ESCALATE December 1st 2008

Professional Development for Higher Education:

Mapping the territory.

Dr Liz Beaty, Director Strategic Academic Practice and

Partnership

Overview

• The History

• The Challenges

• What we should be aiming for.

It used to be a lonely road

Since then

1992 SEDA Accreditation

1997 Dearing report calls for professional qualification for teaching

1999 HEFCE TQEF funds

1999 Institute for Learning and Teaching

2002 Teaching Learning Research Programme (TLRP)

2003 White paper – HEA, CETLs

2005 Professional standards for HE agreed.

And now?

• Almost all Universities have an accredited programme of staff development,

• Most Universities have a dedicated unit for staff and educational development,

• There is the HEA and 24 subject centres,

• There are thriving professional associations for staff and educational developers (SEDA) and various specialist associations eg (ALT),

• A great deal more research to improve teaching.

Future Challenge:a University for the 21st Century

NOW WHAT?

Future Challenge:a University for the 21st Century

• For everyone • available anywhere• integrated with work, home, leisure• an active part of communities

• Leading intelligent development – personal, social, economic and cultural.

Developing “WHAT” – content of educational development

• Widening participation

• Employer engagement

• Personalized learning

• Sustainability

• Supporting local community and global position.

Learning and Teaching

• Course design– Separation of content and process – New academic teams– E and mobile learning – Partnership developments

• Lifelong Learning – Experiential – Work based– APEL and CPD– Intensive f2f plus distance learning– Portable credit

Developing “HOW”- Methods of CPD for staff

• Seamless progression

• Technology literacy

• Challenge and support

• Scholarship – research

– evaluation

• Model the process.

Enabling support tools

• Mobile communications– Invest in supporting what people have rather than mandating specific hardware

and software– Support communication across institutional boundaries– Focus on virtual as well as personal meetings.

• Personal development portfolios– Support learners across time and space– Enable personal alongside professional development– Secure private space alongside shared and controlled space.

The agenda for CPD

• Continuous development• New Developments• New Colleagues• Multiple agendas• Leadership• Influencing policy

and strategy

In Partnership

Shared online resources

Across educational levels

Subject networks

Teaching method networks

Leadership for teaching and learning

Credit in a 21st Century World

Reputation and trust

Personal record of competence and skill.

Assessment of knowledge and experience at point of entry.

Open accreditation – whose kite mark matters?

Credit in a 21st Century World

Build the brand

Support personal portfolio of evidence of achievement.

Facilitate individual development and employability

Support connectivity and transferability.

Questions for the colloquium

• Can one programme meet the aspirations : – individual members of staff, – strategic priorities of their institutions and – national transferability?

• How can our programmes develop from the experience of the participants and from a robust scholarship base.

• What are the relative merits of credit bearing and non credit bearing courses?

• How can informal and formal systems of development be managed within one programme?

• What is the role of research in our staff development practice?