Higher Education Academy Professional Recognition Scheme

The UK based Higher Education Academy (HEA) runs the HEA Professional Recognition Scheme.
This is intended to lift the professionalism of university teaching. The scheme is aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). There are four levels of recognition (and typical job descriptions):

1. AFHEA – Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Graduate Teaching Assistant)
2. FHEA – Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Lecturer)
3. SFHEA - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (academic leader or middle management)
4. PFHEA – Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (senior leader)

The HEA is promoting their scheme internationally, with the Australian National University the first Australian subscribing institution. The HEA is more general than the Certified Membership Scheme run by UK Association for Learning Technology (ALT), which was also extended to Australia last year. The way the HEAPRS/UKPSF is structured is similar to schemes run for other professions, such as ACS CP/IP3/SFIA for computer professionals.

UK Professional Standards Framework

The UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) consists of:

Framework 

An Introduction.

Descriptors 

Four categories of level of teaching responsibility, corresponding to the four levels of HEA recognition:

1. Associate
2. Fellow
3. Senior Fellow
4. Principal Fellow

Dimensions of Practice 

Three dimensions of practice:

1. Areas of activity:
   
   1. Design and plan learning activities and/or programmes of study
   2. Teach and/or support learning
   3. Assess and give feedback to learners
   4. Develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance
   5. Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional practices
2. Aspects of Core knowledge:
   1. The subject material
   2. Appropriate methods for teaching and learning in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme
   3. How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)  
   4. The use and value of appropriate learning technologies
   5. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching
   6. The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching
3. Professional values:
   1. Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities   
   2. Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners
   3. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development
   4. Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice

Role for Teaching Resarch Skills to University Students

Greetings from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, where Dr John Willison, University of Adelaide, is conducting a workshop on "Using the Research Skill Development Framework to drive initiatives in research-led education". He is discussing his Research Skill Development (RSD) Framework. This is a topic of particular interest to ANU, given it emphasis on international standard research. John argues that we can teach research skills, even to undergraduate students. While I agree this could be a useful technique (I have been studying research lead education for the last year), it may need different terminology for different disciplines. Most students who are studying at university will not go on to be academics, but instead be employed in industry and government. While they will use research and may undertake some as part of their day job, this will not be their focus. I teach computer science students, a small number of whom will  go into research, but most will be employed building computer systems. Telling these students they will be learning to do "research" will be a negative for them. However, if we teach students "professional skills" in how to conduct analysis of a problem and structure a task, that will seem relevant, just don't call it "research".

Recognition of Prior Learning for University Teachers

Greetings from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, where Richard Brawn, Head of the HEA's Teacher Excellence Team, is speaking on "Recognising and Promoting Staff Expertise in Teaching and Learning: the UK experience". The ANU is a subscribing institution of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA). The HEA has a Professional Standards Framework (PSF) and HEA Fellowship. It should be noted that this is a separate program to the Certified Membership Scheme run by UK Association for Learning Technology (ALT), which was extended to Australia last year.

HEA's process is similar to Recognition to Prior Learning using an e-portfolio for Australian vocation teachers. In terms of positioning the organization, the ANU would see itself similar to the UK University of Cambridge, at least in the field of computing. Richard did not mention Cambridge, but I did a quick search and found a Higher Education Academy Briefing, scheduled for 13 May 2013.

The process, as Richard describes it, also has similarities to the Australian Computer Society's processes for promoting professionalism. It would be interesting to explore coordination between education certification and other professional certifications, including computing.

HEA Fellowships do not replace tertiary qualifications in Higher Education for ANU staff. The ANU Certificate of Higher Education was discontinued, but ANU staff can enroll in a program at another university to obtain tertiary qualifications in Higher Education (I undertook half my GCHE at USQ on-line).

At present I am certified by the ACS as a computer professional, have just finished the current ANU HE Certificate, applied for certification to teach in the vocational sector. If I need to be certified again through a UK based process to teach in a university, the regulatory burden starts to become high. It would be useful if these certifications were aligned. The ACS has achieved such an alignment internationally, through the "Seoul Accord", for IT professionals.

What can make such RPL processes easier is good on-line support. Learning Management Systems, such as Moodle, with  an e-portfolio package, such as Mahara, can be used for this.

Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning Techniques

I will be presenting "Synchronizing Asynchronous Learning: Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Techniques", at the 8th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), April 2013. In this I suggest that while a class of on-line students may not be physically present in the same place, or looking at materials at the same time, it still is useful to have checkpoints, so they progress as a group. The paper was originally prepared as an assignment for the USQ course Online Pedagogy in Practice.

Citation: Worthington, T. (2013). Synchronizing Asynchronous Learning: Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Techniques. In Proceedings of 2013 8th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), 26 Apr - 28 Apr 2013 , Sri Lanka.

Abstract: On-line learning uses the terms synchronous and asynchronous to describe tools and learning activities. This research looks into the origins of these terms, their use today and asks if these are the correct terms to use and if the use of these terms has held up the development of better tools and techniques.

Conclusion: Current on-line educational literature uses the terms synchronous and asynchronous with meanings different from their use in everyday language and in the computing discipline. It is recommended that these terms be replaced with “real time” and “store and forward”, as used in the computing discipline. As well as improving the clarity of discussions of educational theory, this will have practical benefits for the development and use of systems and educational techniques. In particular this can aid the thinking about the development of simpler software for learning support, combining the features of the store-and-forward LMS, with real-time video conferencing. It is recommended the term synchronous be returned to its original meaning and be applied to discussing the coordination of learning activities and the role of synchronization in the learning experience be explored.

A further area for research is the use of information diffusion analysis to automatically assess when an on-line class has reached an appropriate level of understanding of a topic and can move on, without the need for an explicit test. New system designs combining what have previously been though of as separate synchronous and asynchronous forms of on-line learning can then be merged to support a constructivist approach , where each student builds their own understanding in their own time, while also participating in the class to reach common goals.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/9556

Link to publisher version: http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/conferencedetails/index.html?Conf_ID=30408 Type: Conference paper URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/9556
Appears in Collections: Open Access Research

Pedagogical Patterns Collector

The Pedagogical Patterns Collector (PPC) is an online tool to allow educators to select from a set of generic learning designs and see how these would be applied in different subject areas. A pattern can then be selected and the details customized. This appears to draw on ideas of a a pattern language, as applied in architecture and computing.

There will be a free webinar about the PPC, 31 January 2013, by Diana Laurillard, Professor of Learning with Digital Technologies at the London Knowledge Lab.

Unfortunately the PPC tool has been implemented using Flash, making it all but unusable. The tool is slow to start and the text is unreadable on my screen. The tool does not appear to meet accessibility requirements, which would make its offering as a service in Australia (and most likely in the UK as well) unlawful.

Portfollio for Professional Learning Technology Certification

The UK based Association for Learning Technology (ALT) last year announced extending their Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT) to Australia. The CMALT process might make a good model for other portfolio based accreditation processes. For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research.

CMALT support for candidates and assessors

CMALT provides support for both the candidates and the assessors. Often such assessment schemes fall down because they assume that those doing the assessment know what to do. But just because someone is an expert in the area being assessed, that does not mean they know how to do assessment. Even those familiar with exam based assessment will need some help assessing a portfolio.

CMALT Provide:

1. CMALT Prospectus: a guide to the process for candidates
2. CMALT Community: An on-line forum for candidates to get mutual support. On the Crowdvine platform.
3. Information for CMALT candidates: A short document to start the portfolio process.
4. CMALT webinar: A live on-line session every few weeks, with questions and answers. There appears to be no stored alternative offered, for those who cannot attend the live webinar. Also there does not appear to be an on-line non-real-time forum for questions and answers.
5. Guidelines for CMALT candidates and assessors: More detail on requirements for CMALT.
6. FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
7. CMALT Development Group: The email addresses of the individual developers of the CMAL process are provided for queries. This is an unusual personal touch for such a process, which usually has an anonymous administrative point of contact.
8. Portfolio submission form: A Microsoft Word document set up with fields to be completed (I was able to use LibreOffice to fill in the form).
9. Email address: For submitting the form. It is curious that ALT are not using a Learning Management System, such as Moodle for managing the student interaction and document submission.

Assessors are recruited from those who have already been through the CMALT process and are thus familiar with it (as well as being certified in the subject matter). In addition to the material for candidates, assessors are offered:

• CMALT webinar for assessors: A live on-line session, with questions and answers. It is not clear how often these are held (there were three webinars for candidates listed on the ALT Events Page, but none for assessors).
• Assessment form: A Microsoft Word based form. The form is clearly alid out and only two pages long. However, it appears that two people need to fill out the one form: Lead and Second Assessor, which would complicate the process. The new Outcomes feature in Moodle 2 might be a better way to accomplish this.

ICT E-portfolios for Higher Degrees

For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research. The Certified Member Association for Learning Technology Program, the Professional Practice Subject of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Certified Professional Program and ACS Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Application process all use some form of portfolio.

The ACS Professional Practice Subject of the Certified Professional Program requires four components:

1. Skill self assessment: the student assesses their own current skills against the Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) framework. Students are required to have reached SFIA Level 4 (generic skills:
   autonomy, influence, complexity and business skills) before commencing the activity.
2. Career plan: the student has to identify three areas to develop over the following five years, with  a plan for development,
3. Professional profile: the student prepares a professional profile in preparation for career advancement,
4. Reflective journal: the student records a weekly reflections on what they have learned, their skills, and workplace experience.

The guidelines allow for 1 to 3 hours per week for up to 52 weeks for the preparation of the Professional Practice.

The ACS "Key Areas of Knowledge" document provides a list of topics for applicants for membership to address in an application for RPL:

ACS Key Areas of Knowledge

1. Technology Resources (TR)
   • TR1. Hardware and software fundamentals
   • TR2. Data and information management
   • TR3. Networking
2. Technology Building (TB)
   • TB1. Programming
   • TB2. Human-computer interaction
   • TB3 & TB4.System development and acquisition
3. Services Management (SM)
   • SM1. Service management
   • SM2. Security management
4. Outcomes Management (OM)
   • OM1. Organisational and Management Concepts
   • OM2. Change management

As these are the topics an applicant for RPL is required to address, it should be possible to use these same topics in an e-portfolio to support membership for students in university programs. However, these topics do not appear to match those which have been used traditionally to define the ICT "Body of Knowledge" (known as the "BoK"). In particular there is no mention of professional skills in communication and ethics. So I should check the latest ACS BoK.

The ACS "ICT Profession Body of Knowledge" (ACS Professional Standards Board, July 2012), follows the '... approach to educational program design that focuses on the development of professionals rather than taking a strict bottom‐up “curriculum‐driven” approach'.  The BoK cites several international standards and frameworks for defining ICT courses and skills requirements, including the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3), the the Seoul Accord graduate attributes and the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). It should be noted that the ACS has been closely involved in the development of these international programs. The BoK states: "It might be expected that a graduate from a degree program would be ready to assume Level 4 responsibilities in their area of specialisation". 

The "CORE Block" of the Core Body of Knowledge has six sub‐components:

1. ICT Problem Solving (PS)
2. Professional Knowledge (PK)
3. Technology Building (TB)
4. Technology Resources (TR)
5. Services Management (SM)
6. Outcomes Management (OM).

The last four of these (TB, TR, SM and OM) are also in the ACS "Key Areas of Knowledge" for RPL (but with TR before TB). It is not clear why "ICT Problem Solving" (PS) and Professional Knowledge (PK) are not included in the RPL process. Perhaps these are covered implicitly by the requirement for the applicant to provide case studies of their work. These two areas are the ones which are lest able to be covered in a traditional course based program and were the e-portolfio is most likely to be of use.

ICT Problem Solving

ICT Problem Solving (PS) covers modeling, abstraction and design. There are many different forms of modelling used in ICT, engineering and related disciplines which could be applied. It is likely that a student undertaking an ICT program will have covered this topic adequately somewhere, but may need to identify where they did and provide evidence of specific work.

Professional Knowledge

Professional Knowledge (PK) covers:

1. Ethics
2. Professionalism
3. Teamwork concepts and issues
4. Interpersonal communication
5. Societal issues/Legal issues/Privacy
6. History and status of discipline 

These are the topic which cause most difficulty in a traditional course based university program, as they do not fit within traditional technical categories. Teamwork is likely to be covered in a software engineering course, but less so in computer science. Ethics and other issues may be covered by one or two lectures and an assignment at best. The difficulty for university course designers is where to fit these topics.

Mapping of International Curriculum to ACS CBOK  

The ACS BoK includes an appendix Mapping of International Curriculum to ACS CBOK. This has a table indicating what BoK sub-components correspond to parts of the standard curricular of ACM, IEEE and IEEE CS. Notably ICT Problem Solving (PS) does not appear in the mapping. Professional Knowledge maps to the other curricular.

ACM/IEEE-CS Report on Masters Degree Programs in Europe and the United States

Of relevance to any new Australian Computing Masters is the "Report of the Joint ACM and IEEE-CS Committee on Masters Degree Programs in Europe and the United States" by Lillian N. Cassel, Arnold Pears, Michael Casperson Art Pyster, Gordon Davies and Heikki Topi (2012). This report looks at the European standardization of Masters programs under the Bologna model and the different US approach

The report categorises the types of Masters as:

1. Research: Students are assumed to be going to continue on to a PHD. 
2. Continuation/Integrated: Students undertake an undergraduate degree, then a Masters.
3. Conversion: Students enter the masters having an undergraduate degree in another discipline.
4. Professional/Industrial: Students study and work at the same time.

The Continuation/Integrated and Conversion categories match most closely what is proposed for ANU.

The report discusses "Professional Practice", which matches closely the ACS "Professional Knowledge". The ACS "Code of Professional Conduct and Professional Practice" is cited in the report. Also the "problem solving"and communication skills. Unfortunately the requirements for Professional Knowledge and Problem Solving are not detailed. Also the report ends without any recommendations on how US style masters can be harmonized with Europe, which is the issue Australia is now facing.

Computer Science Curricula 2013

The Computer Science Curricula 2013 (ACM/IEEE CS, Strawman Draft, February 2012) includes a section on "Social and Professional Practice" (SP, also referred to as "Social and Professional Issues" in some parts of the report) which matches closely the ACS "Professional Knowledge". This is covered over nine pages in in far more detail than the previously discussed reports. The joint committee which produced the curricula is due to produce an updated draft for comment in February 2013 and the final report in "Summer 2013".

Social and Professional Practice (SP) is allocated 11 Core-Tier 1 hours and 5 Core-Tier 2 hours of the curriculum (no change from 2001  and 2008 versions of the curriculum). In this context "hours" refers to the time required to present the material in a traditional lecture format, not counting other student work. Tier 1 are introductory and Tier 2 advanced courses. The total hours are 305 (163 Tier 1 and 142 Tier 2). So Social and Professional Practice represents 6.7% of the Tier 1 total hours and 3.5% of Tier 2, making 5.2% of the total program hours. Assuming an undergraduate program consists of 4 courses per semester, 2 semesters per year for 3 years (24 in total), then SP makes up 125% of a course.

Comments on the report are being collected using computingportal.org . This allows anyone to sign up to enter a comment, with contributors able to "earn" higher level access. This is part of the "Ensemble" NSF NSDL Pathways project on computing education. However, little use seems to have been made of the system for this report. I have submitted this comment:

The CS2013 Ironman draft refers to the Knowledge Area "SP" mostly as "Social and Professional Practice" but in a few places as "Social and Professional Issues".
I suggest using "Practice" rather than "Issues" throughout. Change:
Chapter 1, Page 7, Line 89,
Chapter 5, Page 33, Line 136

Social and Professional Practice (SP)

Social and Professional Practice (SP) is made up of ten topics:

SP. Social and Professional Practice
	Core-Tier1 hours	Core-Tier2 hours	Includes Electives
SP/Social Context	1	2	N
SP/Analytical Tools	2		N
SP/Professional Ethics	2	2	N
SP/Intellectual Property	2		Y
SP/Privacy and Civil Liberties	2		Y
SP/Professional Communication	1		Y
SP/Sustainability	1	1	Y
SP/History			Y
SP/Economies of Computing			Y
SP/Security Policies, Laws and Computer Crimes			Y

Curiously, "Professional Communication", makes up only one hour of the curriculum. This only about 0.3% of the total course, which appears inadequate, gen the importance of communication to any professional and the problems computer scientists have had communicating.

SP/ Professional Communication
[1 Core-Tier1 hour]
Topics:

• Reading, understanding and summarizing technical material, including source code and documentation
• Writing effective technical documentation and materials
• Dynamics of oral, written, and electronic team and group communication
• Communicating professionally with stakeholders
• Utilizing collaboration tools

[Elective]

• Dealing with cross-cultural environments
• Tradeoffs of competing risks in software projects, such as technology, structure/process, quality, people,
• market and financial

Learning Outcomes:
[Core-Tier1]

1. Write clear, concise, and accurate technical documents following well-defined standards for format and for including appropriate tables, figures, and references. [Application]
2. Evaluate written technical documentation to detect problems of various kinds. [Evaluation]
3. Develop and deliver a good quality formal presentation. [Evaluation]
4. Plan interactions (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared documents) with others in which they are able to get their point across, and are also able to listen carefully and appreciate the points of others, even when they
5. disagree, and are able to convey to others that they have heard. [Application]
6. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of communication (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared
7. documents) [Knowledge]
8. Examine appropriate measures used to communicate with stakeholders involved in a project. [Application]
9. Compare and contrast various collaboration tools. [Evaluation]

[Elective]

1. Discuss ways to influence performance and results in cross-cultural teams. [Knowledge]
2. Examine the tradeoffs and common sources of risk in software projects regarding technology, structure/process, quality, people, market and financial. [Application]

E-portfolios for Higher Degrees

For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research. I covered these issues in general terms in a previous assignment: "On-line Professional Education For Australian Research-Intensive Universities in the Asian Century", but now I am considering how to implement this. One approach is to have the students fill in an e-portfolio with evidence of their skills, alongside courses and research.
The e-portfolio could be used to ensure the students cover all the required graduate attributes, as well as the requirements for any professional accreditation. This could also address the issue of credit for prior study, professional skills and quality of written academic communication.

My experience as a student who has had to fill out such portfolios, suggests that simply saying to the student "fill out an e-portfolio using some tool or other" is not sufficient. The student needs more detail as to what is required in the e-portfolio, what formats are acceptable and provided with help filling it out. Also the e-portfolio should not be seen as an additional optional task, outside the regular educational program, but as an integral part of it. In particular, the e-portfolio has to count towards final results, has to replace some of the other work in the course and there have to be staff who are trained in how to prepare an e-portfolio to help.

Some examples of e-portfolio use are the Certified Member Association for Learning Technology Program and the Professional Practice Subject of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Certified Professional Program. The ACS also has a separate Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Application process (1 July 2012).

It needs to be kept in mind that e-portfolios have to be assessed. This will required assessors who are qualified in the specifics of e-portfolios, as well as educational assessment and the discipline area. One tool which shows promise for this "Outcomes for Moodle 2". This is a new function being introduced to allow assessment beyond small specific course units. An example is the "British Higher National Diplomas". This could be useful in overcoming the tedium of paperwork otherwise involved with such assessment.

Professional Learning Technology Accreditation in Australia

The UK based Association for Learning Technology (ALT) has announced "CMALT Australasia", an extension of the UK Certified Membershipof the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT) to Australia. The details of the Australia scheme are not yet released, but presumably will be similar to the UK approach, where the applicant submits a portfolio for assessment.

CMALT looks useful, but as a student of higher education (and someone who helped design a professional RPL process), I suggest that more support will be needed for the average person. Just giving people a template to fill in with their prior experience is a daunting task. Even with a support group, and a mentor, this is a difficult task.

While I am an experienced course designer and university lecturer, as soon as I became a "student" of education, I started to behave like a student: concentrating on what was to be assessed and putting off tasks until just before the deadline. There may be a few self disciplined people who can do it all on their own, but I suggest the average person will needs a push along.

For my graduate certificate final assignment I am looking at integrating an e-portfolio into higher degree programs. Alongside their courses and/or research, students would do an on-line course top teach them how to compose an e-portfolio to present evidence of their skills. Students would then fill out either a generic graduate skills template, or one or more specific templates, such as for membership of a professional body (such as the Australian Computer Society or CMALT). The software used to do this is not very important, Mahara and Moodle would do (that is what I have used on my courses). The important point is to offer the student a framework to help them along.

Core areas of work

1 Operational issues. Candidates should demonstrate both their understanding and use of learning technology. ‘Use’ might include the development, adaptation or application of technology within teaching, training or the support of learning more generally. This should include evidence of:

a) an understanding of the constraints and benefits of different technology;
b) technical knowledge and ability in the use of learning technology;
c) supporting the deployment of learning technologies.

2 Teaching, learning and/or assessment processes. Candidates should demonstrate their understanding of and engagement with teaching, learning and assessment processes. ‘Engagement’ may include using understanding to inform the development,
adaptation or application of technology. This should include evidence of:

a) an understanding of teaching, learning and/or assessment processes;
b) an understanding of your target learners.

3     The wider context. Candidates should demonstrate their awareness of and engagement with wider issues that inform their practice. This should include evidence of:

a) understanding and engaging with legislation, policies and standards.

4     Communication. Candidates should demonstrate their knowledge and skills in communication either through working with others or through interface design.
This should include evidence of either (a) or (b).

a) Working with others.
b) Interface between human and technical systems.

Specialist option(s)

As well as the core areas, candidates are required to demonstrate evidence of independent practice in one or more specialist options. Here is an indicative list of
specialist options:

• producing learning materials/content/courseware;
• project management, including resource management;
• training, mentoring and developing others;
• evaluating projects;
• research;
• designing tools and systems;
• institutional development/strategic work;
• knowledge and application of standards and specifications for learning technology;
• assistive technologies;
• VLE administration and maintenance;
• interface design;
• managing and sourcing content;
• copyright. ...

From: CMALT Prospectus, Association for Learning Technology, 2012.

Teaching Development in Higher Education

The report "Impact of teaching development programmes in higher education" by David Parsons, Inge Hill, Jane Holland and Dick Willis, was released by the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA), September 2012. It aims to be a "... state of the
art, evidence-based assessment of the impact of HE-based teaching development programmes and initiatives...". While looking at the UK, much of what is found could be applied in Australia.

The researchers found:

•     There is a positive association between participation in teacher development programmes and individuals’ propensity to develop (or enhance) learner-centred teaching methods.  This is important since a range of wider scholarly and pedagogic-
centred research studies have shown such methods are in turn associated with stronger student outcomes in HE. 
•     Impacts on teacher knowledge and skills are less clear but seem to be positively affected by a combination of longer duration programmes, integrated support (especially for newer teachers) and continued formal inputs from continuing professional development.
•     Impacts may be more readily achieved for established teachers but the available evidence suggests there is substantial potential for transfer to practice among ‘novice’ or aspiring teachers where a critical mass of pedagogic knowledge is achieved. ...

Interestingly the researchers suggest "... there is much that can be drawn in the UK from school-based teacher improvement, and specifically from other post-secondary teacher development including within further education.". However, I have found that university academics are very reluctant to acknowledge that there is anything they can learn from the vocational education (TAFE) sector or from professional education activities of bodies such as the Australian Computer Society.

University Websites Must Allow for Difference of Opinion

In "3 idioms reveal the truth about university websites" (13 December 2012), Dey Alexander argues that universities need a single coordinated web presence, not just a collection of sub-sites and there should be a clear boundary between what is boundary between internal and external content. However, universities are not corporations devoted to profit, they intended to educate and produce new knowledge, which requires differing views to be debated.

Education and research require that different views of the world be explored, debated and tested. There cannot be one central unified view on what is true at at university: everything has to be open to debate. The World Wide Web was developed by researchers in order to foster new knowledge. Unlike previous online information systems, it was designed to allow for diversity of view, not having any single point of control and allowing documents to be created ad-hoc. Tim Berners-Lee , the inventor of the World Wide Web will be speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, 31 January 2013.

Here are the functions of the Australian National University, as set down in legislation:

(a)  advancing and transmitting knowledge, by undertaking research and teaching of the highest quality;

(b)  encouraging, and providing facilities for, research and postgraduate study, both generally and in relation to subjects of national importance to Australia;

(c)  providing facilities and courses for higher education generally, including education appropriate to professional and other occupations, for students from within Australia and overseas;

(d)  providing facilities and courses at higher education level and other levels in the visual and performing arts, and, in so doing, promoting the highest standards of practice in those fields;

(e)  awarding and conferring degrees, diplomas and certificates in its own right or jointly with other institutions, as determined by the Council;

(f)  providing opportunities for persons, including those who already have post‑secondary qualifications, to obtain higher education qualifications;

(g)  engaging in extension activities.

(2)  In the performance of its functions, the University must pay attention to its national and international roles and to the needs of the Australian Capital Territory and the surrounding regions. ...

From section 5, Functions of the University,

Australian National University Act 1991.

In universities, as in the corporate world and in government, individuals are not free to publish whatever they like. There are rules as to what you can say as a member of the organisation. However, academics are given a level of freedom to express their views. Unlike company employees and public servants, academics are encouraged to speak publicly on areas within their area of expertise. There is no requirement for an academic to seek approval for what they say, but with that freedom comes responsibility.

Academic Freedom

5. The University recognises the concept and practice of academic freedom as central to the proper conduct of teaching, research and scholarship.
6. Academic and general staff are expected to use this freedom in a manner that is consistent with a responsible and honest search for knowledge and its dissemination.
7. Academic freedom does not extend to behaviour that is harassing, disruptive and intimidating or that interferes with the academic or work performance or freedom of others ...
   
   From: ANU Code of Conduct, Policy 200103912, Vice-Chancellor , Australian National University, 26 March 2012

The situation with government is not that different to academics. While there are more secrets for public servants to keep, there is still an obligation to release information. In 2010, the then Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, issued a "Declaration of Open Government" via a Blog. Freedom of Information legislation, overseen by the  Australian Information Commissioner. The most tangible change is the release of government information under a Creative Commons Licence. What has yet to change is a culture of rigid hierarchical control and hoarding of public information, prevalent in much of the public service. Ironically, during my time working as a civilian in the Defence Department, I found that the military personnel were better equipped to deal with distributed decision making than the public servants, as the military trains it officers to consult, decide and then act.

Open Government, like education and research at universities, is something which requires differing views to be expressed within reasonable bounds. Australian universities, in particular the ANU, had a key role in introducing the web to government. They can again have a key role in fostering a more open and efficient form of government. These techniques will be increasingly applicable to the corporate world as well. With the ubiquity of the Internet and rapid distribution of information, companies do not have the luxury of waiting for a rigid hierarchy to make decisions.

There will be an Open Government  Min-Conference, at the ANU in Canberra, 29 January 2013, as part of Linux Conference 2013.

A naive philosophy of action research

One of the resources for my current education studies is "A naive philosophy of action research" (Bob Dick, 2000).

The document appears to be a set of  notes for a program on "areol" (action research and evaluation on line) previously offered by Southern Cross University. Unfortunately the document assumes that the reader is familiar with the AREOL program, referring to the "number of sessions" provided before going in to discuss quantitative research and positivist philosophy

The document has a section headed "Systems thinking". Unfortunately the phrase is not mentioned again (apart from a circular reference in a footnote) so it is not clear what the author intended. The discussion of causality and research is superficial, appearing almost a parody of a philosophical discussion.

Flint explored the topic of systems thinking in a systematic way in his thesis (2006) and in a more approachable summary (2008).

References:

Flint, S. (2006). ANU-Digital Collections: Aspect-Oriented Thinking-An approach to bridging the disciplinary divides. (PHD), The Australian National University, Canberra. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1885/49328

Flint, S 2008, 'Rethinking Systems Thinking', in David Cook (ed.), Proceedings of the 14th ANZSYS Australia New Zealand Systems Society Conference, Edith Cowan University, Perth, pp. 7 pages. Retrienved from http://www.anzsys.org/anzsys08/papers/Shayne%20Flint%20Rethinking%20Systems%20Thinking.pdf

Evaluating Education Projects

One of the resources for my current education studies is "Evaluating Projects (Chesterton)". This provides guidance in preparing applications for Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) grants. Unfortunately the link for the evaluation document changed when the OLT was created to replace the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). The document "ALTC Grants Scheme - Evaluating Projects" is available on the new OLT website. A PDF version titled "ALTC PROJECT EVALUATION RESOURCE" also available. It is not clear why the web and PDF versions of the document have different titles.

 

The document was developed by Paul Chesterton (ACU) and Rick Cummings (Murdoch University) for the ALTC. The document is dated 2001 and no changes appear to have been made since the creation of the OLT.

ALTC Grants Scheme - Evaluating Projects

Purpose of the Resource

This resource is designed to provide guidance and assistance on project and program evaluation to individuals and groups submitting proposals for funding under the ALTC’s Grants and Fellowships Programs. The guidance is in the nature of background information on what project evaluation is and what constitutes good practice in the evaluation of learning and teaching projects.
Assistance is provided in the form of templates for key elements of a project evaluation. The resource also links to resources that help you and/or the evaluation team to carry out the evaluation — from design to data collection, analysis and management to reporting the findings. This resource is designed around the development of an evaluation plan, and it is intended that every project proposal will show evidence of formal evaluation planning that focuses on questions such as those outlined in this resource.

Depending on the expertise and experience of the user, the resource might be used for a variety of purposes, including as a guide for an evaluation plan, a checklist to assess a draft plan, a resource to inform stakeholders of good practice in evaluation, or to review a completed evaluation study and report....

From:  "ALTC Grants Scheme - Evaluating Projects", OLT (ALTC), 2011

Teaching Research-Led Education

The capstone course for the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education requires me to reflect on what I have done so far. There was a one day workshop and here are my notes on the accompanying readings:

Akerlind (2005) reports research into academics' perceptions of their development. This is useful in seeing the motivations of academics, for further development, but can't tell us how accurate those perceptions are. Akerlind discusses the rise of university centres for academic development and undertook the work at ANU.

Akerlind (2005) criticizes the literature for concentrating on delivery options and development of teaching. However, not all university centres for academic development have prospered, I suggest because some have concentrated on research, rather than delivery of quality teaching. As a result university lecturers have not been enthusiastic to sign up for such courses and those who did sign up have not completed, due to poor course design. As a result such centres, face the prospect of being replaced by outsourced and on-line courses.

Akerlind (2005) summarised their findings into six categories:

1. Development as becoming more productive and efficient in one’s work output;
2. Development as achieving academic credibility and recognition for one’s work;
3. Development as ongoing improvements in the quality and effectiveness of one’s work;
4. Development as the ongoing accumulation of personal knowledge and skills;
5. Development as increasing depth and sophistication of understanding in one’s field;
6. Development as contributing to disciplinary growth or social change.

The first point, productivity and efficiency, is one often overlooked in university education courses, which tend to emphasise improving education as an esoteric goal, rather than improving the productivity of teachers. If university teaching courses were to emphasise techniques for making teaching and assessment more efficient (and less burdensome for lecturers), these courses might be more popular. Akerlind (2005) points to synergies between teaching and research for development, which is very relevant to a research-intensive university, such as ANU. Unfortunately they do not appear to have gone on to develop this idea. Brew (2010) argues “... new ideas about scholarship need to become central to academic life ...” and this will help academics cope with change. One difficulty with this is that Brew seems to be searching for one generally accepted view of what scholarship is and how universities do what they do. But I suggest a diversity of views is essential to the vital nature of university life. Brew interviewed academics about their conceptions of scholarship. Perhaps also legislators and others who fund and set regulations for universities should have been interviewed about their views. Some of the difficulties academics are currently experiencing are due to their forgetting that they are funded by the wider community and so must live up to that community's expectations. Brew argues that to teach, academics need knowledge of their subject and of pedagogical principles. But I suggest more is needed: academics also need to be trained and tested in teaching methods: it is not enough to know the principles, academics need to be able to put them into practice. Brew argues that graduate certificates in higher education allow academics to go beyond the mechanics of teaching to a higher level of reflection. But if the academic has not first been trained in basic teaching techniques, how will they get to the higher level? This, I suggest, has been the basic flaw in many university teaching programs: a failure to first build a sound teaching foundation at the technical level, before moving on to communicative and emancipatory levels. My colleagues from the Australian Computer Society are meeting shortly with government and industry to discuss how to improve education of ICT professionals. It is likely there will be pressure to use overseas on-line courses for basic education, in place of Australian face-to-face vocational and university courses. In theory, Australian educational institutions can then concentrate on advanced courses and research supervision. But I suggest without the basics, the Australian education system will be fatally weakened. The same issues are likely to arise with teaching of educators. Brew asks why problem solving is confined to the teaching and learning domain. Such a question shows a lack of knowledge of what goes on elsewhere in the university. Many other disciplines, including engineering and ICT (where I work) concentrate on problem solving. One of the problems of Brew's analysis is that it focuses in on teaching, as if that is an end in itself (likewise universities focus in on themselves), rather than being part of communities and disciplines. Brookfield (1995) starts out with somewhat flowery language about love and justice (perhaps inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:4). After that some useful questions are asked such as “What Makes Reflection critical?” but these questions are never answered. Perhaps because this is a chapter taken from a book the content makes little sense by being taken out of context. I get the impression that Brookfield is addressing a reader other than myself (I am someone wanting to learn how to teach). McAlpine, and Hopwood (2007) assert that the aim of doctoral education is the development of researchers and scholars. However, the Australian Qualifications Framework (July 2011), describes a doctoral degree as including “professional practice". Those undertaking a professional degree are doing so in order to work in a profession, not undertake research. Even those undertaking a traditional research PHD and remaining in academia are likely to spend most of their time teaching and administering, not researching. So McAlpine, and Hopwood's concept of ‘academic practice’ should be broadened to 'professional practice', in order to equip the graduate for the role they will be undertaking. Boyer’s four scholarships could still be applied (discovery, teaching, engagement and integration) as these are applicable to professional practice. As an example, the skills a PHD will need to supervise research are simpler to those need to mentor staff in the workplace.

References:

Akerlind, G. (2005). Academic Growth and development – How do university academics experience it? Higher Education. Vol.50, pp.1-32 Brew, A. (2010). Transforming academic practice through scholarship. International Journal for Academic Development. Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.105-116 Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass (Chapter One: What it means to be a critically reflective teacher) McAlpine, L. & Hopwood, N. (2007) Conceptualising the research PhD: Towards an integrative approach. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from McGill University at www. doc-work.mcgill.ca/past-presentations/shre-7-post-srhe.doc

The Future of Higher Education in Australia

Recently I was asked what effect e-learning would have on Australian universities. This was for a symposium planned for later in 2012.

In my view, the e-learning transformation is already well under-way. I have been designing and delivering on-line postgraduate courses for the Australian Computer Society and the ANU since the beginning of 2009. About that time I stopped giving conventional "lectures" and gave up setting paper based "examinations". More recently I adapted some of this material for an on-line evaluation process to assess the skills of professionals applying to work in Australia.

There is a free Innovation in Education Showcase in Canberra, 18 to 21 September 2012, where I will be discussing I will be discussing e-learning course design.

Universities need to re-skill their teaching staff in e-learning techniques and provide the technical infrastructure to support it. This process is already well under-way for coursework and I am currently investigating how to apply it to research supervision for doctoral degrees.

Moving courses on-line provides the opportunity to redesign them in the light of recent research into what is effective education. Much of what university lecturers do now wastes their time and that of the students. We can transform university education, not so much through use of computers, but simply better education.

Within the next ten years, most university courses will move on-line. But many students will still go to a campus: to work in groups and meet with staff, as well as use specialist labs. My preference would be to remove labels such as full time/part time, on-campus/off campus, local/remote, domestic/international from the education process. Instead courses can be designed with all of the content and activities which can be done on-line put on-line. Students will then be free to come to the campus when they need to and when they want to. In my on-line classes, I have a mix of full and part time students, on and off campus, domestic and international and this provides an interesting environment for students to learn from each other.

Australian universities are well into the process of replacing large lecture theaters will small teaching spaces and converting libraries into "learning commons". There are regular conferences of educators and architects discussing the design and use of such buildings.

Much has been made of moves by large US universities to offer free on-line courses. However, free distance education has been a feature of universities for decades, with the UK Open University the best example. The more recent offerings by US universities I have looked at have had very poor quality materials, consisting of just videos of a lecturer talking to slides. This misses the essential point of how education (including on-line education) works: with people engaging with each other, tutors and students, provided with high quality, carefully designed materials.

Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice

As well as the usual "Graduate Certificate in Higher Education", Monash University also offers a "Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice". This emphasizes research supervision, staff supervision and the other roles undertaken by academics, as tell as teaching. The structure of the program and the units offered appear similar to those offered as options in the teaching certificate courses of other universities, but packaged under a different title:

1. HED5060 Principles of Effective Teaching
2. HED5062 Contemporary Learning Environments
3. HED5070 Higher Degree Research Supervison
4. HED5071 Strategy and Leadership in Research
5. HED5081 Discipline-based Studies I
6. HED5082 Discipline-based Studies II
7. HED5092 Developing Higher Education Innovations

Vocational Training Certificate for University Academics

Introducing a compulsory teaching, assessment and supervision qualification for Australian university academics, I suggest would improve the quality of higher education and research.

In Australia, the higher the level of education, the less formal qualifications required to teach it. School teachers require at least a graduate diploma, or more usually a Bachelor's Degree. Vocational teachers require a "Certificate IV in Training and Assessment". Those teaching at university are not required to have any teaching qualifications.

It seems reasonable to require someone who is teaching at a university to have at least some minimal training in the theory and practice of how to teach. Even if not teaching a class, an academic is likely to be working in a team, supervising research students and assessing their work. This teamwork and supervision requires similar skills to teaching, so researchers might as well do the same course as teachers, to learn these skills.

Australian university staff are encouraged to do a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, made up of four one semester courses, the equivalent of one semester full time study. Having done an introductory three day course and being half way through a certificate, I am finding this a little too heavy on pedagogy theory, with not enough practice.

One of my colleagues is instead doing the Australian qualification required for vocational teachers, a "Certificate IV in Training and Assessment". The vocational qualification is one quarter the size of its higher education equivalent. I suspect it is just as useful, by leaving out much of the theory.

Perhaps a useful middle ground would be for new university academics to be required to do a short introductory course of a few days, in their first year. They would then be required to complete the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment in their second year. After that, to be considered for promotion, they would be required to have undertaken another three courses and obtained at least a graduate certificate in higher education.

UK Professional Standards for Higher Education Staff

The UK Higher Education Academy has issued a "UK Professional Standards Framework" (UKPSF) to define the roles of teaching and learning support staff in UK universities. The framework has three Dimensions of Practice: Areas of Activity, Core Knowledge and Professional Values.

The Academy also provides four levels of accreditation, in increasing order:

1. Associate Fellow AFHEA
   
2. Fellow FHEA
3. Senior Fellow SFHEA
4. Principal Fellow PFHEA

The only formal qualification required seems to be a certificate in higher education teaching and similar Academy-accredited professional development.

Preparing a Paper for an International Education Conference

The first course for my "Graduate Certificate in Higher Education" was hard work, but I managed to get through it okay. So I thought I had better have some published papers to my name, if I was to do more tertiary teaching. Something I noticed was that most of my academic IT colleagues are not that interested in the details of teaching and most of my fellow students of teaching know little of IT. So I suspect there is not much competition for papers on IT in education.

It happens the "International Conference on Computer Science and Education" (ICCSE 2012), an IEEE sponsored conference, is on in Melbourne, Australia, 14 to 17 July 2012. So I reworked the two assignments from my first teaching course and some material from talks I had given, into a paper for the conference. The hardest part of this was not writing the paper (I have spent years working on the topic I selected), but using the Yeedao paper submission system. The conference organizers are in China and most of the papers are coming from China, so it makes sense to use a China based system. But the English language interface for the system key slipping into Chinese, making it difficult for me as an English speaker. However, this was still much quicker and simpler than a process using email.

After submitting my own paper, I volunteered to review some of the others. This proved a very educational experience, in terms of not assuming what the reader knows. The Chinese authors had used some education terms not common outside China and some words which seemed to have a different meaning in China (such as "democracy"). I suspect I had also used some terms in my paper which would be difficult for those outside Australia to understand. But it was good to see that most issues with tertiary education are common between nations.

My paper got a reasonably positive review, but one comment was that I had not used the IEEE template. I thought this odd as I had used the IEEE Microsoft Word template (which worked okay in the open source LibreOffice word processor). But I then realized that there was another step in the process I had not done, to run my word processing document through the IEEE PDF eXpress system. This system carries out checks on the document and turns it into PDF. The PDF I had created directly from my word processor did not meet the publishing requirements. I found a code the conference system and used that to upload my document to the IEEE, where eXpress converted it to PDF after a few minutes.

While there were no errors detected in my document, I noticed my email address was formatted as a hypertext link (blue and underlined) but did not work. The IEEE converter strips off any hypertext links in a paper (and then puts links to papers cited papers in a separate step). But the conversion had not removed the hypertext link look from the text. I had to edit the text to remove the blue and underlining.

You get ten conversion attempts with the IEEE system. That sounds a lot, but it took me three attempts to try to remove the hypertext underlining (it is still there).

Having the paper camera ready, I had to use a separate IEEE system to lodge the camera ready paper.

This is not the end of the process as I then had to register and pay for the conference. Having a paper at the conference costs only $150, but you have to register as well. The registration process was a little complex, as it has been designed for someone in China. As an example I was provided with the international SWIFT code for a bank in Sydney. But as I am in Australia I had to work out which part of the account code was the Bank's Australian BSB code.

Progress with On-line Tertiary Teaching for Research-Led Education

After looking at the Postgraduate Certificates in Tertiary Teaching available in Australia and on-line internationally, in November 2011 I commenced study for a "Graduate Certificate in Higher Education" at the Australian National University. Due to my interest in on-line teaching I obtained agreement from my ANU supervisor to take two of the four courses required on-line by distance education. The first course at ANU's alliance partner, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), November 2011 to February 2012, was "Assessment, Evaluation and Learning " (EDU5713). I recommend this USQ course to those interested in tertiary teaching.

USQ use the same Moodle Learning Management System, which I have used to run postgraduate courses at the ANU and Australian Computer Society. The USQ on-line course is structured as standard university unit, run over a semester, with the same holidays as the on-campus courses. The course typically covers one topic a week, with a chapter in a supplied e-book to read each week, extra readings and on-line weekly forums for discussion. The assessment was by mid semester and end of semester written assignments, submitted online.

Good points of the USQ Course

USQ is set up for distance education and this shows in the excellent on-line support for student queries. Using a central system I can ask a question and this is routed to the relevant area. The system tracks progress with the query and records the details, so I do not need to keep asking the same question of different staff and wondering what is happening.

The enrollment process was relatively simple and quick. There were only two pieces of paper involved in the whole course, with everything else, from start to finish, being online.

The course is provided using Moodle in a similar format to the one I use for my ICT Sustainability course for ANU and ACS students. The assessment tasks and an eBook of notes is provided at the beginning of semester, along with contact details for the tutor. The tutors have both academic and practical experience in education, are enthusiastic and helpful, but at times seem a little overworked (a situation any educator can relate to).

The course topics are revealed on Moodle week by week, with tasks, forums, extra readings and help with the assessment. This process helps prompt busy part time students to keep working, while avoiding overloading them with detail.

The assessment tasks are realistic and relevant to those teaching at university. I have already been able to use work from my assignments in my own teaching (and prepared a conference paper from the assignment material).

Areas for Improvement

The USQ course notes are excellent. These have a brief summary of terms and concepts and introduction to the literature, along with exercises and suggested readings. But with my first course the notes cut out half way through and just a collection of web links where provided for the remaining weeks. The notes cutting out made me feel a bit lost.

While the text of the course notes are well formatted, some of the diagrams are unreadable, as they were provided as low resolution bitmap images. However, in many cases the diagrams were derived from published works and references were included, so I could find a readable original.

The course provides extensive suggested readings and these are offered in electronic form with links to the university library. However, about three times as many readings as it is feasible for a student to read are provided. Many of the electronic documents provided by the university are difficult to read. I got into the habit of not using the links provided to the university library and instead looking for papers online and books in other university libraries.

Some documents provided are scanned in from paper, with the pages skewed and marked with highlighter pen, making them hard to read. The university also uses an eBook service which provides digitally created documents, but these appear to have then been converted into bitmap images to prevent piracy. The quality of the documents on my screen were so poor that I could not comfortably read the materials. Instead I located the books in local Canberra university libraries (with excellent service provided by the libraries of ANU, University of Canberra, ADFA and Australian Catholic University). In most cases I read the paper copies of the books, but in some cases eBook versions superior to those provided with the course were available from other libraries.

The course notes include questions for students to discuss in on-line forums. However, there was little participation by the students. The lack of student discussion may be because there are no marks awarded for it.

It was difficult to find where to post forum contributions to, as the forum names did not always not match the topics in the notes.

While the USQ tutors help when asked, there is no regular individual feed-back to students as part of the course format. Communication with the tutor was by email, without the use of the Dialogue tool built into Moodle. As a result, course messages could get lost in amongst other email. USQ provide a Google Gmail account for each student, which may not meet Australian privacy standards.

There was an additional $15 fee at the end of the course for a paper copy of the results. No electronic certified copies are offered and the paper transcript lacks effective non-copying features.

Overall, these are relatively mild criticisms, with the USQ course far superior to the formal postgraduate tertiary education I have previously undertaken, both online and face-to-face. For comparison, see:

1. Reflections of an Online Student, Parts 1 to 6, August 2010
2. Learning University Teaching, June 2011