I believe the primary motivator for lecturers to change their practice
must remain the perception of benefits to their students learning. (We
find inspiration by example or through a discussion routed in shared
understanding of their subject, students and the potential contribution
of e-learning, work well.) Money is not the motivator BUT it is crucial
to release time for curriculum staff to achieve these changes and/or for
other staff to support them.

>>> Geoff Minshull <[log in to unmask]> 05/25/04 09:38am >>>
At 09:46 25/05/2004 +0100, Martin Oliver said:
> >Whilst there is no magic wand for raising standards I agree that
the
> >next best thing to a magic wand would be this cultural shift to
> >mandatory training.
>
>So what we need is more sticks? Sorry, not convinced. I've seen too
many
>people driven into to training sessions who don't want to be there,
and
>frankly that's a waste of everyone's time. Surely it would be better
to
>try and arouse interest and curiousity, and reward this with status,
>promotion - something like that?

I think Martin is right, in that you can't force people to do training
- or
rather, you can, but it might not be much use. But you can create a
climate
where it is expected that lecturers must have certain skills to be able
to
do their job properly, and where there is a strong presumption that
they
will take up the training opportunities the college makes available.
Part
of that is arousing interest and curiosity.

However, sooner or later all lecturers (and others) are going to need
ILT
skills, to a greater or lesser degree. They can't all be rewarded with
greater status/promotion. Acquiring and using such skills will simply
be a
part of their normal job. Sure, ILT champions, many of them, have got
more
money, more status, promotion (though not all of them by any means).
But,
by definition, they have a much wider staff development role, and it
is
quite right that they are rewarded in some way. But I don't think that
applies to the "ordinary" lecturer who is learning the new skills in
order
to continue doing their job competently (though I think offering them
a
qualification which recognises their new skills is always worth
doing).

BUT, I would strongly suggest that it is entirely wrong for colleges
to
expect them to learn new skills, but not give them realistic and
sufficient
resources to learn those skills. Cultural change should not come about
at
the expense of the individual lecturers.

Geoff.


Geoff Minshull
Direct Learn Training
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