Food for thought thanks Colin.

It's got me thinking that we need to split apart the induction from the
formal training in teaching, learning and assessment (some places already do
this), not least because the 'intended learning outcomes' of the typical
'talking heads' induction programmes are hardly likely to be measured. That
said, I think a 'shared day' with other new appointees is particularly
valuable in its own right, as a means of tuning in to a new institution, and
at least getting the measure of the boss, and so on. It also often helps one
make friends.

But where should the institutional CPD fit in? Alert people to it at
induction by all means, and refer to it during training courses on TLA, but
CPD is for all and not just for new starters. It will be interesting to see
what lead the ILT may take in helping CPD to be 'less granular' (to use your
wonderful term here).

Cheers,
Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: C.G.Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: apl and ilt accredited courses


> Hi!
>
> > It would be interesting to know of practices regarding the accreditation
of
> > learning carried out by new HE teachers on courses in teaching and
learning
> > at institutions other than their own. Given the relative mobility of
> > colleagues who are just entering HE teaching and the average time it
takes
> > to complete a Postgrad Cert in T&L (2 to 2.5 years)it is likely that
> > equivalences will be sought. Any leads?
>
> I think a lot of ad hoc solutions are being used for this; typically
> talking to the member of staff and exempting them from whatever they
> (claim to) have covered elsewhere. However as these courses become
> more formal and become university certificates in their own right,
> this is unlikely to remain possible. One potentialy problem is that
> the granularity of some of the courses is rather large; some courses
> are split into e.g. four modules, and it is unlikely that the contents
> of any particular module are likely to have been completely covered
> even if a person has already passed a module elsewhere. This is of
> course a problem with almost any formal APL scheme; given that you
> can't assume that the content of two modules is identical at two
> different institutions, how similar does it have to be to count as
> equivalent? Even if there is equivalence, how do you deal with it when
> your modular division of the material is different to another
> institutions? (Fine-grained HND-style enumeration of objectives is one
> solution; but potentially an administrative nightmare, and it is not
> clear that this can capture larger scale integrative learning.)
>
> One thing which helps all this is that many such courses are largely
> assessed by a single final portfolio. Therefore the portfolio can
> consist of reflections on the teaching which has been done at both
> institutions, and can draw on workshops and teaching-observations
> which have been conducted at both institutions. This is one of the
> advantages to this form of assessment.
>
> A related question is whether institutions are accepting other
> institutions' (ILT/SEDA accredited) certificates as being equivalent
> to their own. Certainly when I started my current job it was not
> considered sufficient that I had passed an accredited course
> elsewhere; instead I had to attend those components of the local
> course which were not in the syllabus for my original course and
> produce a "top-up" portfolio. I have no idea whether this is common
> practice nationally. I think this sort of problem is caused by the way
> in which many courses consist of (at least) three things all mashed
> together: induction to the particular institution, continuing
> professional development, and a formal academically-grounded course on
> education.
>
> Colin Johnson.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Colin G. Johnson. Computing Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury.
> [log in to unmask] http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/people/staff/cgj
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>