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Concurrent Session I
Thursday, June 12, 2:00–3:15 PM
Beyond “Sit and Get”: Case Studies of Experiential Educational Development
Billy O’ Steen: University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Andy Mink: University of Virginia, USA; Jim LaPrad: Western Illinois University, USA
This session will share research conducted on four educational-development models. These models have been in place over the past six years, in a variety of settings (year-long on-site, semester-long class, month-long residential, and week-long wilderness), and in locations in the US and New Zealand. The case studies on these models suggest the benefits and challenges by both participants and educational developers in using methods that involve different applications of experiential education theory: community-building, field work, Inquiry-Based Learning, and service-learning.
The Third Space: Cross-institutional, Cross-role Approaches to Developing Academic Practice
Nick Hopwood & Lynn McAlpine: University of Oxford, UK
This session introduces participants to an original form of development activity that transcends institutional boundaries and brings together people of a wide range of roles within the same discipline—a “third space” activity. It offers a theoretical framework (sociocultural activity theory) to help understand the potential of such an approach in different contexts. The session offers two foci of learning for participants—the concrete example of third space development activity, and its theoretical underpinning. The aim is to help participants understand relevant concepts from the theoretical framework so that they can then use these to consider their own development practice.
Enhancing the First-Year Experience through Creative Curriculum
Catherine Sanderson: Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Student centeredness is considered to be at the heart of academic practices and the phrase ‘student centered learning’ appears prolifically in documentation ranging from university mission statements to course and module handbooks explaining the rationale for ALT approaches and curricula design. This assumes a shared understanding of what ‘Student centered learning,’ means both conceptually and in practice. This workshop will challenge that assumption by inviting participants to compare their views with student views—particularly students new to higher education. Exemplars of creative and innovative practice will be explored.
Promoting Deep Learning through Structured Activities
Barbara J. Millis: University of Texas–San Antonio, USA
Many people are increasingly aware of the research on the biological basis of learning and related international research on deep, rather than surface, learning. Such approaches, particularly when seamlessly integrated with structured group work and classroom assessment techniques, challenge students to higher-order thinking and encourage engagement. This interactive, fast-paced session will combine theory, classroom management approaches, and structured group work to model a cooperative classroom predicated on deep learning.
Border Control: Does Scholarship Keep Academic “Migrants” Out?
David Green: Seattle University, USA
Most educational developers are “immigrants”: we have somehow migrated from other disciplines to the land of the developer and have gradually become “bilingual.” As the scholarship of educational development expands and deepens, to what extent are we restricting immigration from “non-speakers” of our growing discourse? Based on data from academics’ reading preferences in institutions in the UK and USA, participants in this session will explore the themes of accessibility, credibility, language, and “immigration” in the educational development field. We will also develop strategies to support “migration” in our own institutions.
ICED and Partner Networks: Mission and Membership
Santina Battaglia: University of Freiburg, Germany; Kirsten H. Lycke: University of Oslo, Norway; Ranald Macdonald: Sheffield-Hallam University, UK; Marvi Remmik: University of Tartu, Estonia
ICED’s mission is to promote educational development through conferences, an international journal (IJAD), and support of national networks. ICED membership derives its membership from national networks for educational developers. The presenters will present ideas on how national networks can be established and how existing networks can enhance their activities. The presenters have diverse experiences from various countries and institutional backgrounds, experience in initiating and developing networks, and they are closely engaged in ICED work. The presenters look forward to interacting and sharing ideas with the participants on the development of networks and on how to improve the networks’ contribution to the enhancement of educational development.
Finding Common Ground: Conceptualizing Educational Development Practice Across National Boundaries
K. Lynn Taylor: Dalhousie University, Canada; Mariane Frenay: Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Like many fields of scholarship situated in practice, much of the practical and theoretical knowledge held by educational developers is generated in diverse local contexts. This session will help participants conceptualize the common dimensions of knowledge embedded in educational development practice and scholarship; they will work in small groups to critically examine and revise a conceptual map developed during a project involving developers from Belgium, Canada, France, Denmark, and Switzerland. Then the groups will present their proposed revisions; that way all participants can benefit from the critical reflections of colleagues in the integration of personal and conceptual perspectives on educational development.
Significant Networks: Implications for Academic Development
Katarina Mårtensson & Torgny Roxå: Lund University, Sweden
Our studies indicate that university teachers form their understanding of teaching and learning in sincere conversations with only a few significant colleagues. These conversations are personal, authentic, and permeated by trust and mutual support, and they mainly take place back-stage, hidden from the official agendas of academia. This session explores the implications for academic development, derived from the evidence that university teachers rely on significant networks while they develop their understanding of teaching and learning. If real change happens, it starts in these significant networks!