Acceleration plan | Toolkit for Building Blocks for Effective Lecturer Professional Development

Toolkit for Building Blocks for Effective Lecturer Professional Development

4 March 2021
Professional development
Product
Instruments & Tools

If your institution wants to establish and evaluate effective professional development for lecturers in the area of educational innovation with IT, we encourage you to use the Toolkit for Building Blocks for Effective Lecturer Professional Development which has been made available by the Facilitating Professional Development for Lecturers zone. The toolkit is based on the Building Blocks Report 2.0, which was created through practical research and a literature study. There is both an online version and a paper version of the toolkit, making different working methods possible.

All parts of the toolkit are highlighted below, including the downloads and online publications.

Request the toolkit
If you are interested in the paper version of the toolkit, please send an email to docentprofessionalisering@versnellingsplan.nl. If you are already using the toolkit, we would love to hear about your experiences. Please send an e-mail to the same address.

Building blocks report

1. Building blocks for effective lecturer professional development

The report contains all the building blocks for effective lecturer professional development based on a literature review.

Guiding questions

2. Guiding questions for selecting building blocks

The guide contains questions and examples for each building block in the building blocks report. The questions are intended to help select the building blocks for a professional development activity, such as a workshop, module or course. They can also be used when designing a professional development activity.

Working methods

3. Working methods

Using the card set (point 4, work format I) or the online environment (point 5, work format II), you go through the phases in the Handbook of Professional Development relating to Educational Innovation with ICT. These stages are based on the Educational Research Design methodology:

The analysis/exploration phase is the first step. Here, you analyse the problem, the need and the context. In addition, you explore how others have tackled similar problems, so that you do not reinvent the wheel. The result is a substantiation of the choice of theme and form of the professional development activity.
The design/development phase is the second step. In this phase, you elaborate on the learning objectives, approach, content and form of the professional development activity. You also think about which research questions will be answered.
In the evaluation/reflection phase, the effects of the professional development activities are evaluated and you reflect on the results.

Working method I

4. Card set

The card set consists of cards with definitions of and statements about the building blocks. You can use these as an introduction to the building blocks and as an aid to starting a discussion about the professional development of lecturers aimed at educational innovation with IT within your own organisation. You can reflect on your current or future activities, but also on themes. It is also possible to use the cards to support the design methodology for educational innovation with IT (3). You can download the set of cards below, including the manual. You can print it out yourself or request a printed copy of the card set by sending an email to docentprofessionalisering@versnellingsplan.nl.

Working method II

5. Mural

Mural is a working method that can be used for the design methodology (3), consisting of the three phases Analysis and Exploration, Design and Development, and Evaluation and Reflection. For each of these phases, a tool is available in the Mural online environment. In Mural, you will find a template for each work form that you can use as a facilitator. In addition, a general template is available to introduce the building blocks and target groups.

You can find the templates here:

Instructions

To use these templates as a facilitator, you need a Mural account [1].

Instructions for preparing the online work session with the building blocks:

Open one of the available templates (see the links above).
Click on ‘Create mural from template’.
The template contains an explanation of the intended work format. You can also adapt the template to your own needs.
Save the mural with a clear name, e.g.: design-proven-garden-4-mar-2021

Instructions for the implementation of the online work session:

Open the Mural you have created. Invite participants to join your session. To do so, click on ‘share’ and choose ‘visitor link’.
Take some time to explain the basics: zoom settings, selecting, moving, creating or duplicating a sticky note.
Use the facilitator tools (timer, voting, summon) to guide the participants through the session.
Participants can use the Handbook to make choices.
Ask for an explanation of the input after each section. Group the sticky notes and add clarifying notes.

Afterwards, you can export the Mural in its entirety as a PDF, or select parts and export them as text (for example, a group of sticky notes).

[1] If your institution does not have a licence yet, it is possible to create a free classroom account via https://www.mural.co/education. In the help centre of Mural, you can find more information about the use and possibilities of facilitating online cooperation.

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