Supporting staff to care: about themselves, and about their work

There is a formula that helps organisations become more capable, and it starts with supporting staff to care.

Today’s educator is faced with a constantly changing technology landscape. Education institutions see the importance of keeping up, in financial, reputational and pedagogical terms. But keeping abreast of developments and experimenting with new approaches requires time. Time to research, discuss and practice.

Increasingly, teaching staff are tasked with finding and testing education technology that supports their practice, while the institution tasks itself with providing foundation platforms such as the ubiquitous learning management system.

For teaching staff finding time to develop their digital capability can be difficult. Not only are there pressing and immediate issues to be dealt with, the approach – where to start or what to consider next – can be unclear.

Personal emotional justification is critically important for self-directed learning. Caring enough to investigate requires an understanding of the purpose and potential benefits of spending time on new education technologies.

Information on new technologies is everywhere. But guidance from an institution about how it supports staff in a programme of self-directed professional development is rare. We may say “check out new education technologies and try some out” in performance planning, but the question of ‘’how” remains unanswered.

Providing advice about how to approach self-directed professional development is challenging: staff need to feel supported and be willing to investigate and apply new technologies. The institution needs to know that associated risks are being minimised and institutional goals remain the objective.

An institution that provides justification and pathways to staff and trusts that staff will act with the institution policy and strategy in mind will be more successful in enabling self-directed education technology development.

Let’s not forget the time it takes to research, discus and practice. Here an institution can help by legitimising self-directed education technology development and ensuring professional development time is available.

The use of social media to discuss and share ideas and the use of blended courses to help staff understand possible pedagogical approaches provides flexibility to pursue an interest in free moments or outside of work – if the staff member cares to do so.

The point being, they need to care to do so. Providing time, pathways and permission may be enough to navigate the fast-changing education technology landscape. But an institution is unlikely to change without everyone understanding the mission and caring about themselves, the institution and the lives they touch.

That is why I see the communication and messaging from institution leadership as having a pivotal influence in developing organisational capability. The key elements must be there (the time, pathways, and permissions) but emotional justification by the individual is a critical element – and this comes from caring.

So, the final piece of the equation is communication. An institution can help staff understand, and ultimately to care, by using interwoven messages, channels and voices to provide reinforcement and clarity about the things that matter: the way we think and behave, our business priorities, and the importance of each individual as part of our shared mission.

Spark?

You may, or may not, be wondering about the logo that appears on our latest posts.

Spark relates to an e-zine started last year by the EdTech (Educational Technology) and CDU (Capability Development Unit) teams at WelTec (Wellington Institute of Technology). It featured ruminations, reflections, a variety of articles from staff and celebration of staff successes as well as a quiz or two and some e-learning tips.

Its purpose was, and still is, to demonstrate change leadership, explain the need for developments, showcase innovation and leadership, celebrate staff and encourage a community of practice.

Our analytics showed a variety of staff responses to a variety of stories.

Our main problem, however, was that Spark remained internal to our community.

So we adapted.

We set up EdTech.Ako last year and began tweeting more frequently this year. We have our Twitter account linked to our For Staff Moodle section and another called Rauemi.Ideas.Resources.Pedagogy. We have a YouTube account WelTec Online and a new Soundcloud account, also under WelTec Online. Some of our inspiration came from attending the NDF2014 Conference.

The world gets to see our ruminations, WelTec staff can follow the blog but also find stories in our internal repository and find resources on our Moodle sites.

Items on our blog with the logo indicate items following our current Spark theme, which in this issue is collecting evidence of student work.

In time we’ll set up a Facebook account but you can give us feedback here too.

Signed

The EdTech and CDU teams.

Keeping track of formative learning

Robert Bok, pastry tutor and WelTec Staff Award recipient 2015 (Emerging Teacher category), explains how he follows the progress of each of his students. With simple but thorough organisation, and using online and hard copy methods, he monitors each learner’s development.

Gerard Duignan speaks to him on this YouTube video for Spark 

21st century learning: gathering evidence

We extol the value of collaborating online and collecting evidence from students and we assist with training and support, but for many staff  it’s a hard grind.

I talked with two women who have struggled to find creative ways to collect evidence of student work.

Gathering evidence

Caroline is a tutor on the Fashion Make Up course and an early technology adopter who, with her colleagues  was among the first to use eportfolios .  We in EdTech are impressed with the dedication these tutors show to their craft (both teaching and make up) so I asked Caroline why she wants to use eportfolios, what she has tried and what she uses now. I also asked her why she perseveres.

Listen here: Caroline’s portfolio ‘journey’

Lee teaches in the Trades Academy and Animal Care areas. She has students two days a week – so she’s been trying to find a way to maximise the class time by flipping the classroom.

I asked her about the ways she collects evidence from her students. She tells me that she has explored several ways but has hit on one that she thinks might work.

Listen here. Gathering evidence of student work.

What does this mean for Ed Tech?

It’s an advantage  for Caroline that students are expected to develop digital skills for the industry, even if these skills are not specifically outlined in course learning outcomes.  The portfolio activity becomes an authentic activity.

Brett O Riley says in  Driving the skills agenda: Preparing students for the future (p.10): “ICT skills are no longer an option; they are basic skills for operating in society”.  His  report recommends that new skills and so called ‘soft skills’  are  taught using real world problems and work opportunities (p12).

For Lee, the issue is more complex. Her  Trades Academy students visit our tertiary institution from local schools for short term ‘introduction to tertiary study’ courses and the demand on her is to make the experience interesting, engaging and integrated into the several core skills the students are expected to develop.  She has decided that collecting evidence of student work using a web page will work for her students.

A new tutor  is exploring  Moodle’s portfolio system. It looks ok but there are some aspects we’d like to improve – like students  being able to contribute to other users’ folders. We are also exploring using Moodle Wiki for collecting evidence of student work – and this may be the best solution for him. Glossaries can also be used for students to add work – but again they are not private. It depends whether or not you want students  to see each other’s work – which is not a bad thing. Workshop, also in Moodle, allows students to peer review  but this too can be a bit clunky.

In busy work situations where there are so many demands on tutors it’s encouraging to see those who work tirelessly to find authentic ways to engage students and collect evidence of their work. In spite of assistance from our Ed Tech team  I am not sure that we have found the best ways for tutors to collect evidence of student work and we’d love to hear your success stories.

NB: We recommend using Firefox or Chrome to open SoundCloud.

Why? Higher Education Summit

Good conferences have a purpose. They are clear about what they offer and they deliver; it may be professional development, networking, or advocating for a group. I am not sure the Summit hit its mark – or even understood what it was aiming for.

Focusing on key developments and issues, the Summit aims to bring together senior representatives from the sector including government agencies, peak bodies and institutions. The intention is to support a forward thinking education sector.

Some speakers spoke eloquently about developing issues in the sector, many reworked current discussions. The delegates did not include high level TEC, Ministry of Education or Government representatives. Presentations were contained in the Summit’s darkened room.

In my view, Delegates left with the sense that had someone gathered the Summit’s better points there may have been something worth broadcasting. Something to be shared with the sector; presenting a common voice to legislators; supporting the sense we are a forward thinking sector.

I learned a lot: about my own knowledge, where WelTec and Whitireia sit in terms of education technology maturity, and tertiary education technology suppliers. But, I was left wondering why the Summit existed.

This year conversations often reflected on the impact of education technologies in education. It is clear education technology offers solutions for blended delivery and flexible learning. The Summit presentations spoke in terms of strategy and leadership while the service providers who sponsor the event explained the ways we can improve the learner and tutor experience, and increase managers’ ability to make informed decisions – using their products.
WelTec CEO Linda Sissons and I bridged the gap with a presentation looking at how to build a 21^st Century learning environment. We set the context, described what underpins a 21^st Century learning environment, explained how it would work for a student, offered some levers of change, challenged the audience to act when they get back to their offices, and questioned whether the sector has the basic foundations in place – including defining quality in terms of blended delivery.

Change management was a reoccurring theme. I am convinced WelTec and Whitireia have a real opportunity to use education technologies in support of their strategic direction, including how we engage with, provide for, support and influence students. This opportunity is specific to our time and place: changes in the leadership structure the Students First strategy and Choice Protocol, and unified IT services have created an environment where Ed Tech could support systemic step change.

Research and collaboration were raised provocatively by Dr West, VC of Lincoln University. Collaboration between the large tertiary providers is rare – our environment is artificially competitive. Encouragingly, collaboration between tertiary providers and industry is increasing. He cited the Lincoln Hub, where buildings will be shared and scientists will be teaching students.

Returning to WelTec, I will deliver our 21^st Century Learning presentation to senior staff and use it to gain clarity about what we expect in 3 – 5 years’ time in terms of students’ blended delivery experiences.

For me the 2015 Summit was useful. However, unless there is a change in the way the Summit is facilitated and the attendees include legislative decision-makers, it is a room of people talking to themselves. Perhaps professional development for managers should be future Summits’ purpose.