Breaking out of silos: A case study of cross-institutional collaboration to increase tertiary teache Home : Annual Conference 2017

Public Group Active 5 years, 6 months ago

Tue, Sep 5 2017, 11:00am – 12:20pm

Authors: Darren Harbutt, Laura Zhou, and Theresa Kwong

Room: Harold Wilson (2)

Theme: Wildcard

Type: 20-minute session

Description

Blended learning invites pedagogically sound combination of face-to-face and online experiences, and a redesign of teaching and learning approaches (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). Furthermore, blended and online learning is a reality now and failure to engage with supporting staff in its implementation can negatively affect institutions (Adams Becker et al. 2017). In Hong Kong, a need for consistent, high quality professional development in this area was identified, along with an aim to increase collaboration between institutions, ensuring coherence and improvement upon the ad hoc approaches often employed – and sometimes duplicated – in universities. While “collaboration” has many meanings and manifestations (Forte & Flores, 2013), the resulting BOLT Project, implemented in Hong Kong since 2014, envisages a collaborative professional development model that breaks down physical walls between institutions and builds on the synergies that arise when universities work together.

The subject of this session is the Blended and Online Learning and Teaching (BOLT) Project, a collaborative effort across five Hong Kong universities promoting professional development and resource sharing in an effort to increase teachers’ competence in this area. Central to the project is the BOLT foundation course, comprising two 6-week modules – with Module 1 also run in extensive mode in summer – and offered in a blended format, guiding participants though implementing and evaluating a ‘learning innovation’ during the two modules. The collaboration in the course exists between participants, mentors and institutors, and between institutions, combining a ‘top down’ initial proposal with organic collaborations arising during the project itself.

The presentation focuses on the BOLT foundation course and the iterations that have seen it evolve in response to feedback from participants. The presentation will share what participants do on the course, co-hosted by three universities, and how their needs are better supported by the course content, their peers and by mentor-support from the instructors. We examine the impact of the course on the participants through a systemic designed evaluation framework, including its focus on student learning outcomes, and look at how insights gained from the feedback are incorporated back into the course. Discussion on the future iterations of the course and how it can continue to build community and collaboration, providing multiple tailored offerings after the project period finishes will be also conducted.

The BOLT foundation course has so far produced 96 graduates from Module 1 /Summer BOLT, and 48 additionally completing Module 2. Participants’ takeaways from the session include:

High-potential framework for cross-institutional collaboration
Insights on what does/doesn’t work in large-scale cross-institutional projects
Understanding the impact of collaboration at various levels

Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Davis, A., Freeman, A., Hall Giesinger, C., and Ananthanarayanan, V. (2017). NMC Horizon Report: 2017. Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Garrison, D. R., and Vaughan N.D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles and guidelines. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Forte, A.M and Flores, M.A. (2013). Teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace: a study of Portuguese teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 37 (1), p. 91-105.

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