(Digitally) practice what you teach: the re-mastering of an accredited professional development programme

The learner experience lies at the heart of our institute’s Strategic Plan and for Accredited Professional Development (APD), the teacher becomes this learner. Participation on programmes such as the Masters in Teaching and... [ view full abstract ]

The learner experience lies at the heart of our institute’s Strategic Plan and for Accredited Professional Development (APD), the teacher becomes this learner. Participation on programmes such as the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MATL) allows participants to develop an appreciation for current pedagogies and digital literacy, to engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning and to reflect on their own practice. For many of these participants, the learning that takes place on the programme becomes the change catalyst for their own teaching practice and this becomes transposed into the classroom, thereby enhancing their own students’ learning.

As part of a recent Programmatic Review and informed by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Roadmap for Enhancement in a Digital World 2015-2017 (2015) and the National Professional Development Framework for All Staff who Teach in Higher Education (2016), we re-mastered the existing MATL programme to greater integrate digital learning and literacy. This incorporated new structured accredited programmes for new academic staff and for graduate teaching assistants. Our total intake in September 2016 was 60 participants.

Our approach was to not only develop and assess the learners’ capabilities in relation to digital competencies, but also to expose them to digital teaching and learning strategies through the delivery of the programme itself. As well as including a digitally-based assessment strategy and active online discussions, we sought to flip the idea of ‘what is taught, is what is learned’ to become ‘how it is taught, is what is learned’.

Building digital capacity starts with laying foundations across all stages of professional development. We will share our experiences of developing, teaching and assessing the re-mastered MATL, and of creating a strong community of practice, consisting of both early career academics and more long-standing members of staff.