scholarly journals Increasing access to professional learning for academic staff through open educational resources and authentic design

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-66
Author(s):  
Gail Wilson ◽  
◽  
Paula Myatt ◽  
Jonathan Purdy ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
Personal Reflections

This research examines the design and delivery of a new Foundations of University Teaching Practice (FUTP) program delivered through asynchronous online modules. The freedom to choose defines the new momentum of openness in distance and open learning. University teaching staff expect quality resources to support their professional development within the reality of limited time for learning and a desire for increased accessibility. Openness and increased access bring both opportunities and challenges. This paper uses mixed methods to examine the FUTP from the perspectives of both the designers and the academic staff who participated in the program. Using personal reflections, focus groups, a survey, and interviews, we explore those opportunities and challenges within the context of the design and delivery of the program and report on the findings. Our research confirmed the value of openness and increased access to professional learning in higher education

Constructivist E-Learning for Staff Engaged in Coninuous Professional Development

2011 ◽  
pp. 146-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roisin Donnelly ◽  
Ciara O’Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Constructivist Practices

Professional development for academic staff in e-learning is currently a priority for higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland, as lecturers experience increasing demands to incorporate e-learning into their teaching practice. This chapter reports on the design and implementation of a blended module in e-learning for the continuous professional development of such lecturers. In it the co-authors (who designed and developed the module) discuss the effectiveness of exposing lecturers as online students in order to experience first-hand the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning. It argues that a constructivist, collaborative interaction can provide the scaffolding for lecturers’ future journeys into e-learning and into constructivist practices within their own teaching. Although this approach is still in its infancy, important outcomes were achieved in terms of influencing lecturers’ thinking and approaches to both their own and to their students’ learning.

scholarly journals Perceptions about the Future of Integrating Emerging Technologies into Higher Education—The Case of Robotics with Artificial Intelligence

Computers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Janika Leoste ◽  
Larissa Jõgi ◽  
Tiia Õun ◽  
Luis Pastor ◽  
José San Martín López ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
University Level

Emerging technologies (ETs) will most likely have a strong impact on education (starting with higher education), just like they have already had in so many economic and social areas. This paper is based on the results obtained in the project “My Future Colleague Robot”, an initiative that aimed to improve the competence of university teaching staff regarding the introduction of ETs in teaching practices at university level. In this paper, we identified the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are related to the adoption in higher education of the combination of two ETs: robotics together with artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, we analyzed the perceptions of university-level teaching staff about the potential of introducing ETs in education. The empirical data presented here were collected using written essays from 18 university teachers and students. Deductive and inductive approaches with thematic analysis were used for the data analysis. The findings support the idea that previous ET-related experience can support positive attitudes and the implementations of ETs in university teaching; in this study, university teachers had optimistic expectations towards ETs, accepting them as part of teaching practice development, while discussion about the negative effects of ETs was negligible.

scholarly journals ОЦІНЮВАННЯ КАДРОВОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ СИСТЕМИ ОСВІТИ: РЕГІОНАЛЬНИЙ АСПЕКТ

2019 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-21
Author(s):  
Тетяна Михайлівна Власюк
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education System ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Staffing Level

This article provides an assessment of the staffing level in Ukraine’s education system by the following criteria: number of academic and teaching staff dynamics for higher education institutions of Ukraine (III–IV accreditation levels) and their concentration by regions; the dynamics of postgraduate and doctoral programs performance indicators and research degree students concentration by regions; the structure (the ratio) of full-time employees in the area of education against the overall employment structure by types of business activity; employee movement indicators in Ukraine’s education system. A comprehensive integrated assessment of quantitative and qualitative dimensions of human resources is critical in terms of reflecting the current state and trends in the education system development. Based on the evaluation results, it is revealed that the number of academic and teaching staff in education institutions tends to decrease over the years, as well as the number of employees having research degrees and academic ranks. The negative downward trend has also been observed in the number of postgraduate students in the analyzed period. It is reported that the highest concentration of personnel engaged in higher education is observed in the city of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa regions. The Analysis of employee movement in the education sector showed that in 2018, the intensity of education staff inflow exceeded the intensity of its outflow, which is a positive trend that contributes to reducing the load per vacancy. To retain and enhance the staffing capacity, it is recommended to reduce the academic workload for University teaching staff as an incentive to facilitate their further realization as researches; create sectoral clusters with the involvement of education entities that will contribute to increasing funding for research and technological development; to motivate more active participation of higher education institutions in a range of international research programs, grant and scholarship schemes and competitions which will help to boost academic staff mobility and exchange of best practice among international partners.

scholarly journals A professional learning program for novice online teachers: Application of professional development guidelines using threshold concepts and online learning perceptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Northcote ◽  
Kevin P Gosselin ◽  
Peter Kilgour ◽  
Daniel Reynaud ◽  
Catherine McLoughlin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Threshold Concepts ◽  
Online Teachers ◽  
Learning Contexts

The professional development of online teachers is now commonplace in most universities. Alongside the relatively straightforward decision to provide professional learning support for novice and experienced online educators within universities, decisions about the nature and content of such support are not always as clear cut. The study aimed to gather evidence about the experiences and views of current students and staff which, in turn, informed a set of pedagogical guidelines that could be used as the basis of professional learning programs for novice online teachers. Using a mixed methods research design, data were gathered using questionnaires, reflective journals and focus groups to determine the threshold concepts about online teaching, and perceptions of ideal online learning contexts. As well as identifying threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of teachers’ and students’ ideal views of online learning contexts (reported elsewhere), the study produced curricular guidelines to inform the design of professional development outputs for online teachers in higher education contexts. This article reports on an example of how these professional development guidelines were implemented at one higher education institution to provide wide-scale implementation of a professional development program for academic staff engaged in online teaching.

scholarly journals PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC STAFF IN SWEDEN ON EXAMPLE OF RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 27-29
Author(s):  
Ilona Mariuts ◽  
◽  
Veronica Bovsunovska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research University ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
National Strategy ◽  
Educational Activities

The article deals with the professional development of teaching staff in Sweden on the example of Lund Research University. The author reveals the national strategy for the development and support of higher education staff in Sweden, as well as the features of the educational activities of Swedish higher education teachers on the example of Lund University. The author reveals the university's approach to improving the activities of teachers, namely the introduction of a teaching course in higher education is mandatory for all who teach at Lund University. We are talking about the course "Teaching and learning in higher education" or "Development of a course in higher education". Accordingly, teachers who supervise doctoral students must undergo special teacher training.

scholarly journals Bridging Distance: Professional Development for Higher Education Faculty Through Technology-Facilitated Lesson Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Soto ◽  
◽  
Dittika Gupta ◽  
Lara Dick ◽  
Mollie Appelgate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
Virtual Community Of Practice ◽  
Common Interests

Higher education faculty benefit from participating in communities of practice focused on developing and improving their own instruction. However, collaborators with common interests are not always located at the same physical location. In this article, we share how participation in a technology-facilitated lesson study provided the means for five higher education faculty across the U.S. to engage in professional development and evolve into a virtual community of practice. Through the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication technology, we formulated goals, planned a common lesson, conducted research on our students’ learning, and reflected on our own teaching practice. For this paper, we share how the process of technology-facilitated lesson study provided professional learning for us as individuals.

scholarly journals Development of an Evidence-based Professional Learning Program Informed by Online Teachers' Self-efficacy and Threshold Concepts

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin P Gosselin ◽  
Maria Northcote ◽  
Daniel Reynaud ◽  
Peter Kilgour ◽  
Malcolm Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Threshold Concepts ◽  
Academic Teaching

As online education continues to expand across varied educational sectors, so does the demand for professional development programs to guide academic teaching staff through the processes of developing their capacities to design and teach online courses. To meet these challenges at one higher education institution, a mixed methods research study was implemented to identify the professional learning needs of academic teaching staff for the purposes of developing a tailor-made professional development program. The principles of self-efficacy and threshold concepts were used to inform the design of the study. Data were systematically gathered from the participants to determine self-efficacy, concerns, and questions and experiences of academic teaching staff with online teaching. Findings revealed that academic staff held threshold concepts, skills and attitudes about online teaching. Three groups of staff were identified, all with varying forms of professional development requirements. This case study account demonstrates how an evidence-based project provided the basis for a research-informed institutional professional development program that is currently guiding academic staff through their development as online course designers and teachers.

scholarly journals Internationalizing teacher education curricula: opportunities for academic staff development

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Mónica Lourenço
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Staff Development ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of a collaborative workshop, aimed to support teacher educators in embedding a “global outlook” in the curriculum on their perceived professional development. Design/methodology/approach The workshop included working sessions, during a period of 13 months, and was structured as participatory action research, according to which volunteer academics designed, developed and evaluated global education projects in their course units. Data were gathered through a focus group session, conducted with the teacher educators at a final stage of the workshop, and analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Findings Results of the analysis suggest that the workshop presented a meaningful opportunity for teacher educators to reconstruct their knowledge and teaching practice to (re)discover the importance of collaborative work and to assume new commitments to themselves and to others. Originality/value The study addresses a gap in the existing literature on academic staff development in internationalization of the curriculum, focusing on the perceptions of teacher educators’, whose voices have been largely silent in research in the field. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for a professional development program in internationalization of the curriculum.

scholarly journals Evaluating the performance of teaching staff members, a step towards teaching performance development of higher education in Sebha University

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Zamzam Amhimmid Mare
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Analytic Description ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Teaching Performance ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Performance Development ◽  
The University

This study aims to show the importance of evaluating the teaching performance level of the University teaching members. It also aims to provide the suggested mechanisms for evaluating the teaching performance of the teaching staff members of Sebha University. This study was based mainly on documents and analytic description to collect information about the importance and ways of evaluating teachers with reference to some of the international experiences on teaching performance development. This study concluded that the absence of an experienced entity that would develop the teaching performance of faculty members is one of the main reasons for the weak teaching performance at Sebha University. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that there should be a planned system based on measured standards and criteria for evaluating staff members to improve the quality of teaching in the higher education domain. 

scholarly journals Benchmarking of University teachers’ professional development: successful European, Chinese, and Russian practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Tatiana Tregubova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
Teaching Activities ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Higher Education Organizations ◽  
The University

In the context of socio-pedagogical transformations of higher education organizations, the modernization of the system of teachers’ professional development becomes an integral component of the reforms. Today university teachers have to be ready for continuous development and advanced training throughout their lives. Thus, the study of the problem of university teachers’ professional development in Russia and abroad is very relevant and timely as a response to the modern requirements of civil society for the personality of the teacher. The need for professional development among university teachers is closely related to his (her) desire for more successful indicators in teaching activities. To do this, it is necessary to fulfill several pedagogical conditions, including the teacher's own awareness of the need for professional development; the interest of the university administration and the availability of resources to organize an effective professional development system, etc. The purpose of the article is to show some successful practices of the teachers’ professional development in Russian, Chinese and European universities which the author observed while visiting those universities within the realization the project “Enhancing teaching practice in the universities of Russia and China”. The article presents the possibilities of benchmarking in higher education, in particular, the use of the benchmarking technology as a method of studying the effective practices of organizing the teachers’ professional development in a modern university.

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