people attending events I organised, or the number of people in a LinkedIn group that I established. 

Q5. What advice can you share with others starting the Fellowship process? 

My top pieces of advice would be:

  1. Start writing immediately. You will write and re-write, again and again. It’s easier to revise from a draft than from a blank page. 
  2. Don’t worry about ticking off all the descriptors, knowledges, values and areas of activity until you’ve written your case studies. Then go back and identify which ones you have already covered and which ones you still need to address.
  3. This application is not a plan, it’s a reflection of what you’ve done. With that in mind, it should be easy to identify examples of your work. If it’s very hard to do that, you might not be ready for this yet, or you might need to select a different category of Fellowship. 

Is Fellowship for you? Find out more…

If you’re curious to know more about this internationally-recognised fellowship program, there’s a new podcast series from Advance HE to talk you through the basics, including:

There are plenty of UTS resources to explore too. The UTS Educational Fellowship Program Sharepoint site has updated information, applicant handbooks, and key dates for applications. If you’re ready for the next level of detail, use the Advance HE Fellowship Category Tool to identify the closest match for your current practice, then explore our Fellowship Readiness Grid for Associate Fellow (AFHEA), Fellow (FHEA) or Senior Fellow (SFHEA).

If you have questions about Fellowship, you can contact us via uts-efp@uts.edu.au. Keep an eye out for program registrations later this year – we can’t wait to welcome you to the UTS Educational Fellowship community

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