I've been working in faculty development for a decade. Yes, mostly in pre-Covid-19 times but also in the past months' mad rush. Here are 5 things I learned. 1/
#facdev
#edtech
1. As long as teaching is not considered on a par with research in terms of academic career development, it's very difficult to get faculty to commit to professional development. There is always something more valuable from career perspective taking precedence. 2/
2. The academic environment is often rigid and does not encourage experimentation. Faculty is often hesitating to try out new things and innovate their teaching, afraid any possible failure might negatively impact their career progression. 3/
3. What worked for me:
🔸Trying to establish a partnership & building trust;
🔸Not prescribing what teachers should do/ tools to use;
🔸Encouraging reflection;
🔸A flexible approach, being able to quickly adapt to faculty needs; 🔸Being respectful of their time.
4/
4. The most effective #facdev strategy in my opinion is *encouraging and facilitating peer sharing*. Pandemic showed the value of knowledge and experience exchange and it's definitely worth taking this further. 5/
5. Faculty development in HE can't be sustainable without *substantial* changes in institutional structures: e.g. incentive systems for teaching innovation & excellence, more flexible career paths and more. 6/
We should live under no illusion that just because interest in #facdev peaked during the pandemic this trend is irreversible. Here is a thread with some brilliant crowdsourced ideas on what's important to work on beyond the pandemic 👇 https://twitter.com/Anda19/status/1315935236585291777?s=19
You can follow @Anda19.
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