Research study: initial positioning paper

1. Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Research study: initial positioning paper Rhona Sharpe

2. What’s the problem? E-learning research Effective e-learning practice Practitioners’ experiences E-learning experts

4. How would you choose between them? • Which representations are likely to be most influential? • Are some representations likely to be more influential in certain groups? • Are some representations likely to be more influential at different stages of a teacher’s career? • Are there common features of such representations which make them more likely to inform or improve practice? • Are there certain ways of using or supplementing some of these representations that make them more effective? • Are there other representations to add to this list?

5. Scope of the positioning paper • What have been effective resources and interventions for staff in FE/HE using technology in their teaching? • What types of interventions might be worth exploring in the extended reviews of the research study? • Is there anything we already know about representations which can inform our recommendations to the programme?

6. It’s not just our problem (in e-learning)

7. It’s not just our problem (in e-learning) Teaching in HE becoming more scholarly and evidence based. Drive to integrate this theory into practice, e.g. • Professionalisation of teaching demands that scholarship underpins practice • Funded projects must now not only produce deliverables but also evidence their use and impact But this knowledge can be inaccessible to practitioners.

8. Sources • Literature on how professionals learn • Experiences of staff development initiatives e.g. evaluation of Ferl Practitioners Programme, Becta ILT in FE report, EFFECTS. • Experiences of effectiveness of teaching and learning projects • Emerging literature in educational development on representations of knowledge and practice • The experts: feedback from our last meeting

9. What makes for a good resource? • Accessibility • Specificity and contextualisation • Emphasis on learning and learning design • Authenticity • Adaptability and ownership

10. What’s the problem? E-learning research Effective e-learning practice Practitioners’ experiences Resources E-learning experts

11. What makes for a good intervention? • Allows for knowledge construction through use • Learning from experience in informal settings • Located within an appropriate community, culture and context

12. Key issues arising • People rarely learn from resources alone: encouraging practitioners to work in groups • Cycles of reflection, linked to action: building in opportunities for reflections, abstractions and generalisations. • Motivators and rewards • Living, active artefacts and collaborative resource development

13. Some problematic issues • There’s little agreement about what makes for a good resource • Some resources are difficult to create • Practitioners and developers value different things • Practitioners may not follow our recommendations!

14. What’s the problem? E-learning research Effective e-learning practice Practitioners’ experiences Resources E-learning experts

15. Possible discussion questions • Do you agree broadly with the perspective and conclusions of the positioning paper? • Explore some of the problematic issues. • What could be added to the reviews? • What empirical work could usefully follow on? • Are we nearing some recommendations?