FDTL Voices: Drawing from learning and teaching projects

1
FDTL Voices Drawing from learning and teaching
projects

• Chris Turnock
• Teaching Fellow
• Learning Teaching Academy
• Northumbria University

2
Publication Philosophy

• Collaborative publication
• Draw on practical insights from FDTL projects
• Present innovations in learning teaching
• Organic template for future learning teaching
  projects
• Intended for all HE practitioners

3
Publication Aims

• Focus on what we as a learning and teaching
  community now know, understand, and can evidence
  about HE learning and teaching that we didnt
  know before.
• Focus on what has been learnt and can be drawn on
  for the future using the change initiated from
  the FDTL projects to influence future direction.
• Maximise impact of the FDTL programme beyond the
  audience for each individual project by capturing
  the lessons learned that are of interest to as
  wide an audience as possible those that are
  involved in projects in any way including
  practitioners and policy makers.

4
Structure

• Four central themes
• Sector / Organisational Change
• Conceptual Change
• Professional Personal Development
• Partnership Project Management
• Project Management
• Research
• Sustainability

5
Contributing Projects

• Phase Three
• Assessing Group Practice (1)
• Phase Four
• Managed Environments for Portfolio-based
  Reflective Learning (3)
• Making Practice Based Learning Work (1, 2, 3)
• Profile (1)
• Phase Five
• Virtual Resources for Online Research Training
  (2,3)

6
Project Management

• Addressed the following questions
• How can project culture be developed?
• How do projects behave?
• How do projects manage change?
• What determines the success or failure of a
  project?

7
Project Management

• Main points
• Flexible pragmatic in approach
• Face to face meetings
• Away days
• Set goals actions
• Promote individual ownership of tasks
• People centred management style
• Have confidence in team members to achieve
• Community of practice

8
Role of Research

• Addressed the following questions
• Has the language / politics of research in
  learning and teaching projects changed?
• What is the purpose and meaning of research in
  learning and teaching projects?
• What research methods have been used in learning
  and teaching projects?
• How can projects use their outputs to promote
  research engagement?

9
Role of Research

• Main points
• Becoming more explicit
• Project design
• Project outputs
• 9/38 Phase 4 18/32 Phase 5
• Realism about nature of research
• Acknowledge limits to generalisation
• Two types - Action Research Survey
• Engage through dissemination internal
  external

10
Sustainability

• Addressed the following questions
• What makes a project sustainable?
• How do we know a project has had an impact?
• What evidence do we have for sustainability?
• How can policy changes affect sustainability?

11
Sustainability

• Main points
• Address real need in bid preparation
• Build into project plan
• All team own outputs
• Outputs flexible and adaptable
• Dissemination activity includes finding ways to
  enhance sustainability
• Monitor output
• interest
• use
• re use
• Sustain team with new projects
• Emphasis on Research / Evaluation

12
Conclusion

• Value team members
• Acknowledge and support growth of individuals
  team
• Effective planning
• Pragmatism