scholarly journals The role of an academic development unit in supporting institutional VET learning and teaching change management

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Nina Fotinatos ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Change Management ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Leadership Management ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Development Unit ◽  
Operational Change ◽  
Management Project

The aim of this paper is to examine the role and impact of a central academic development unit (ADU) within an institutional strategic and operational change management project. The primary goal of this project was to improve vocational education and training (VET) learning and teaching practice in an Australian dual-sector regional university. This driver of this change management project was in preparation for an external accreditation audit with the Australia Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). This paper presents perspectives from the ADU director and a specific ADU team (six senior educators and nine administrative staff) employed for 16 months to enact partial project goals. The ADU director utilises narrative methodology to describe the enactment of the project at the ADU level within the context of Kotters 8 Step Change Model (Kotter, 2012). An open and closed item survey approach was used to capture the perceptions of the ADU team regarding demonstrated leadership, management and team functionality throughout the duration of the project. The survey data also captured their perceptions regarding the value placed on change management requirements and indicators and their most rewarding experiences throughout the project. This paper highlights challenges and key lessons for ADUs associated with change management in a dual-sector environment. It also highlights the importance of utilising a suitable change management framework to initiative, lead and support meaningful, sustained changes in the dual-sector education environment

scholarly journals Editorial 13.1

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
Romy Lawson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Guest Editor ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Future

In this first editorial of 2016 I have some exciting news to share with the readership. Firstly the journal has recently been accepted for inclusion in Scopus, with the increase in citations from the journal being mentioned as noteworthy. Thanks goes to Dr Alisa Percy for her work on helping the journal gain this recognition, as well acknowledgement to previous editors. Secondly this year we shall be publishing two special issues in addition to the three regular releases: Reflection for Learning in Higher Education, Guest Editor Dr Marina Harvey (April, 2016) Dystopia or Utopia: Emerging Visions for the Future of Learning and Teaching Practice in collaboration with the Council of Australian Directors of Academic Development (CADAD) (September, 2016)

scholarly journals Academic Development Perspectives of Blended Learning

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Roisin Donnelly ◽  
Claire McAvinia
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Technological Intervention ◽  
Face To Face Instruction

Technological advances in every aspect of today’s higher education environment create a forum for academic developers to re-examine existing delivery methods for professional development. Within the context of this case study, the term ‘academic developer’ is taken to encompass the role of learning technologist. In order to be responsive and accommodate the changes, traditional instruction methods are being extended to encompass the range of Web 2.0 tools available. Debate is ongoing in the area of blended learning as to the ultimate effectiveness of technology integration. Through exploration of the experiences of two academic developers involved in the design and delivery of accredited professional development programmes for academic staff in Ireland, the case is made for an effective balance in pedagogical and technological intervention. Both were experienced in delivery of face-to-face instruction, had different levels of experience in online teaching and worked collaboratively with academic staff. Experience from the two case studies suggests that a prerequisite for embedding blended learning strategies in learning and teaching is that the instructors recognise the need for appropriate holistic academic development to provide them with not only an understanding of how best to use the technologies, but fundamentally for enhancing their understanding of how to develop effective blended learning environments.

scholarly journals JUTLP Special CADAD Issue 13.4 Editorial

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
Kevin Ashford-Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Future

It gives me great pleasure in writing this first editorial for this Council of Australian Directors of Academic Development (CADAD) Special Issue for the Journal of Teaching & Learning Practice: Dystopia or Utopia: Emerging Visions for the Future of Learning and Teaching Practice. The issue looks at the future of learning and teaching in HE, examining both the exciting prospects as well as the more challenging aspects that we are likely to be facing as we move forward. As President of CADAD I can say that I have seen a substantial amount of changes in the sector that have impacted on how universities both think about and support learning and teaching.

scholarly journals Sessional Academic Success: A Distributed Framework for Academic Support and Development

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian Hamilton ◽  
◽  
Michelle Fox ◽  
Mitchell McEwan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Contextual Support ◽  
Building Leadership Capacity

With approximately half of Australian university teaching now performed by Sessional Academics, there has been growing recognition of the contribution they make to student learning. At the same time, sectorwide research and institutional audits continue to raise concerns about academic development, quality assurance, recognition and belonging (Red Report, 2008; May, 2013). In response, universities have increasingly begun to offer academic development programs for Sessional Academics. However, such programs tend to be centrally delivered, generic in nature, and contained within the moment of delivery, while the Faculty contexts and cultures that Sessional Academics work within are diverse, and the need for support unfolds in ad-hoc and often unpredictable ways. In this paper we present the Sessional Academic Success (SAS) program – a new framework that complements and extends the central academic development program for Sessional Academics at Queensland University of Technology. This program recognizes that experienced Sessional Academics have much to contribute to the advancement of learning and teaching, and harnesses their expertise to provide school-based academic development opportunities, peer-to-peer support, and locally contextualized community building. We describe the program’s implementation and explain how Sessional Academic Success Advisors (SASAs) are employed, trained and supported to provide advice and mentorship and, through a co-design methodology, to develop local development opportunities and communities of teaching practice within their schools. Besides anticipated benefits to new Sessional Academics in terms of timely and contextual support and improved sense of belonging, we explain how SAS provides a pathway for building leadership capacity and academic advancement for experienced Sessional Academics. We take a collaborative, dialogic and reflective practice approach to this paper, interlacing insights from the Associate Director, Academic: Sessional Development who designed the program, and two Sessional Academic Success Advisors who have piloted it within their schools.

scholarly journals Lights, camera, active! appreciation of active learning predicts positive attitudes towards lecture capture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Nordmann ◽  
Anne Clark ◽  
El Spaeth ◽  
Jill R. D. MacKay
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Conceptions Of Learning ◽  
Educational Impact ◽  
Lecture Capture ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Positive Attitudes

AbstractMuch has been written about instructor attitudes towards lecture capture, particularly concerning political issues such as opt-out policies and the use of recordings by management. Additionally, the pedagogical concerns of lecturers have been extensively described and focus on the belief that recording lectures will impact on attendance and will reduce interactivity and active learning activities in lectures. However, little work has looked at the relationship between attitudes towards lecture capture and broader conceptions of learning and teaching. In this pre-registered study, we administered the Conceptions of Learning and Teaching scale and a novel lecture capture attitude scale to 159 higher education teachers. We found that appreciation of active learning predicted more positive attitudes towards lecture recordings as an educational support tool, whilst higher teacher-centred scores predicted greater concern about the negative educational impact of recordings. The effects observed were small; however, they are strong evidence against the view that it is instructors who value participatory and active learning that are opposed to lecture capture. Exploratory analyses also suggested that those who did not view recordings as an essential educational resource record fewer of their lectures, highlighting the real-world impact that attitudes can have, and further strengthening the need for staff to be provided with evidence-based guidance upon which to base their teaching practice. Data, analysis code, and the pre-registration are available athttps://osf.io/uzs3t/.

scholarly journals Critically Reflective Pedagogical Model: a Pragmatic Blueprint for Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Construction Disciplines

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
Imriyas Kamardeen
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Pedagogical Model ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Improved Learning ◽  
Critically Reflective Practice

University lecturers who aspire to provide an improved learning experience for their students continually, and be recognised for high quality teaching should embrace a critically reflective practice. Nonetheless, developing as a reflective lecturer is challenging, although there are pedagogical literatures as general guidelines. This study introduces a new pedagogical model of critically reflective practice to simplify the efforts for lecturers and to shorten their journey to becoming effective teachers. A two-phased action research strategy was adopted for the development and validation of the new model. The first phase operationalised the Brookfield’s four-lens framework to create a reflective teaching practice model, which was then validated with a case study in the second phase. The model offers a pragmatic blueprint for lecturers to build a career with sustained quality of teaching, which in turn translates into improved learning experiences for students.

scholarly journals Riding Out the Storm: Out-of-Field Teaching Practice in Indonesia

Humaniora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Esti Rahayu ◽  
Shuki Osman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Extended Time ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Teaching Learning

As out-of-field teachers existence led to change in teachers, this research aimed to explore their commitment to learning and teaching, and how their schools supported them. Five Indonesian teachers who started teaching as out-of-field teachers and their school leaders were interviewed for this research. The qualitative case study was employed to explore the problem through interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal that the initial commitment to teaching, learning, and growing is an investment for further actions throughout the teaching practice. The schools provide necessary assistance through the induction and during their in-service in the provided and requested professional learning, being trusted and acknowledged by school leaders, and having resourceful colleagues. From their schools’ support, the out-of-field teachers become more knowledgeable and remain as teachers for an extended time.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural effects of COVID-19 on higher education learning and teaching practice: A case study from Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Margarita Kefalaki ◽  
◽  
Michael Nevradakis ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Cultural Effects ◽  
Global Pandemic

COVID-19 has greatly impacted all aspects of our everyday lives. A global pandemic of this magnitude, even as we now emerge from strict measures such as lockdowns and await the potential for a ‘new tomorrow’ with the arrival of vaccines, will certainly have long-lasting consequences. We will have to adapt and learn to live in a different way. Accordingly, teaching and learning have also been greatly impacted. Changes to academic curricula have had tremendous cross-cultural effects on higher education students. This study will investigate, by way of focus groups comprised of students studying at Greek universities during the pandemic, the cross-cultural effects that this ‘global experience’ has had on higher education, and particularly on students in Greek universities. The data collection tools are interviews and observations gathered from focus groups.

scholarly journals The opinions of primary school teachers’ candidates towards material preparation and usage

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Zeynep Genc
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Material Design ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
School Teaching ◽  
Course Material

Instruction materials help students to acquire more memorable information. Instruction materials have an important effect on providing more permanent and simple way of learning in every step of education. Instruction materials are the most frequently used by primary school teachers. Primary school teachers should support their lectures with instruction materials in order to provide permanent learning. The Teaching Technologies and Material Designing (TTMD) course which is one of the compulsory courses that students must take aims to acquire students the information and skills related with the preparation and use of materials. Evaluation of TTMD course is important in terms of the effectiveness of the course which provides the opportunity of motivating the students to learn by attracting their attention, keeping their attentions alive, making abstract concepts more concrete, facilitating the acquisition of knowledge in an organized way in the process of learning and teaching. In this context, it was aimed to determine the opinions of students in the department of primary school teaching about preparation and use of materials through teaching practice which is done within TTMD course in this study. This study is a descriptive study based on qualitative data. The sample of this research included 37 students from the department of primary school teaching who took TTMD course in the second semester in 2014-2015 academic year at Ataturk Education Faculty of Near East University or students who took this course in previous academic years. The data of this research were collected with structured interview form. According to the results, it was revealed that primary school teachers’ candidates attach importance to prepare and use materials based on their answers about the use and preparation of materials in instruction. When the opinions of primary school teachers candidates about the criteria that they give value in preparing and using materials, it was figured out that they emphasize the criteria such as suitability for student level, suitability for aim, simplicity and easy comprehensibility. Furthermore, the results indicated that primary school teachers’ candidates mostly experience difficulty in finding suitable materials and tools for the aim. It was also revealed that the majority of primary school teachers’ candidates stated that they will use materials and a few of them indicated that they will not use materials since they find materials as insufficient based on their answers about the question asking if they will use the materials which they prepared in TTMD course when they begin teaching profession. Keywords: primary school, primary teaching candidates, teaching technologies and material designing (TTMD) course, material design, instruction materials

scholarly journals Do LEGO® Models Aid Reflection in Learning and Teaching Practice?

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissi Nerantzi ◽  
Craig Scott Despard
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Good Assessment ◽  
The University ◽  
Assessment Strategies ◽  
The Impact

In this paper we describe the use of LEGO® models within assessment of the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) offered at the University of Salford. Within the context of the PGCAP, we model innovative and contextualised assessment strategies for and of learning. We challenge our students, who are teachers in higher education (HE), to think and rethink the assessment they are using with their own students. We help them develop a deeper understanding and experience of good assessment and feedback practice in a wider context while they are assessed as students on the PGCAP. We report on an evaluation of how the LEGO® model activity was used with a cohort of students in the context of the professional discussion assessment. We share the impact it had on reflection and the assessment experience and make recommendations for good practice.

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