Haworth Towler

Profile

As a Digital Learning Advisor, I support students to develop their digital skills and capabilities, offering support through the Learning Development Team’s co-curricular programme (Skills@Library), our email query service and the library makerspace, as well as embedded support on programmes within schools.  I am responsible for co-ordination of the co-curricular offer, finding opportunities to develop new workshops and find opportunities for collaboration and resource sharing across the institution with colleagues focussing on digital capabilities support.

I am also liaison for the faculties of Medicine and Health, Biological Sciences, and (jointly) Leeds Business Schools, working with module leads and Directors of Student Education to provide tailored support for their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through embedded workshops and curated online learning resources.  

I joined the Learning Development team in 2022, after a decade working in Student Success related project management, data and insight, and process development roles across the institution, including learning analytics, engagement monitoring, and sense of belonging, and contextual admissions. I also held roles overseeing a large-scale student support programme designed to address structural inequality in higher education, and a contextual admissions scheme and module supporting c2000 participants per year in their transition to University, both of which contributed to the Access and Participation Plan and included responsibilities for line management and budgets.

Prior to working in higher education, I had a non-linear career pathway, often whilst studying alongside as a lifelong learner, leading to the development of a broad range of skills, experience, and knowledge to bring to the role.  I began my career as an apprentice-trained Engineer, before roles as a Software Developer and Business Analyst, after which a career change led to becoming a self-employed artist, specialising in sculpture, and working within museums and galleries and arts education.

Responsibilities

• Chair of the cross-functional Digital Capabilities Programme subgroup.
• Co-chair of the Working Class Staff Network
• Member of the cross-functional AI (Digital Capabilities) subgroup and Student Success Progression

Research interests

I am interested in inclusive pedagogy, particularly in relation to digital inequality, and have completed a LITE Fellowship on student perceptions of support for digital assessment, which took a multidimensional approach to understanding starting positions, learning gains, and any structural barriers to completing assessments involving digital media production. The findings of this research are detailed in this LITE Snapshot. 

I have also completed postgraduate research in Digital Education, completing a mixed methods study using learning analytics and student self-reported routes to understand commuter student engagement and pedagogical and environmental considerations for this cohort.

I am also interested in building communities of practice and activism through skills development, including through hackathons and similar active learning styles.

Qualifications

• MA Digital Education, University of Leeds.
• PGDip Critical and Cultural Theory, University of Leeds.
• BA Fine Art, Leeds Arts University.
• BSc Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London.
• HNC Electronics and Electrical Principles, Leeds College of Technology.

Student education

I provide embedded academic digital capabilities support for taught undergraduate and postgraduate students on programmes across the faculties of Biological Sciences, Medicine and Health, and the Leeds University Business School, and co-curricular support for all taught students through library provision.