Professional Standards and Professional Values in HE
description
Transcript of Professional Standards and Professional Values in HE
Professional Standards and Professional Values in HEChristine Smith, University of Salford
Professional standards/professional values in HE
The UK Professional Standards Framework (UK PSF) for teaching and learning in HE is a descriptor based approach, whereby HE institutions determine their own criteria in the application of the framework. In order to demonstrate application of the standards, six areas of activity, core knowledge and professional values derived from the Higher Education Academy’s existing Accreditation Scheme are applied to learning outcomes and assessment activities within an HE institution’s professional development programme. This presentation focuses on the UK PSF, but specifically on the professional values within the framework.
Professional values in HE for teaching and learning can be defined as cognitive representations of desirable abstract goals relating to teaching and support of learning that transcend specific situations but that are important to or valued within the HE academic context. Values are important for drawing our attention to important issues around, for example, equity and quality in the student experience. In the UK PSF they are articulated around notions of respect and commitment, such as a commitment to the development of learning communities. These professional values can also be described as the professional principles that guide decisions and actions for teaching and support of learning within HE academic practice. Whilst it is clearly fundamental that such values are implicit in a professional approach to teaching and practice, it is less clear how we can promote adherence to such values among a developing professional community. It is inherently problematic to suggest values are things which we could, or indeed should attempt to teach within professional development programmes, such as those for early career academic staff. There is also concern amongst some academic development practitioners that the professional skills and values associated with teaching diverse students are not well understood in the sector and that academic development programmes could do more to develop these.
In the Learning to Teach Inclusively project at the University of Wolverhampton, original video clips of authentic classroom practice have been developed as Open Educational Resources: used to illustrate principles in practice and to provoke discussion around inclusive learning and teaching. The presentation will build on the project work to suggest and demonstrate how Open Educational Resources (OERs) could offer an innovative approach to encouraging engagement with the UK PSF. In particular the presentation will explore and reflect upon how we might employ OERs as authentic artefacts for promoting engagement with and exploration of the more abstract professional values of the UK PSF. It will consider the use of OERs for eg stimulating recall; for prompting discussion; and for critiquing professional practice. It will suggest this use of OERs with the intent of identifying and surfacing for inspection, in explicit ways, the tacit values and the extent to which these are underpinning teaching and the support of learning.
Advance organiser
The UK PSF and its professional values
OERs as artefacts: teaching-as-design (Goodyear & Retalis, 2010)
Taxonomies for learning technologies
Tools for thinking, for communicating and for acting
Exploring the video resources of the Learning to Teach Inclusively course
Reflection and discussion
UK PSF
Sector wide standards for teaching and support of learning in HE since 2006
Descriptor based framework for determining institutional criteria in its application
Areas of activity, core knowledge and professional values
Review in progress with revised version available from 2nd November 2011
Professional Values in PSF
Respect for individual learners
Commitment to incorporating the process and outcomes of relevant research, scholarship and/or professional practice
Commitment to the development of learning communities
Commitment to encouraging participation in HE, acknowledging diversity and promoting equality of opportunity
Commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice
Critiquing ‘teaching’ of values Values as cognitive representations of abstract concepts
Implicit in ‘good’ professional practice and important to the HE academic context
Transcending specific situations : a way of being?
Less clear how we can promote adherence to such values including among a developing professional community
Problematic to suggest values are things which we could, or indeed should attempt to teach within professional development programmes
Concerns have been raised that professional skills and values associated with teaching diverse students are not well understood
Could academic development programmes do more to develop these? How might they?
OERs and the Open Education movement The Open Education movement
Open Educational Resources: eg courseware and content in variety of formats; software tools; learning objects; and open courses
OERs to create, adapt and use
Notions of convenience, effectiveness, sustainability and availability
OERs as artefacts of authentic practice
Teaching as design
Design of good learning tasks
Design and management of supportive learning environments
Links especially to inquiry based learning contexts
Good tasks, identifying tools and resources to make success of tasks, monitoring progress
Taxonomies for learning technologies
As media for accessing and for studying learning material
As media for learning through inquiry
As media for learning through communication and collaboration
As media for learning through construction
For learners’ assessment
For digital and multimedia literacy
Focus here on tools for …
Thinking
Communicating and discussion
Action
Video example
Watch the OER video
Consider what values might be implicit in the example OER
How you might use for yourself and/or with your learners: thinking; communicating; acting; other?
Discuss in groups
Reporting back in plenary
OER video: sharing stories
http://player.vimeo.com/video/20017357
To conclude
Immersive environments and experiences
Influencing practice
Gaining experience and understanding for critique, for reflection and for action
Open module FDOL to join to discuss these things further
Thank you for your [email protected]
Time for lunch I think!