By Dr Matt Crofts and Kate Coulson
This #Take5 is brought to you from Dr Matt Crofts and Kate Coulson. As Learning Developers with a passion for learning and teaching, they are leading a CPD project for ALDinHE to ensure that members have access to high quality CPD resources, events and opportunities to develop the community’s expertise.
Develop that!
ALDinHE currently offers a professional recognition framework for Learning Developers to achieve either CeP (Certified Practitioner in Learning Development) or CeLP (Certified Leading Practitioner in Learning Development) status. However, ALDinHE does not currently offer formal opportunities for continuing professional development especially for new practitioners. Promoting key skills within Learning Development (LD) is essential for continuing to share knowledge, best practice, and establish standards across the sector.
A gap in ALDinHE provision
Kate and Matt met at the ALDinHE Conference in June 2023. Kate has led LD provision for over a decade and Matt is new to the profession. They realised that there is a gap in ALDinHE provision for new Learning Developers so agreed to work together to understand the needs of the community. This is a two-part project whereby provision for new Learning Developers will be designed and piloted first and development opportunities for experienced Learning Developers will be the focus later (and we will blog about that in late 2024).
About the Survey
To ensure the CPD provision meets the needs of new LDers, we designed a survey. In November 2023 this was shared with members of the Jiscmail email list: LDHEN which consists of members of the ALDinHE community and colleagues who have a keen interest in Learning Development. The survey was designed to elicit the views of new Learning Developers (colleagues in post for less than two years) and their training and development and the views of experienced Learning Developers (those in post for more than two years) reflecting on their own initial training and development and what they might have welcomed.
Survey Results
The survey closed after six weeks, and the data presented some interesting conclusions about where CPD would be welcome:
- 92.3% of new Learning Developers have never been taught how to conduct a tutorial.
- 41.5% of new Learning Developers have never been taught how to lead a workshop
- 76.9% of new Learning Developers have never been taught how to give effective feedback.
CPD Framework
We’re currently turning the Findings from the survey into a CPD framework. It was important to us that this aligned with the values of ALDinHE, as well as the PSF. We will be presenting more of our findings at ALDCon24 so watch this space.
We’re also very aware that colleagues have a high workload, so we want to make sure this will be useful for their development and can also be fed into a Cep, CeLP, PGCAP, PGCert LTHE, or potential FHEA application.
Next Steps
In terms of where we see the project going, our next step is going to be knocking on the (figurative) doors of colleagues and other ALDinHE contributors in terms of finding the best facilitators out there to upskill new LDers. Once we’ve established a successful model, it’s something we’d love to expand out overseas into other countries. If you feel you could make a contribution to this please contact us at admin@aldinhe.ac.uk
Review the proposed ALDinHE CPD framework
Please review the proposed ALDinHE CPD framework and provide feedback by Friday 24 May 2024.
About the Authors
Dr Matt Crofts is an academic & library specialist at the University of Hull, specialising in supporting postgraduate students. Matt’s background and PhD are in English literature, where he has published on Neo-Victorian & Gothic literature, most recently on ‘Dracula’ and ‘Castlevania’. A year in to his LD role he’s enthusiastic to learn more about practice across the LD landscape.
Kate Coulson is an Associate Dean and Associate Professor at BPP University. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for her research on the impact of Learning Development on student outcomes and is also the Co-Chair of the Association of Learning Developers in Higher Education and represents ALDinHE on the international consortium of Learning Developers: ICALLD. Kate is a strong advocate for Learning Development, collegiality, excellence in learning and teaching as well as mentoring and nurturing those new to the profession.
A great initiative. Look forward to hearing more.