scholarly journals Badge of honour? An exploration of the use of digital badges to support a partnership approach to faculty development

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
Angelica Risquez ◽  
Dara Cassidy ◽  
Gearoid O'Suilleabhain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Digital Badges ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Partnership Approach

This article describes a professional development initiative facilitated through a transformational partnership model. In this context, we discuss our experience of piloting an online continuing professional development course in the area of online teaching, which offered a digital badge for successful participants. The course was the result of a partnership between three Irish higher education institutions and a national agency that had initiated a nation-wide scheme to create and disseminate a range of open access collaborative professional development courses to promote the professionalisation of teaching and learning, with a specific digital badge being available for each course. We investigated the interplay between the digital badge issued for the course we piloted, and other potential intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Digital badges appear to be a weak motivating factor in initial enrolment and engagement, although for some participants, they did motivate continued engagement and completion. We discuss implications in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around professional development. We also offer reflections on the larger context in which badges might be used or valued by course participants in their professional environments. Implications for practice or policy: For digital badges to motivate learning, educational developers and institutions need to associate them with intrinsically meaningful rewards. Partnership between higher education institutes and non-accrediting bodies can drive the development and wider acceptance and use of digital badges as a tangible and agreed currency of learner and learning achievement. Learners benefit most from digital badges when they are linked to and facilitate the development of personal identities associated with disciplinary and professional communities.

Equipping Educational Developers for Inclusive International Programs in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
Davinia Sánchez-García ◽  
Emma Dafouz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
International Programs ◽  
Teacher Professional

Given the internationalization process of higher education across the globe, continuing professional development (CPD) of academic staff is vital to ensure the quality of teaching and learning. Under such scenario, the European Erasmus+ project “Educational Quality at Universities for Inclusive International Programmes” (EQUiiP) identifies the role of the internationally-oriented educational developer (ED) as crucial to higher education institutions (HEIs) and provides these institutions with the means to support academic staff and hereby enhance the quality of internationalized programs taught in international classrooms. Consequently, this chapter provides the conceptual rationale behind the EQUiiP project, delves into the needs of teacher education programs and the role played by the EDs, and describes the EQUiiP project and its outcomes by providing concrete examples of its inclusive CPD program. Finally, some implications and recommendations for teacher professional development, with specific reference to the Spanish setting, are offered.

scholarly journals Building Digital Capacity for Higher Education Teachers: Recognising Professional Development Through a National Peer Triad Digital Badge Ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Roisin Donnelly ◽  
Terry Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
National Level ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Digital Badges ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Open Courses ◽  
Complex Phenomena

AbstractDigital Badge design and practice at a national level is a relatively new field of scrutiny and this study reports on a sector-wide initiative for building digital capacity with the design, and implementation of an ecosystem of 15 open courses in teaching and learning with digital badges to recognise the professional development of teachers in Irish higher education. Each course is provided in three delivery modes and mapped to Ireland’s National Professional Development Framework for teachers. This enables multiple access points for teachers to engage in professional development via the Framework and recognize their engagement through peer triads and a digital badge ecosystem. The paper critically discusses and reflects on the study of the complex phenomena of the application of the open courses within professional contexts. A novel dimension is the implementation of a peer triad system for recognition of PD. Implementing the open courses digital badges ecosystem was challenging as this different form of assessment required a clear understanding of all stakeholder expectations, the language of recognition and how the learning outcomes could be met and validated using a peer triad assessment. This paper concludes with sectoral learning on nationally recognized open course development, including success factors for building digital capacity, challenges encountered and transferability to other contexts.

scholarly journals Online Continuing Professional Development: An integrative approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelica Risquez ◽  
Dara Cassidy ◽  
Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin ◽  
Roisin Garvey ◽  
Sinead Spain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Very High

This paper reports on the design, development, delivery and evaluation of an online continuing professional development (CPD) course in the area of online teaching by three Irish Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The course was developed in the context of a nationally coordinated effort to promote CPD of those that teach in Higher Education through digital badges. Survey results suggest a very high overall satisfaction rate with the course as a whole, increased levels of knowledge and confidence in relation to teaching online, and also intended transference to practice. While the external motivator of demonstrating engagement through the digital badge arose in the surveys and focus groups, it did not feature particularly strongly. Implications for CPD are discussed in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around CPD for higher education teachers, and the need for opportunities for participants to interact and engage in the manner reminiscent of a community of practice approach.

scholarly journals Strategizing Inclusivity in Teaching Diverse Learners in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (Number 1) ◽  
pp. 105-128
Author(s):  
Rosna Awang-Hashim ◽  
Nena P.Valdez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Faculty Professional Development ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Inclusive Pedagogy ◽  
Essential Knowledge

Purpose - As the classrooms in higher education are growing increasingly diverse, it is imperative that higher education practitioners build a responsive learning environment for diverse learners to optimize their potential. Continuing professional development programmes (CPD) are central to such strategic approaches that equip educators with essential knowledge and skills to handle diversity related issues, achieve equity and increase participation by students. Therefore, the present study aims to examine strategies used by higher education practitioners to address diversity and inclusion in teaching and learning. Methodology - Participants were nine academicians (6 males and 3 females) who emerged from natural retention along the iterative cycles on Community of Practice (CoP) participation. The present study adopted CoP as the theoretical lens and a methodological tool to understand what strategies higher education practitioners devise for their inclusive teaching and learning practices in response to the diversity related challenges. The data was collected through a series of observations and reflective journals. Initially, thematic analysis techniques were used to reduce data into two categories- strategies and challenges. Later, according to the prevalence and frequency count the strategies were analysed against the challenges reported and finally the strategies were reduced into major themes. Findings - Three major themes emerged that report the inclusive strategies conceived by the participants. The themes were - Inclusive/differentiated assessment which suggested that creating differentiated assessment that are inclusive in nature and can provide equal opportunity to every student to participate. The second theme, Motivation and Goal Strategies, revealed that students were found to be diverse in their goals for learning, hence, a variety of motivational strategies such as including students’ voice, providing them a clear rationale for studying and fostering relatedness were deemed suitable to address those differences. The final theme, inclusive pedagogy suggests a variety of accommodations to be made in pedagogy such as integrating technology, adopting culturally responsive material and initiating collaborative learning to address students’ differences. Significance -The findings have implications for faculty professional development, classroom teaching practices for inclusive pedagogy in higher education institutions and use of CoP as a framework for such developments.

The Strategic Development of Learner Autonomy through Enquiry-Based Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike D. Bramhall ◽  
Justin Lewis ◽  
Allan Norcliffe ◽  
Keith Radley ◽  
Jeff Waldock
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Strategic Development ◽  
Centre Of Excellence ◽  
Working Together

This paper reports on strategic developments to enhance student learner autonomy skills through the use of enquiry-based learning (EBL) in the design of higher education programmes. The UK's Sheffield Hallam University is a recognized Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in the field of developing learner autonomy. Central to the university's learning, teaching and assessment strategy is the conviction that students must become autonomous learners to acquire the skills and knowledge needed for employment, research and continuing professional development. In this context it is imperative that students are increasingly able to manage their own learning, formulate their own lines of enquiry and develop flexible approaches to their studies – the essence of acquiring learner autonomy. It is also important that they can work across discipline boundaries, often in teams, tackling problems that are essentially multidisciplinary. The central theme of this paper is the strategic use of EBL in areas that involve students working together in small groups.

scholarly journals Instructors’ Readiness to Teach Online: A Review of TPACK Standards in Online Professional Development Programmes in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
Amjaad Mujallid
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Faculty Training ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Materials Used

Online learning has been developed in higher education offering a flexible environment for learners. Faculty knowledge is among the most important domains required to be updated in order to ensure a successful integration of instructional technology and online learning in higher education. This update can be performed by providing faculty training on how to use technology. However, this should be integrated with pedagogical knowledge, which is represented in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge framework (TPACK). This paper reviewed the literature to find how higher education institutions support online instructors with professional development programmes and, moreover, to discover how these programmes are shaped by the TPACK framework. The paper also summarises the effective online teaching practices based on the TPACK framework presented in the literature. Teaching online is a challenge and does not mean having to move traditional instructions and activities into the online platform, but this does mean a shift might require building a whole new material to ensure the quality of online teaching and learning. Reviewing the previous literature regarding the available professional development programmes increases the need to integrate online teaching competence as a main objective into teacher education and professional development programmes to follow up with the skills of the 21st century students. The framework includes three main domains of teachers’ knowledge: Content (CK), which is related to the subject matter and answers the question “what will be taught?” such as concepts, theories and terms; Pedagogy (PK), which refers to teaching strategies required for addressing the students’ learning needs; and Technology (TK), which refers to the variety of technologies and instructional materials used, such as learning management systems.

scholarly journals COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university teaching and learning and competence cultivation: Student evaluation of online learning experiences in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 221258682110070
Author(s):  
Ka Ho Mok ◽  
Weiyan Xiong ◽  
Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Student Evaluation ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Digital Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has forced online teaching and learning to be the primary instruction format in higher education globally. One of the worrying concerns about online learning is whether this method is effective, specifically when compared to face-to-face classes. This descriptive quantitative study investigates how students in higher education institutions in Hong Kong evaluated their online learning experiences during the pandemic, including the factors influencing their digital learning experiences. By analysing the survey responses from 1,227 university students in Hong Kong, this study found that most of the respondents felt dissatisfied with their online learning experiences and effectiveness. Meanwhile, this study confirms that respondents’ household income level and information technology literacy affected their online learning effectiveness. Moreover, this study highlights the significant contributions of the community of inquiry, which places social presence on the promotion of a whole person development that could not be achieved when relying mainly on online learning. Findings encourage university leaders and instructors to search for multiple course delivery modes to nurture students to become caring leaders with the 21st century skills and knowledge set.

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