Author: Susan Greig

The possibilities of education are fundamentally altered by networked technologies that mean physical co-location of teachers and students is much less relevant to teaching and learning and that digital resources can be easily copied and shared. This is the key context of my professional practice and the practice of those I support through CMALT.

CMALT applicants must write for assessors beyond their institution-  including relevant context such as course level and student numbers.  In addressing “Core area 3: The Wider Context” they show understanding and engagement with legislation, policies and standards in relation to learning and technology. Several pieces of legislation are relevant to all staff working in HE: Data Protection, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Freedom of Information and Anti-Discrimination Law.  However candidates can struggle with this section as they don’t immediately see how these are impacting on their work. Or understand that some of the working practices in HE are dictated by legislation – e.g. they are aware that you can only copy fractions of a printed book for students but don’t realise this relates to CLA licences.   I started to host an annual CPD events on legislation open to anyone in the University community with invited speakers on aspects of the legislation and how his links to learning technology.

• 31/10/2016 Face your fears…. Legislation and Policies relevant to Learning Technology 
• 26/10/2017 Lecture Recording – Legislation and Policy Considerations

A CMALT Holders from the group, Nick Daniels  wrote about how this has influenced his practice:

“Putting together my CMALT portfolio helped me to take a step back from my work and think about how it fits into a wider context. For instance, I wrote in my portfolio about how considerations of copyright and open licensing changed the way we made MOOCs in our School.”

Certified membership of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT) is primarily UK based with some international candidates – e.g. it partners with ASCILITE in Australasia. It is relevant to sectors beyond HE with holders, candidates and assessors are from Further Education (FE), schools and the skills sectors.

I am engaging with the wider ALT  community, I sit on the Membership Development Committee (MDC) and Conference Committee, and this broadens my perspective of learning and teaching in HE and associated sectors – encouraging me to think beyond my own institution.

Engaging with ALT as their professional body, broadens their awareness of the wider context.  I encourage them to attend the conferences, special interest groups or volunteer to sit on a committee.  As this wider experience will give them perspective on their work within the University of Edinburgh.

I encourage CMALT holders to assess for insights into other peoples work and the context of their institutions.

As someone running a successful CMALT cohort I am invited to speak  with other institutions who are planning cohorts:

• 11/12/2017 I advised a member of staff from  Ulster University
• 19/03/2018 I advised members of staff from the University of Strathclyde.

I’m also invited to contribute to schemes of other institutions:

• 20/03/18 – CMALT Meeting (online) with the Irish Learning Technology Association to talk about mine and my cohorts experience of CMALT to a new  group.
• 14/06/18 – I planned and delivered a 1 day CMALT Workshop for a new cohort at the University of Bournemouth. I wrote this blog post with follow up resources after the session.

Most schemes are opt in – applicants applying to join. However, Bournemouth CMALT group is for two teams of staff who have been brought together via an institutional restructure and staff felt they were required to do it. My impression was that this lack choice has had profound implications for the staff in Bournemouth.  To engage with professional practice staff need to feel ownership of this. To address this during the session I introduced an activity on ‘motivation’ to consider that while this was an institutional directive – there were also personal befits to taking part. Giving staff a chance to express their misgivings and frustrations seems to be helpful in allowing them to move forward – I received this feedback by email from Debbie a week after the session:

“PS member of staff who was a little negative – written up his intro statement! “

I have also presented about my CMALT work to the broader HE community e.g. Deepwell & Greig 2018 – which was positively received:

I have a role in helping staff to understand the wider context of their work, both in CMALT and in ELDeR. In ELDeR workshops  I talk with course and programme teams about what students will expect from the programme e.g. what their employment prospects will be. I’ve facilitated several ELDER workshops for courses with their own professional qualifications (medicine, nursing, vet) and CPD requirements that the university courses must meet.

References:

Deepwell, M. &  Greig. S.  (2018)  Re-articulating what we value:  a new vision for Learning Technology professionals, DigiFest 2018

In my work I draw on a range of evidence sources, research, theory, expertise from colleagues and reflection on my own experience.

CMALT project was conceived in response to an institutional focus on developing digital capabilities in a learning and teaching context:

“Many more students benefiting from the Edinburgh experience (largely or entirely) in their own country – supported by deep international partnerships and world-leading online distance learning”

U of E Strategic Vision 2025

“enabling our staff to embrace new technologies as part of enhancing the learning experience, and to deliver prompt and effective feedback”

Strategic Plan 2012-2016

It was informed by Jisc’s Building Digital Capacity project based on the work from 2014 on developing digital literacies itself based on the outcomes of 12 institutional projects aimed to:

“to promote the development of coherent, inclusive approaches to digital capability across institutions of further and higher education” (Sheppard, 2014).

I spoke to ALT for advice when setting it up the CMALT scheme who introduced me to managers of  schemes at  The Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE) and University College London (UCL) so that I had informed evidence on which to base my decisions in setting up the scheme here (V3).

Sarah Sherman manager of the  BLE cohort shared her session plans and online course in Moodle so I could see the structure. We now speak regularly – it’s really helpful to talk to someone who understands the context but is outside of my institution and can be more objective about the situation (V3). We continue to work together as our schemes develop and have since presented together (Greig & Sherman, 2017a, 2017 b).

I sought advice from  Daphne Loads who run the U of E HEA scheme (EDTA) as this is a similar reflective  portfolio based submission also based round the UKPSF – to learn about how they support their candidates.  I invite Daphne to talk to CMALT applicants about reflection, as this is a difficult concept for applicants.  After the session I share references about reflective practice – these range from advice of jobs.ac.uk (nd.) to the more scholarly Moon (n.d.) the guidance selected is pragmatic –  I want the students to move quickly to writing and come to understand reflection through that route, as well as via the theory (V3).

Learning Design is a new field with a strong base of theory and developing research which explores ways to “assist educators to describe effective teaching ideas so they can be shared with and adapted by, other educators”.  (Dalziel et al., 2016). Dalziel et al in the Larnaca Declaration (2016) use an analogy with the development of a standard music notation to allow musicians to share and reproduce musical ideas over time – suggesting the need to develop an ‘educational notation’ for a similar purpose. They define several aspects to Learning design:

• Learning Design Conceptual Map (LC-CM)
• Learning Design Framework (LD-F)
• Learning Design Practice (LD-P)

My interpretation is that Learning design in both an approach for staff to consider their teaching (LD-P) and process for facilitating this (LD-F) and a way of making visible design approaches so they can be used and reused (LC-CM).

The U of E piloted a Learning Design Service the Edinburgh Learning Design roadmap (ELDeR) from 2015 having review several learning design frameworks, e.g.  ABC curriculum design model from UCL, it was decided to base our approach on CAIeRO (Creating Aligned Interactive educational Resource Opportunities) model by the University of Northampton which we were able to adapt and use under a creative commons licence.  This is a two day structured workshop for programme or course design attended by the teaching team.  I have facilitated workshops for courses and programmes in subject areas including. Medicine, Nursing, Law and Vet Medicine. Before the introduction of ELDeR it was very unusual at U of E  for programme or course design to be approached in this way – bringing staff together for two days can be a very intense experience and many of them struggle to clear their diaries for two days. Working over two days is beneficial – often teams are dispirited after the first day – but come back refreshed and rejuvenated for the second day. Problems identified on the first day seem more manageable after a nights sleep and they often return with suggested solutions.

I find the card sort exercise particularly helpful – I give participants Course Features cards which were created by the JISC-funded Open University Learning Design Initiative.  the task for each group is to pick the 6 cards that are most important to their teaching approach/concept. This is a great equaliser because it means that everyone is working from the same pedagogic vocabulary – it also means they argue with the terms on the card rather than with each other – depersonalising the experience.

Farmer, R.  & Usher. J (2018) reviewed use of CAIeRO over a 10 year period – CAIeRO itself was was derived from Carpe Diem developed 2002 allowing them to draw on a larger literature of review of both schemes. They conclude that Learning Design workshops go considerably beyond what is generally considered staff development and that they are transformative for participants – in that they encourage participants to reflect on and re-examine the way they teach. That aligns with my experience of  facilitating the workshops and with the positive feedback from attendees.

References

ABC Learning Design. UCL.  http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/abc-ld/ (accessed 17/07/18)

Dalziel, J, Conole, G. wills, S., Walker, S., Bennett, S., Dobozny, E., Cameron, L., Badilescu-Buga, E., Bower, M. (2016) “The Larnaca Declaration on Learning Design -2013” in Dalziel, J. (ED) Learning Design: conceptulizing a framework for teaching and learning online. Taylor & Francis, Oxon.

Friedman, A. & Phillips, M.(2004) Continuing professional development: Developing a vision, Journal of Education and Work, 17:3, 361-376  athttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1363908042000267432

Greig, S. and Sherman, S (6 September 2017a) ALT Conference 2017 The CMALT “Zumba Class”: managing a cohort scheme for CMALT applicants to build institutional capacity for learning technology [1788]

Greig, S. and Sherman, S  (13 December 2017b) ALT Winter Conference 2017, The CMALT “Zumba Class”: managing a cohort scheme for CMALT applicants to build institutional capacity for learning technology [1213] Session recording available at http://go.alt.ac.uk/2Bj1dNO

Farmer, R.  & Usher. J (2018) Why CAIeRO? Perceptions of ten years of CAIeRO at the University of Northampton.

jobs.ac.uk (nd.) What is Continuing Professional Development? (accessed 17/07/18)

JISC (2014) Developing Digital Literacies

Shepard, M. (2014) Jisc The Design Studio Developing digital literacies. (Accessed 17/07/18)

Moon, J. (n.d.) Resources for Reflective Learning

My ELDeR workshop facilitation approaches are participatory –

• bringing people together to work collaboratively
• ensuring people are heard
• encouraging different voices

I see my roles as to set up the activities and then to step back and listen – only to intervene to refocus the tasks or  keep time. I use techniques such as partner discussion which is then developed into group discussion to give everyone a chance to think and develop their contribution. Or I ask people to write thoughts on post-it notes individually before sharing these with the wider group to build in quiet reflection. I move groups around to get participants to work in different groupings – so they hear colleagues they might not normal speak too. (V2)

I have a role in promoting understanding of the wider context within the ELDeR workshops. We discuss widening participation, identifying barriers in their area. I give general advice on how to avoid building in barriers to participation such reliance on synchronous activities when students are based in different time zones, or provision of transcripts for video content to cater for students on low bandwidth or for whom English is a second language.  For online programmes where the VLE is the home of most of the activities accessibility for disabled students is particularly relevant and I explain the importance of and ways to create accessible materials.

Participants feedback that they find the ELDeR workshops helpful because the discussion activities let them work together to find consensus – they leave with a strong sense of ownership of the outcome of the sessions.

An approaches I take to CPD is bring together groups. I am influenced by ideas of community of Practice Wenger, E. (1998) (discussed in this post). In bringing together the CMALT group I want everyone to have equal opportunities to participate e.g.  there are parents and non-parents and people working full and part time on different parts of the campus. All of these are relevant in terms of who is included when meetings are arranged. Where possible the meeting are within a core day 10 to 4 so that they allow for pick up and drop of of children for those with care responsibilities. I also hold some meetings by webinar which are more flexible for people on different campuses.

The CMALT portfolio, “Core area 2: Teaching, learning and/or assessment processes” requires applicants to show that they understand their target learners.  I’ve found a tension for Learning Technologists between seeing themselves as supporting the students or academic staff that they support. If learning technologists see themselves as educators, not just service providers, they can better understand their role and it gives them a broader framework for identifying successful approaches.

For the last year I have been a Career Ready mentor – a scheme for school students in their final two years of high school who show potential.  They are matched with a mentor in employment for mentoring meetings and a 4 week work placement. The Career Ready scheme aims to widen participation in HE and FE, targeting students who would be the first in their family to attend university. I mentoring a student  considering a career in teaching.  In addition to mentoring, I arranged interview practice and  a 4 week work placement. This has been a great opportunity for my mentee and  an interesting CPD experience for me – e.g. I’ve investigated the school curriculum to understand my mentees exam choices and further study options. After the placement she is still considering a career in teaching and is exploring university options for undergraduate study leading to a PGDE later and has rethought her exam choices for the next year suggesting that this has been a positive and empowering experience for her (V2).

After my trip  I read a history of to the University of Virginia by  Bowman, R & Santos, C. (2015) which reminded me was that HE has historically been an elitist option open only to a limited group, predominately white heterosexual men from upper classes with money.  Until fairly recently women or people of colour were not welcome in HE, it is important to acknowledge this history and to promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners because these rights are hard won and need to be protected. Diversity brings different perspectives and a more accurate  representation of the world.

References

Bowman, R & Santos, C. (2015) Rot, Riot, and Rebellion: Mr. Jefferson’s Struggle to Save the University That Changed America. the University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and
identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

One of the four principles and values that inform the CMALT scheme (and to which portfolios are assessed) is:

An empathy with and willingness to learn from colleagues from different backgrounds and specialist options.

I demonstrate this to candidates with examples from submissions where it has not been met e.g. “shifting tutor perception” or “dealing with the unhelpful IT staff” are not respectful of the the perspectives of other professional colleagues.

At the CMALT meetings I aim to get the group to form a supportive respectful network. I hope that working towards CMALT together will build empathy by humanising people and going beyond stereotyped view of job roles or institutional silos  what “a librarian” or “an academic” is like and what they do. It gives an opportunity to see that learning and teaching practice is not confined to academic lecturing roles. It offers opportunities to learn non-mainstream ideas of teaching and learning from others for e.g. those specialising in distance education or working in different disciplines.

To create a respectful open forum I start every meeting with introductions,  including a  question  to assess their current understanding and  expectations so I can address these. I model the kind of interactions I want to encourage – thanking people for their contributions and encourage people to build on each and make connections between what others say. I set the room so we all sit round a table and start with introductions because I want everyone to be equal within this group.

I send anonymous evaluations after every session and so  participants have a way to feed back safely if they didn’t feel they could say it at the time.

The CMALT participants are a  diverse cross section of people from across the University: professional services staff, administrators, librarians and academic staff who work at different levels in the institutional hierarchy. There is a range of ages and varying levels of experience.  In writing this blog and thinking about the Equality Act 2010 and the 9 protected characteristics :

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage or civil partnership (in employment only)
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

My small group (33) is a diverse microcosm of the university,  I am  mindful that people are not required to disclose characteristics so it is my job to  be aware. Also, recent conversations with a colleague reminded me that the protected characteristics do not include other types of diversity such as class and socio-economic status.

One member of the group has a declared disability (ADHD) and has requested reasonable adjustments. We worked together to decide what adjustments would be benefit them. Group meetings were challenging  – so we have shorter more focused 1-to-1 meetings instead. They found the CMALT guidelines overwhelming and requested something more ‘step-by-step’ so I wrote a Week By Week Plan, which I have since shared with the rest of the group.

The group includes members from different cultures and countries and several for whom English is not their first language.  I try to be mindful of cultural context e.g. we define all terms as we meet them to make sure everyone has the same interpretation. There are people of both male and female genders and one person who prefers not be be defined as either – so I an careful in use of personal pronouns and in taking cues from how others describe themselves. (V1)

ELDeR workshops also have a mixed group of professionals in attendance and I approach these with the same care and respect.  Institutional hierarchy can be relevant within the sessions – there can be obvious power dynamics. It’s differs as I only work with ELDeR groups for a two days while I have longer to form relationships with the CMALT applicants.

Earlier this year I attended the “Innovations in Pedagogy Summit”  at the University of Virginia as part of an ERASMUS training visit (I’ve blogged about this here). The theme was “Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Shifting from Thinking to Doing” and the keynote presentation for this was a theatrical performance given by the the University of Michigan’s CRLT Players.

We watched a group of students performing scenarios around experiences of inclusion. This was framed by an excellent facilitator who set groudrules for our participation and got us to work through a series of reflective exercises around each piece. This was really powerful, the students were excellent performers and there was something much more real about watching the scenarios acted out by students who could ‘be’ the characters they are playing.

I felt myself reacting personally to watching the young woman’s contribution being casually belittled by a well meaning professor. ‘Oh’ I thought ‘That’s how it happens’ – I recognise that.

In another sketch – a young man was asked by his German language teacher to say a sentence about who he loved – when he referred to the person loved as ‘he’ – the teacher corrected the gender to ‘she’. But the student hadn’t made a mistake.

I vividly remember the sketch in which an Asian man expresses his inner dialogue when confronted with engaging with the aggressive discussion style of a US tutorial.

It was very moving and thought provoking watching a young Black man reacting to the barrage of ‘microagressions’ – ranging from misplaced humour to outright abuse he received over a period of time.

Watching people perform was more engaging than hearing the scenarios read out or watching videos. Having the student performers in the room was an  important part of this experience.

Being an outsider in that event –  made it a great deal easier – as it uncomfortable. It must have been very intense for the UVa staff.  I’ve not attended anything at UoE that addressed homophobia, sexism or racism so directly. Some comments were thoughtless not malicious but very hurtful to the recipients. In response to this I am reviewing my practice and being additional mindful of my own behaviour.