">I believe the primary motivator for lecturers to change their practice
>must remain the perception of benefits to their students learning."
"I'd agree that creating a space for people to learn about the technology -
ideally by trying it out and probably making mistakes - is vital. And it's
not really there right now."
Lecturers perceptions of what will benefit their students is not always
based on relevant experience. How many lecturers have tried elements of
e-learning on which to base their judgement that they should not change?
Trying to raise the standards of 'good' teaching and learning to 'very good'
is a significant challenge whether it involves e-learning or not.
Creating space for teachers to try out new strategies is vital. The
'mandatory' should in my view be directed at managers to ensure the
opportunities exist.
Recruitment policies and adverts can be important motivators!
Going back about 10 steps! - teachers tend to be very busy and frequently
sceptical. Case studies showing that strategies can work are important.
Regards
David
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Oliver" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 1:26 PM
Subject: Re: Recipes or chefs..the significance of CPD
>I believe the primary motivator for lecturers to change their practice
>must remain the perception of benefits to their students learning.
I'd agree - but there's an important corollary here. Ok, you can't promote
everyone each time they learn a new piece of technology. Fair enough. But
equally, you shouldn't expect everyone to learn each new piece of
technology. If you want everyone to engage, then you need to provide
incentives; if you don't care about the patchiness of uptake, then it's ok
to leave it to lecturers to decide whether it's relevant given their
students and approach to teaching. People will develop the portfolio of ICT
skills that they need, rather than the ones that policy makers (or
researchers or...) want.
Whichever of these two options you opt for, though, I'd agree that creating
a space for people to learn about the technology - ideally by trying it out
and probably making mistakes - is vital. And it's not really there right
now.
Best wishes,
Martin
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