In current times with new models of teaching and learning, the expectations on the third level community is overwhelming. There is a continuous drive towards technology-enhanced learning despite third level staff struggling from a lack of resources and time to develop the digital skills necessary to achieve the desired improvements.
How do we approach Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for third level staff when traditional methods don’t seem to be enough? How do we redefine and develop technology enhanced learning in this digital age? In Pilkington’s (2016) research on supporting CPD for lecturers, she found that there ‘has been a shift to smaller bite sized chunks of study that more closely align to instutional priorities.’
Running the 12 Apps of Christmas for staff in December 2016at the University of Limerick enabled the author to explore a non-traditional way of providing staff with a short online professional development course. From an Educational Technology perspective the 12 Apps format was beneficial for several reasons; instutional priorities, innovative CPD format, mobile app technologies, learning management system skills. From a staff perspective the 12 Apps format gives participants a daily opportunity to explore a mobile app and discuss this experience with their peers in an online environment. To add further interest, an Hour of Code event related to the mobile app of the day was incorporated into the 12 Apps course at the midpoint.
This session will present the benefits of using the 12 Apps format and lessons learned through staff feedback and 12 Apps course developer reflections. These observations will be considered in conjunction with current research in the field of professional development.
Pilkington, R., (2016). Supporting continuing professional development (CPD) for lecturers. In D. Baume and C. Popovic.(Ed.), Advancing Practice in Academic Development. London and New York, Routledege.
