A personal journey of discoveries through a DIY open course development for professional development of teachers in Higher Education

This paper is the author's exploration into the story behind the development of the pedagogical ideas for the open course around Flexible, Distance and Online Learning (FDOL), its design and implementation, and the opportunities and challenges this presented to the author through three iterations, FDOL131, FDOL132 and FDOL141 during 2013 and 2014. Flexible, Distance and Online Learning is an open course developed by educational developers in the UK and Sweden for teachers in Higher Education (HE). Formal and informal continuing professional development opportunities are blended to bring higher education teachers from different disciplines, institutions and countries together into a community to learn autonomously or in groups supported by facilitators from different institutions. Personal discoveries and learning points are shared, based on reflections, observations and related research activities carried out as part of a PhD research project by the author together with a description of the pedagogical design developed for and used in FDOL. Findings shared might be useful for other open course designers who are interested in providing extended, and extending, collaborative learning opportunities for their students through opening-up and joining-up educational provision and practices

BYOD4L : learning to use own smart devices for learning and teaching through the 5C framework

Opportunities to learn informally have exploded since the arrival of social media and mobile technologies. These technologies disrupt the way we learn and create new opportunities for learning (Beetham & Sharpe, 2013). Google is rapidly becoming our dynamic encyclopaedia and connecting to global sources of information and learning is normal behaviour for anyone with a question or desire to learn. This chapter discusses an open approach to learning which was designed to engage educators in HE innovatively with CPD for learning and teaching called Bring Your Own Devices for Learning (BYOD4L). The design of BYOD4L harnessed social media, mobile learning and ideas about open learning to create a rich and interactive learning space mediated through personal smart technologies. It was conceptualised as an immersive open CPD event to be run mostly online over five days. Previously (Nerantzi & Beckingham, 2014, in review) we have described open CPD as professional development afforded by Open Educational Practices (OEP) and Open Educational Resources (OER). Such practices and resources encompass open courses or events, online and face-to-face events and MOOCS as well as freely available and accessible materials, both digital and physical. These create opportunities for “self-directed and self organised CPD driven by professional interests, priorities and aspirations.” (Nerantzi & Beckingham, in review, p. 3). At the time of writing three iterations of BYOD4L have informed the development of a collaborative and scalable open CPD model which presents a versatile approach to delivering CPD for institutions while the 5C framework has been used unmodified

Let’s keep sprinkling magic (invited)

As the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme reaches it's 20th anniversary, we spoke to past winners about what the award meant to them and the impact it had on their careers. Here we speak to 2015 NTF Chrissi Nerantzi, of Manchester Metropolitan University

The use of peer instruction and flipped learning to support flexible blended learning during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article provides an overview of peer instruction and flipped learning, two active learning approaches, in the context of learning and teaching in higher education and illustrates their relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer instruction and flipped learning should be considered when designing for flexible learning. These approaches can stimulate learning and create seamless active engagement in fully online and blended settings even when switching between these modes becomes necessary due to developments in this pandemic. This transitioning between fully online and blended, as and when required, is something that is of high importance during these challenging times, especially for campus-based universities as they are keen to secure the smooth running of their programmes under difficult circumstances. This article provides practical advice for course designers, module and programme leaders on how they can utilise peer instruction or flipped learning to maximise student engagement and learning

Scaling-up open CPD for teachers in higher education using a snowballing approach

In this paper, we explore the snowballing approach developed for the openly licensed course Bring Your Own Device for Learning (BYOD4L) and the opportunities this presents to open cross-institutional CPD and open course development more generally. BYOD4L is a course for teachers and students in higher education which aims to help them gain both a better understanding of and develop their knowledge and skills in using their own smart devices for learning, teaching and professional development. BYOD4L has been developed by the authors and offered three times since 2014 with colleagues and students, participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from the UK and Australia and further collaborators in the US and Germany. The development of the snowballing approach is shared using an action research methodology. We propose a rethink of current CPD practices. We invite course designers, academic developers and the wider academic community to explore new and emerging models of CPD that capitalise on scalable collaborative open educational practices

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® As An Affective Experience In Doctoral Researchers’ Support: Tensions And New Freedoms

This paper reports some of the findings linked to a small scale phenomenographic study in which it was explored how LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) is experienced by coaches working in higher education as supervisors of doctoral students, are involved in doctoral researchers’ development or doctoral supervisors’ development. Data was gathered through five individual semi-structured interviews. Through the iterative phenomenographic analysis three categories of description emerged, ‘LSP as a relational experience’, ‘LSP as an affective experience’ and ‘LSP as a facilitative experience’ and their limited qualitatively different variations. The findings in relation to ‘LSP as an affective experience’ created tensions relating to participation, expression and the material itself as well as new freedoms that were invigorating such as opening-up, engaging in playful explorations and combining more than one method

Quality teaching through openness and collaboration – an alternative to the TEF?

In this opinion piece, I offer an alternative vision to the TEF that positions universities at the heart of communities and society through greater collaboration among higher education institutions and involving the public. I argue that this approach is a rewarding way for academic staff to develop their teaching capabilities and innovate, to improve the student taught experience at universities. Using measures such engagement in professional development and innovations in teaching as a result of it that have an impact on student learning, is my alternative to the TEF

Stripping the layers of the onion in learning and teaching in HE

COVID-19 has had a major impact across all parts of the economy. While individuals, communities and society as a whole are battling to navigate their way through the unprecedented challenges experienced for our generation, this article aims to ‘strip the layers of the onion” in learning and teaching in Higher Education (HE) and reveal what lies beneath it. In the midst of the devastating news of death statistics from across the globe, the article recognises that with challenge comes opportunity and with every opportunity comes challenge. It is our obligation, therefore, that as education practitioners we reflect and identify the emerging positive lessons learned that help un-think, re-think and new-think learning and teaching and curriculum design in HE