I don't teach students I work in a support service, supporting staff with curriculum re-design with the respect to the integration of eLearning, so in this context who are the learners that I am influencing? Indirectly I am influencing the students at my institution as hopefully one of the main rationales for integrating technology is the enhancement of learning. However, this enhancement is dependent on the quality of the learning as a result of using technology. In order for this to be possible staff need to develop their technical and teaching skills to facilitate learning in an online context and that is my job, so really for me staff are the learners. These non-traditional learners, still have their anxieties relating to developing new skills and entering an unfamiliar territory together with a learning and teaching belief system that has developed as a result of being part of a learning and teaching and discipline community of practices. When taking on the development of this group the challenge is integrating learning and teaching beliefs whilst enabling them to move on to new territories.
However, research in New Zealand has found that
"Having ongoing relationships with staff developers, and the ability for situated and flexible learning assistance was seen as desirable. It was through an ongoing relationship where help could be accessed on a needs basis that staff felt their learning and the development of courses, most benefited. " (Professional development: assuring quality in e-learning policy and practice Mansvelt et. al 2009 Quality Assurance in Education v17 Issue 3)
and this is a challenge when resources are limited within institutions and it is slightly incongruent with the approach to staff development which is often via training programmes with a calendar of events that staff book on to.
I am a constructivist learner and I feel that training is wasted when it cannot be immediately integrated into practice and I think this is the issue with much of staff development that is delivered in institutions, the movement from a skills tick box exercise to its integration into day-to-day learning and teaching is not persistently addressed. To face this challenge programme teams need to have a clear rationale for integrating technology within the curriculum, there should be identified support within schools and faculties, that can work with the centrally based staff development teams and there should be a realistic plan of implementation e.g. x programme will be using technology in this way for this reason by next year.
