Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

3-6 July, 2002
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

PROMOTE: Alternative ways of fostering educational development in higher education

Ray Land, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Jan McArthur, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Shirley Earl, Napier University, United Kingdom
Liz Elvidge, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Charles Juwah, The Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom
David Ross, University of Aberty, United Kingdom

This participatory workshop will engage participants in discussing the findings of the PROMOTE project. This was a collaborative survey of all higher education institutions in Scotland and was established to evaluate the impact of various new pedagogical posts and initiatives (other than mainstream educational development posts) on the quality of teaching and learning in these institutions. In recent years in the UK, in addition to full time dedicated educational developers, there has been an increase in staff who supplement and enhance educational development work in a variety of ways and settings. These include teaching fellows, secondees, mentors, readers, teaching and learning co-ordinators, action researchers and others. The project's findings revealed a rich and diverse range of posts, structures and roles, frequently offering imaginative responses to institutional contexts, needs and constraints. However these responses also give rise to a number of development issues. What draws department-based academics to become involved in educational development activities? What types of relationship might they have with educational development units? What is the best way to meet the disciplinary dimensions of teaching and learning? What are the implications of particular academic identities in relation to involvement in teaching and learning development? How can department-based teaching staff best access or use educational research? What role can action research play in educational development?

Issues such as these will form the basis of the workshop activities and will be informed by the case studies and models that emerged from PROMOTE. Colleagues will be invited to discuss the implications of the project findings for their own institutional contexts.

Key words:
Recognition; Alternatives; Issues

Objectives, outcomes and activities:
Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Evaluate a set of operational models for educational development that are contained within the PROMOTE typology;
• Discuss a selection of short case studies from the PROMOTE report; and
• Discuss the development issues for higher education that arise from the models and case studies in the light of their own professional contexts.

Dr Ray Land is Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment at the University of Edinburgh. He has researched and published in the areas of professional development, assessment and theoretical aspects of new learning technologies. He is a Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA), an Accreditor for the Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILT) and Reviews Editor for the International Journal of Academic Development.

Contact: Ray Land, email: ray.land@ed.ac.uk