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Directives and Academics: educational developers, technology and the right support

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-05-26, 07:13 authored by Woodley, C, Funk, R, Curran, L
There can be 'an army of people involved in the development of academics as teachers' (Ling & CADAC, 2009) and the role of Educational Developers with technological expertise is vital to the uptake and creative use of educational technologies in learning contexts (Oliver, 2005). Even so, technology plays only a part in the teaching and learning experience and must be underpinned with pedagogical wherewithal. At Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, a new VU Agenda expects the university to be known for educational programmes 'that maximise opportunities for blended and eLearning'. This discussion examines the support available to staff using technologies for teaching. The discussion covers two examples from different faculties where teaching staff have needed to comply with Faculty or School directives to use particular university-supported technologies (Lectopia and GradeMark). The comments about staff uptake of technologies draw on general themes from evaluations administered in each faculty to gauge the effectiveness of the technologies for teaching and to identify further professional development needs. Unsurprisingly, the findings show that, without intensive and timely support tailored to the specific requirements of academics, without academics having both an understanding of the reason for the mandating of a technology as well as an ability to influence that uptake, academics are likely to find ways to resist authoritarian directives. The danger of encouraging academics' uptake of educational technologies without broader educational development support to encourage good teaching practices that integrate technology and good curriculum design became clear from the data

History

Publication status

  • Unpublished

Event title

THETA: The Higher Education Technology Agenda 2013

Event Venue

Hobart, Tasmania

Date of Event (Start Date)

2013-04-07

Date of Event (End Date)

2013-04-10

Rights statement

Copyright 2013 THETA: The Higher Education Technology Agenda

Repository Status

  • Open

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