![\"Pie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2012\/05\/SLTP-participants-chart.jpg?resize=502%2C332&ssl=1\" "\\"Pie")
<\/a><\/p>\nFigure 1: A many and varied clientele: completion data from July 2003 to December 2011 (n=180)<\/strong><\/p>\n The wide range of participants\u2019 work roles, prior knowledge and education is a major strength of the programme, as it brings into the andragogical pool such a broad spectrum of knowledge, experience, and attitudes. Of course this variety presents the huge challenge of making the programme not only useful to all its participants but relevant to each person\u2019s workplace roles.<\/p>\n Figure 2: SLTP Completion, 2011: which are staff, which students, or, The Pleasures of Andragogy!<\/strong><\/p>\n SLTP is a 10-month part-time programme running from February to December and is made up of three complementary parts:<\/p>\n SLTP\u2019s learning design and process tightly integrates face-to-face and online components.\u00a0 The programme\u2019s face-to-face sessions and online learning blocks directly inform each other: activities begun face-to-face are completed or compared with those online, and feedback and feedforward is given to the online learning work: such feedback is given face-to-face and online.<\/p>\n The workplace focus culminates in the last task in the 10-month part-time programme, the creation of a detailed and aligned teaching plan (from Aims through Activities and Outcomes, to Inclusivity) for a one-hour session for learners in the participant\u2019s work place. The programme begins with SLTP session 1, the first face-to-face workshop, then progresses as outlined in Table 1.<\/p>\n Table 1: Summary of programme structure<\/strong><\/p>\n [table id=19 \/]<\/p>\n At the end of the programme, participants create a poster depicting their SLTP journey, contrasting their view of themselves and their attitude to learning situations and the learners they met prior to SLTP with their views near to completion of the programme. The poster is then \u201cpresented to\u201d in session 6 for at least five minutes.<\/p>\n Figure 3: Two of the 180 always-imaginative posters submitted over the last ten years.<\/strong><\/p>\n SLTP concentrates on providing formative feedback. Work is submitted in discussion fora and, whenever possible, feedback is given on an individual basis. Peer evaluation is used on tasks such as Planning for Learning, where assessment criteria can be clearly stated and circulated to all participants: where criteria are less easily bound, assessment and feedback is given by teaching staff, with informal peer assessment and evaluation an option open to all, until the later stages of the course, when the work focus is moves to the individual.<\/p>\n SLTP is not externally accredited, but it is internally certificated: a detailed certificate of completion is given to participants who successfully complete the programme\u2019s required elements. Some of the participants have achieved Associate Fellowship of the HEA via the Individual Recognition Route.<\/p>\n To further \u2018place\u2019 SLTP in\u00a0the educational milieu,\u00a0completion is one of the entry routes into Imperial\u2019s Postgraduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching (ULT). This is, in its turn, the entry into the Postgraduate Diploma in ULT and Masters of Education in ULT, all of which are run by Imperial\u2019s EDU.<\/p>\n Conscious steps are taken throughout the programme to use andragogical teaching methods, and to facilitate the formation of a Community of Practice. To facilitate choice, learners are interviewed prior to the programme and a learning plan agreed, in which, for instance, workshops appropriate to their roles and \/ or interests are selected, and advice is given on the selection of five or more topics from the seven online learning \u201cblocks\u201d to suit their interests. Also, in collaboration with their peers, participants may choose any teaching and learning topic to be delivered in mini-lectures in the programme\u2019s later face-to-face sessions.<\/p>\n To facilitate the formation of a Community of Practice, half an hour at the beginning of the first two face-to-face sessions is devoted to collective research into others\u2019 work roles and workplaces (Imperial has staff on eight campuses). Later, group activities are an integral part of the face-to-face learning components of the programme, and in their selected teaching and learning workshops (the third component of the programme), participants meet staff from across the whole range of Imperial\u2019s communities, from Materials Engineers to Technical Translation specialists.<\/p>\n Some participants enrol on the programme while uncertain about the direction of their academic career, with a view to acquiring best practice through the programme and its attendant workshops; after completion, one view was that \u201cThe programme itself was a pleasant surprise and did more than just meet my expectations. In addition to building a strong foundation of best practice it broadened my perspective on teaching and learning.\u201d Another concluded that SLTP was \u201can excellent programme with good materials [which] provided an excellent framework and toolkit [which they] could relate \u2026 to what [they had] learnt in [their] degree\u201d, \u2026 and … appreciate[d] the opportunity to have participated and the effort and dedication put in by the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Another enrolled with a rightly critical approach, deciding that they \u201cneeded to critically and constantly evaluate the course and materials rather than just [their] own learning. [and] in order to develop both [their] teaching and learning skills [they] basically needed to fully invest in the idea of [them]self as a teacher.\u201d The result? On completion, they received \u201cvery favourable feedback comments and realised [their] potential as a teacher as well as a learner.\u201d Their final conclusion was that \u201coverall [SLTP had been] a very positive learning curve during which I feel I have developed new skills particularly in a teaching capacity, and enhanced existing ones i.e. communication and presentation … It has also helped me to feel part of my own working “community of practice”, making new contacts and friends within the College.\u201d<\/p>\n In summary, by December 2012 SLTP will have increased the ability of nearly 200 \u201cnon-academic\u201d staff at Imperial to support learners, learning, and teaching by students and academic staff, and by their fellow non-academic staff at the College in roles from Pathology Museum Curator and Psychiatric Specialist Registrar, as noted, to Post-Doctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering Workshop Technician, two Software trainers, and a Research Nurse. The programme recruits across College, is integrated with the College\u2019s Educational and Staff Development centres, offers College certification, a route to national, professional recognition, and progression to further, accredited learning qualifications. In its 10 year history SLTP has become more focused on participants\u2019 work roles and their andragogic content and more integrated in itself and into other College educational processes and programmes, a process which it is intended to continue.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2012\/05\/SLTP-people.jpg?resize=509%2C330&ssl=1\" "\\"Photo")
<\/a><\/p>\nStructure of the Programme<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Example](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2012\/05\/SLTP-posters.jpg?resize=620%2C220&ssl=1\" "\\"Example")
<\/a><\/p>\nAssessment and Progression<\/h2>\n
Andragogy and a Community of Practice<\/h2>\n
Participant Feedback<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n