Beyond islands of innovation – supporting TEL within UK Higher Education [1850] Members : Annual Conference 2017

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Tue, Sep 5 2017, 1:30pm – 2:50pm

Authors: Julie Voce

Room: McAusland Rm (1)

Theme: Wildcard

Type: 40-minute session

Description

Within UK Higher Education, there exists a variety of support models for TEL support, where institutions may have different numbers of TEL support units, different types and numbers of support staff and different locations for central TEL support units (Walker et al, 2016). Beetham, Jones and Gornall (2001) identified several areas which can impede an institution’s ability to make effective use of TEL, such as a range of central support services and committees with overlapping responsibilities for TEL, conflicts between central and local priorities, restructuring of TEL support units and a lack of a central strategy for teaching and learning. As institutions continue to grow their TEL provision, we need to consider how to move beyond the islands of innovation to a more co-ordinated approach.

This session is based on PhD research into institutional support models for TEL within UK HE. The study aimed to understand the evolution of TEL support within UK HE institutions, to identify different TEL support models, to investigate how a particular support model helps or hinders TEL adoption and to find out what role organisational culture plays in the adoption of TEL within the institution. This research involved a survey of Heads of e-Learning followed by case studies of five UK universities to expand on key points from the survey.

In the session, participants will receive an overview of the key findings from the research, followed by the chance to discuss and reflect in small groups on TEL support in their own institutions and identify areas of good practice, in particular:

How do central teams ensure they understand and meet local needs?
What governance structures exist and how important are they to successful adoption of TEL?
What role does organisational culture play in the adoption of TEL?
How do you ensure good working relationships with other TEL support teams?

Remote delegates will be able to participate via a TweetChat that will run alongside the discussion section. A video overview of the research findings will be made available to remote delegates.

By the end of the session, participants will have gained an understanding of alternative TEL support models from other institutions and will have identified ideas that they could apply to their own situation.

References

Beetham, H., Jones, S., & Gornall, L. (2001). Career Development of Learning Technology Staff: Scoping Study Final Report. Available from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/jos/cdss_final_report_v8.pdf [Accessed 27 March 2017]

Walker, R., Voce, J., Swift, E., Ahmed, J., Jenkins, M. and Vincent, P. (2016). 2016 Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning for higher education in the UK. UCISA. Available from: https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/-/media/files/publications/surveys/tel%20survey%202016_nov16.ashx?la=en [Accessed 27 March 2017]

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