Pre-Conference Workshop FD3
From Values to Quality Enhancement: A Hands-on Journey through Technology-enabled Course Design and Delivery
Date Wednesday, Dec 2 Time – RoomKöpenick I/II Price: 160.00 € Status: places available
Workshop leaders
Alejandro Armellini
Director, Professor of LT in HE, Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Northampton, UK
Alejandro (Ale) Armellini is Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and Director of the Institute of Learning and Teaching in HE, University of Northampton.
Ale’s key role is to lead change in the area of learning and teaching across all schools and services at Northampton. Three aspects of Ale’s work are (1) the development, implementation and evaluation of Northampton’s Learning and Teaching Strategic Plan, (2) the development of a robust framework for continuous professional development for academic staff, and (3) fostering evidence-based, innovative practices in both campus-based and online learning and teaching. Ale’s research focuses on learning innovation, online pedagogy, course design in online environments, institutional capacity building and open practices.
Ale has extensive international teaching and programme development experience across different education sectors and modes of study. Over the years, he has used, researched and refined evidence-based design-for-learning interventions to promote positive change in further and higher education. Teams under his leadership have researched the application of learning technologies in diverse academic settings. His PhD tutees research specific areas in the field of educational technology, pedagogy, openness and innovation. Ale is active in consultancy work globally.
Links
Shirley Bennett
Head of Academic Practice, University of Northampton, UK
Shirley Bennett is Head of Academic Practive at the University of Northampton, leading the institutional CPD Scheme, which is accredited by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) for the award of HEA Fellowships. She is also a member of the team of national HEA Accreditors and a UKPSF Consultant for the HEA. Her research interests lie especially in aspects of professional development for HE Teaching, and most particularly in the field of Peer Review and Online Peer Observation. She previously worked in the University of Hull, where I was Programme Director for the MEd in eLearning, delivered entirely online, and various Senior Advisor roles focusing on Peer Support for Learning & Teaching, Assessment and Feedback and eLearning. She is an HEA Senior Fellow, and has worked abroad both in Sudan, as a VSO volunteer in Shambat College of Agriculture and the University of Khartoum, and in China, in Xian Jiaotong University as a British Council-recruited Professional Developer.
Kate Coulson
Head of the Centre for Achievement & Performance, University of Northampton, UK
Kate leads a team of Academic Practice Tutors at the University of Northampton. This team supports the academic development of all students at the university: undergraduate, postgraduate and beyond. In recent years the teams focus has shifted from purely face to face teaching towards blended delivery. In 2013, the University of Northampton’s first MOOC “Study Skills for Academic Success” was created and delivered by the Centre for Achievement and Performance. Following on from this, Kate has presented widely on the experiences of creating, designing and delivering MOOCs. In 2015, a Postgraduate Study Skills MOOC is being launched.
Kate’s research interests extend to the impact of blended/online learning upon the student experience. She is currently involved in a research project with the University of Newcastle (NSW), the Open University Australia and the Open University to investigate “accessMOOCs”.
Kate is also a Chartered Librarian and a Fellow of the HEA.
Links
Robert Farmer
Learning Designer, University of Northampton, UK
Robert Farmer is a learning designer at the University of Northampton. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology. In 2014, the learning technology team in which he works was awarded the Learning Technology Team of the Year Award by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). Prior to becoming a learning designer he worked as a learning technologist, and before this he taught for ten years, teaching at levels three, four and five, and leading courses in philosophy, critical thinking and digital film-making. He has had work published in journals and books, has presented at various national and international conferences, and has had work screened on Channel 4 and at film festivals and conferences.
Robert is interested in many aspects of learning and teaching and the ways that technology and good pedagogic design can enhance learning. His current areas of interest, activity and research include designing and creating MOOCs, designing and developing blended learning courses, mobile friendly design, active learning, the flipped classroom, patchwork text assessment, e-portfolios, collaborative learning and communities of learning, critical/engaged pedagogy, Socratic method and the importance of dialogue and discussion in education. He works with and supports a number of educational technologies on a regular basis, including Blackboard, Turnitin, Panopto, Kaltura, Edublogs (WordPress), PebblePad, and Xerte. In addition to this he has a good knowledge of film-making, sound recording and photography.
Links
http://www.northampton.ac.uk/directorie…
Note
Participants will require personal internet-enabled laptops
Content
This highly practical, full-day workshop attracts academic and support staff in a variety of roles in further and higher education. The focus of the session is on strategies that enable positive change in moving towards design and delivery of blended learning courses in a UK university. Most of the session is hands-on, so you should expect to do quite a bit of work and interact with colleagues and facilitators throughout the day.
The workshop is divided into four parts. The first part invites participants to engage in practical appreciative enquiry activities exploring values in teaching in tertiary education, and conceptions of the role of technology. It consists of three elements through which you (a) explore the value set that underpins your learning and teaching practice and the implications for a move to blended learning, (b) compare the contribution you see technology as playing in what you and your learners do, and (c) consider related staff development needs. To further explore the implications of such factors for successful change processes, we will share and discuss responses drawn from interventions at Northampton.
The second part invites you, following a brief, to draft a storyboard for a specific campus-based course that is to be re-designed for delivery in blended learning mode. To encourage you to produce an exciting, student-centred storyboard, we will draw on previous research and examples of current practice at Northampton and elsewhere. Ideas for developing effective storyboards will be presented and shared.
In the third part you will be invited to participate in a series of structured online peer observation activities. You will have the opportunity to undertake observation of practice on online courses designed on the principles explored in parts 1 and 2. The observation will be based around participant development interests and will revolve around teacher and learner activity online. Your own experience will be compared with those of participants in previous online peer observation of these courses. You will need an internet-enabled laptop for this component.
The final section of the workshop offers participants an opportunity for consolidation and reflection on the lessons learned. It brings together the first three by synthesising, “warts and all”, the process of implementing these changes at Northampton, where quality enhancement and a shift to blended learning are of critical strategic importance in the context of the development of a brand new campus, opening in 2018.
Workshop Objectives
To illustrate and critique practical strategies of a change process designed to promote positive staff engagement in the necessary move to blended learning.
To explore strategies fostering a positive, evidence-based attitude towards blended learning, capacity building and the redesign process that an institutional shift of this nature entails.
To offer a practical taster of storyboarding as a means to conceptualising effective course redesign.
To engage participants in using tools facilitating development through a participant-centred approach to online peer-to-peer observation.
To conduct and reflect on peer observation of online teaching and student support as a lever for effective institutional capacity building and quality enhancement.
Agenda
| 09.00 – 09.15 | Introduction to the Day and outline of activities |
| 09.15 – 10.45 | Practical appreciative enquiry activities exploring values in teaching in tertiary education, conceptions of the role of technology, staff development needs & implications for successful change processes. |
| 10.45 – 11.00 | Tea Break |
| 11.00 – 13.00 | Practical activity drafting a storyboard for re-designing a campus-based course for delivery in blended learning mode. |
| 13.00 – 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 – 15.45 | Structured online peer observation activities |
| 15.45 – 16.00 | Tea Break |
| 16:00 – 16:20 | Discussion of learning gained & comparison with research findings. |
| 16.20 – 17.00 | Concluding reflection on mechanisms to generate positive change. |
Target audience
Academics, academic developers, learning designers, learning technologists, teaching and learning support staff.
Prerequisite knowledge
Experience and understanding of learning and teaching in the Higher Education sector and of the challenges and opportunities presented for teachers and learning in classroom, blended and online modes of delivery.
Outcomes
By the end of the workshop, participants will have
- Considered drivers and barriers for change towards blended learning in their institutions.
- Reflected on what they value in their teaching and compared perspectives on the contribution of technology.
- Developed sample storyboards with direct application to their practice.
- Undertaken real, focused online peer observation tasks.
- Reflected on course redesign strategies and peer observation as mechanisms to generate positive change.
- Gained access to all tools and materials used in the workshop as open educational resources (OERs) under a Creative Commons licence.