Professional Development

Objectives

Development of a pathway to upskill practitioner tutors to deliver/co-deliver, e-moderate and assess online and blended learning modules. Pathway aligned with current National standard and re-using existing online resources.

What was done

Needs Analysis

  • A needs analysis of Professional development requirements was completed, with feedback provided by stakeholders including HEI academics and practitioner tutors, from the three collaborating HEIs, and industry-based trainers.
  • The analysis of feedback informed the design of a Teaching and Learning syllabus to support practitioner tutors (an online T&L Essentials short course);

New Course Development:

  • VLE Essentials Training developed in UL and LIT, to address “Essentials of using the VLE module sites and associated tools for module delivery”; training is a set of self-directed resources targeted at tutors new to using the VLE.
  • Two short courses targeted at the practitioner tutor cohort were developed. Both  courses developed using the Articulate RISE application.

1. “Essentials for teaching and learning online”; 8hrs to complete over 2 weeks, fully online.

2. “Essentials of e-moderating”; 10-12 hrs to complete over 2 weeks, fully online, moderated guided learning;

  • Courses have been piloted and successfully delivered to participants from the three HEIs including practitioner tutors, PhD and post-doctoral students and academics.

Professional Development pathways

  • A professional development pathway guide targeted at the practitioner tutor cohort was developed.  The pathway options, both formal and informal, aligns fully to those described by the National Forum’s “National Professional Development Framework for all Staff Who Teach in Higher Education”

Course Sharing

  • Courses are available for sharing and are licenced under a Creative Commons [CC-BY-NC-SA] 4.0 International License.
  • As April 2022 both short courses have been deployed across the three project HEIs.
  • In addition the “Essentials of e-moderating” course has also been shared with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB), TEL Support Service.  

Contact info@reapmidwest.ie for further information.