No I wasn't suggesting a separate qualification as such - particularly where
institutional PgCerts can offer sufficient flexibility to meet everyone's
needs. Our own pgCert does this to some extent, in terms of including
learning development/tutoring and pastoral support withoin the core
curriculum.
However, it and many others are targeted at relatively new staff, whereas
what seems to be needed is not just an initial qualification but a
nationally recognised way of benchmarking or accrediting individual CPD
activities - including more specialised elements, such as those relating to
disability. I think LDHEN could offer a focus for this - however, the
details would need to be discussed as widely as possible
Pauline
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margo Blythman
Sent: 01 April 2006 09:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Qualifications/CPD for learning development work
Hi All
I have come to this discussion rather late so apologies if I am missing the
point. Are you suggesting a SEPARATE PG Cert in LD? Isn't there
considerable danger is separating LD from more general issues of T&L - not
least because it encourages mainstream academic staff to see it as 'not
their problem'. I would much rather we argued for LD, and other student
academic support activities, to be a much bigger part of the curriculum of
ALL PG Certs in T&L.
Margo
-----Original Message-----
From: John Hilsdon <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 00:50:01 +0100
Subject: Re: Qualifications/CPD for learning development work
Hi All
I'm glad Pauline has raised this topic again. I hope Ann's offer will
encourage others to submit ideas or information about programmes they are
aware of/involved in.
In Plymouth we have a Learning and Teaching in Higher Education PG Cert
which caters for a wide range of academic practice and sounds as if it has
some similarities to the course David Donnarumma describes.
As Pauline says, we have talked about this on LDHEN a little in the past
- and the Steering Group has considered becoming involved in initiatives to
develop an accreditation process - possibly our own, or in association with
others ... and to encourage coherent and appropriate pathways for LD
qualification/professional development.
Next Tuesday at the Symposium, in the session on codes of practice by Julia
Braham of the University of Leeds, there may be some scope to talk about
related issues. The HEA is consulting about this area too and so we do have
a chance to express views from this network in a potentially powerful way.
Further ideas and suggestions would be welcome - and if people are keen to
do so, shall we establish a working group from LDHEN to develop our strategy
and help formulate representations to bodies such as the Academy? I also
wonder if SEDA colleagues would wish to join in this discussion ...?
Best wishes
John
John Hilsdon
Co-ordinator, Learning Development
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA
01752 232276
[log in to unmask]
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pauline Ridley
Sent: 30 March 2006 18:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Qualifications/CPD for learning development work
I seem to remember a discussion earlier in the life of this list - possibly
linked to LearnHigher - about developing a nationally recognised CPD award
for people who work in learning development in HE. Does anybody remember
this, and/or know if there has been any action on this?
We've been talking in my institution about how best to meet the needs of
various groups of staff including:
* hourly paid learning support workers for students with various
disabilities, who may undertake a variety of roles and sometimes need
updates as well as training in new areas such as Aspergers
* tutors eg in dyslexia support who will already have more
specialist qualifications
* library staff who increasingly have a teaching role offer
learning support in information literacy etc
* others from a variety of academic backgrounds who may need
additional support/training to take on a study advisor role
There are specialist courses offered by eg Council for the Advancement of
Communication with Deaf People (CACDP), British Dyslexia Association etc.
There are also NVQs etc in areas such as Counselling or Advice and Guidance
but not in an educational context, and those in Learner Development tend to
either be for Adult Literacy/Basic Skills or classroom assistants in
schools.
Institutional HE Academy-accredited Learning and Teaching certificates for
new and experienced lecturers don't quite fit the bill either as they tend
to include too much stuff that is not necessarily relevant, and may not
support specialist skills development. There are also courses for part-time
or associate lecturers, or personal tutors, all of which are partially
relevant to the constituencies above.
I think the best solution would be to develop a fairly generic
portfolio-based CPD award. There would be some common elements but each
participant would also draw up an individual learning plan with the
opportunity to include more specialist elements, some of which might carry
external accreditation, as appropriate to people's roles.
Ideally this would be endorsed nationally by LDHEN and LearnHigher, but
undertaken locally with peer support through eg action learning sets, as
well as an online element possibly?
Have other people already found solutions to this - or would it be worth
exploring further?
Perhaps those of us who are going to the LDHEN conference/LearnHigher launch
in Liverpool next week could gauge the level of interest ?
-------------
Pauline Ridley
Centre for Learning and Teaching
Room 113, Mayfield House, Falmer
University of Brighton
Brighton BN1 9PH
01273-643406
Email [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Visit the CLT website at
http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/clt
Dr Margo Blythman
LCC Director of Teaching and Learning
London College of Communication
University of the Arts London
|
