Techno-development or prof-development « t4uteresa

Almost all courses at CQU have an online presence that should be more that just the Course Profile. Some courses have significantly more presence than that. Most courses cater for those students unable to attend campus as an internal student. I think that there are a couple of fully online programs – Law and BA. I believe the rollout of Moodle followed a similar pathway and general direction to that of Deakin and with similar staff support. There were workshops where academics learned about Moodle as they transferred courses. Educational designers were available to assist in workshops and online via discussion boards. Until I read this article it had not dawned on me the point behind the particular delivery of this type of APD – where the person is learning as an integral part of the everyday work rather than attending a short-term course out of context. I rather like that change in language and perception. In that way doing something like this becomes part of your role rather than something extra to fit in, which is what I sensed that many people at the time of the Moodle implementation felt according to comments heard in corridors. It is a form of "Just in Time " learning and development.

I agree that academics need to be designing their own online environments with this done with well-resourced support. For the PD to be effective the academics should be able to translate what they learn about the online environment and tools to reflect the context of their own discipline / courses.

What I would like to be able to do is more of the community development online aspect and to know when to use what communication tool. I am beginning to recognize that there are many ways of doing assessment and that assessment can be used for many things. However when is introducing a wiki or blog appropriate, what other tools are available for assessment? I don't use quizzes. Now that I have the basics of Moodle I would like to enhance the courses I coordinate in order to make the student learning experience more digitally appealing and more pedagogically appealing and less like a traditional course transplanted into the electronic space. I would like to try doing mini lectures via video; different forms of assessment to writing essays; communication via Skype and other forms of communication such as virtual classrooms; use of Youtube and the Internet as extra resources and the e-book function option for the study guide to enable more frequent updates and enhancements.

As far as enhancing professional capacities at CQUni – the Moodle LMS is excellent, we have course renewal and program reviews; enhancement based on student feedback, good practice database (AQUA); there is plenty of staff support through online, workshops, seminars and discussion board forums plus helpdesk.

I think as an institution we are meeting the 6 strategic APD initiatives. Personally I need further enhancement in the 6 professional capacity areas. As an institution there could be further development in 5 of the 6 'value adding' areas, at the same time these areas are dynamic and ongoing in both personal and professional contexts.