The following exploration of the values which underpin my practice has structured around the lens of the five SEDA Frameworks values.
1. Developing our understanding of how people learn
It has been timely to reflect on my own understanding of how people learn and the ways in which this understanding has informed and developed my practice over time. My Master’s dissertation focused on the aspects of a leadership programme which supported the embedding of learning into practice. The literature review encompassed several research perspectives: learning and development; leadership learning and academic leadership and provided a sound basis for my own understanding of learning in a professional context. However, it was the undertaking of a PGCert in Tertiary and Higher Education, the provided the opportunity to develop my understanding of the process of learning and transform my practice.
My professional practice is informed by this scholarship and reflects principles of a learner-centred approach (Brockbank & McGill 2007) ensuring that learners are provided with opportunities to build on their own knowledge, skills and experiences. I aim to lead by example by design learning sessions which provide active, collaborative learning experiences, where learners can share and challenge each other to critically reflect on and enhance their practice. In addition, the design of the learning sessions reflected good practice – using overall aims to inform the learning outcomes and constructively aligning the learning activities to these learning outcomes (Biggs & Tang 2011).
As an academic developer, I’m also keen to focus on ‘why’ people learn; I promote the value of learning as a keystone of professional and organisational enhancement. I champion the benefits of carving out time for learning; of developing learning networks; of professional development opportunities; and I lobby for funding to support an organisational culture which regards learning as a priority.
Underpinning my approach to learning is building a sense of trust between myself and the learner and amongst learners. Due to the geographically dispersed nature of the university, there are additional challenges in building trusting learning relationships particularly creating virtual ‘safe’ learning spaces. This is achieved through, for example,
- scheduling more time at the start of learning sessions on introductions
- introducing the functionality of technology being used, how to mute mics; attract attention and post comments;
- creating virtual break out rooms to support small group work;
- using online bulletin boards and polling software as feedback tools
- requesting feedback on the learning experience to inform future practice.
2. Practising in ways that are scholarly, professional and ethical
My most consistent set of ethics arise from the professional body I have been a member of for over twenty-five years – the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD). Values, such as confidentiality, professional integrity, fairness and openness have been central to my professional practice. Referring to these values with colleagues provides a sound professional benchmark. Early in 2020, the CIPD released a new ‘profession map’ with three core values: principles-led, evidence-based, outcomes-driven which arose from academic research and feedback from members and these remain a touchstone for my practice.
The scholarship I have undertaken also informed my professional values. Leading by example, being courageous and taking responsibility, were values reinforced by my master’s in leadership and management completed in 2015. On reflection, this was really the beginning of a more scholarly approach to my professional practice. In 2017 I completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Tertiary Education and these scholarly activities supported a reflective approach to my professional practice. This was taken a step further when, in 2018, I was recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). My professional practice, therefore, aims to reflect an ethical approached derived from the CIPD, the values of the UKPSF and internally the LTES values.
As an academic developer, and through engaging with the SEDA SLEC programme, I will continue to develop my scholarship, professional practice and ethical approaches through engaging in the literature and discussion forums, seeking feedback from colleagues and by taking time to critically reflect on my practice. I recognise that this will not always be straightforward and that it requires careful navigation through the landscape of learning as an academic developer “where tensions abound not least between the professional and organisational priorities” (Sutherland and Grant 2016: 193).
To support this learning journey, I will revive the practice of keeping a reflective journal which I first development during my master’s studies. I started one at the outset of the SEDA SLEC programme but, due to time constraints, I focused my reflective thinking within the discussion forums and shared my learning with other programme participants. This was extremely beneficial and offered a reflective ‘lifeline’ on more than one occasion. However, I would have liked to have reflected in a more structured way and to develop my skills in this area I recently attended a webinar on meaningful reflective journaling and have identified a number of journal articles to read which will support the development of my journaling skills. I will explore the value of journaling and share this with colleagues who are also undertaking development programmes,
3. Working with and developing learning communities
I have a strong commitment to leading by example and one way of doing this is by supporting the development and maintenance of learning communities. In a distributed university, where learners are often remote from their colleagues, I seek out collaborative opportunities to create supportive learning experiences to enhance learning and teaching practice. This is particularly the case in my role supporting educational leadership development where I bring together cohorts of participants, on external programmes, such as Aurora, Jisc Digital Leaders and Advance HE’s Leadership Development. I support these small groups of learners to support each other, reflect on the challenges of implementing their learning and collaborate on sharing their learning with other networks. The feedback quotes on the Aurora Programme evaluation report highlight the value these types of initiatives.
Facilitating and enabling learning in this way is particularly relevant in a geographically distributed university and highly effective when opportunities are created to bring together diverse roles from across the university. So often, participants report that they have learned so much about other areas of the university by being part of these learning communities. It provides them with ‘hooks’ into how decisions are made and how to have their voices heard.
In addition, these learning communities often reach beyond the university into the wider education sector and into the community. Two examples of this are;
- inviting external speakers to share their professional practice as part of our programme of seminars
- facilitating learning opportunities between teaching colleagues; employers and sector representatives in the development of a graduate apprenticeships in engineering.
Like others, learners on the SEDA SLEC programme, I too ‘assist’ in building a culture of learning communities, through encouraging colleagues to work together and bringing groups with shared interests together. This often involves informal ‘signposting’ and facilitating the ‘meeting up’ of colleagues or supporting and encouraging colleagues to apply for professional recognition, or become a mentor. Having undertaken the SLEC programme, I now regard these activities, not as peripheral but as highly valuable interventions in my academic development role.
4. Valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity
Behaving in ways that are inclusive is part of my day to day professional practice. For me, it is about striving to be aware of the narrowness of the perspective with which I view the world and the resulting biases that unconsciously play out in our interactions with others. This has always been part of my professional practice and the striving continues as I address the challenges of living in a less multicultural city and as I change identity as I grow older.
Reflecting on the value of diversity and promoting inclusivity, I was deeply influenced by the concept of intersectionality, first introduced to me by Professor Antonia Darder in her presentation on The Social Justice Question: Decolonising Pedagogy, Methodology and leadership at the University in July 2018. I have found the idea of overlapping categories of identity highly valuable when working to promote social and political equality. Although I sometimes find the scale of the inequalities around me overwhelming, I address this by focusing on making a difference through my own daily practice. This might mean, simply asking learners to introduce themselves by describing what they are currently learning, rather than asking them about their position in the university or their remit. Not only does this underline the focus on learning but it also encourages learners to see beyond the hierarchies of title, role or position. It might also mean choosing to work with colleagues who I know are very different to me or actively seeking out peer feedback about my own ‘blind spots’. It is not an easy task and involves consciously endeavouring to broaden my horizons and to be open to the views of others especially when they differ from my own.
Aiming to lead by example in this area, I was one of the founder members of the university’s women’s network, which brings together women and those who identify as women, in a range of collaborative events and activities. I have designed and delivered learning sessions on how to create accessible resources and I promote the use of technology to provide access to learning, particularly where learners are geographically dispersed. Moreover, I seek out opportunities to work with the university’s student representative body – HISA, and to engage them in the work of the Learning and Teaching Academy. This has resulted in a joint keynote presentation by the HISA Vice-President on the benefits of collaborative working between us. In my view, effective collaboration can only be based on inclusive approaches, particularly in a diverse and distributed university.
Reflecting on posts on the SEDA SLEC programme discussion forum, I would propose that there is scope for the HEA to be more inclusive of professional services roles in their professional standards frameworks. I find that there is less of a focus on these roles which are so vital to the student learning experience. Apply for Senior Fellow of the HEA holding a professional services role, I felt that evidencing my practice required a bit of adapting and ‘tilting’ to align with the dimensions of the UKPSF. I have discussed this with other professional services colleagues and they have had a similar experience, whilst higher education teaching colleagues appear to experience this to a much lesser extent.
The HEA accreditation could also consider their openness to colleagues teaching further education students as this can again be perceived as a barrier to academic development. Here at the university, most colleagues teach both further and higher education and the distinction, I believe, is becoming less distinct as new universities like ours broaden their remit to include foundation and graduate apprenticeships and other progression routes to a university degree. Welcoming colleagues in teaching on these programmes would provide a more inclusive approach to academic development and influence the wider contexts within which we practice.
5. Continually reflecting on developing myself, others and processes.
As Dennick (2012) argues, of the twelve Tips for Embedding Educational Theory into Practice, the most important one is possibly the need for conscious reflection. I take several approaches to reflecting on my professional practice including regularly seeking feedback from learners; seeking feedback from peers and through more in-depth evaluation report writing. From these reflections, I implement changes to my practice and then continue the cycle of reflective practice. For example, in implementing the second year of the Aurora Programme I used the evaluation report of the first year to inform enhancements to the programme as detailed in the case study.
To support further reflection, I regularly attend webinars and online learning opportunities during my lunch hours – these have recently included a range of learning on coaching and mentoring skills. I find these opportunities highly valuable as a way of connecting with other practitioners and thinkers who challenge my own thinking and help me to reflect and enhance my practice.
The SEDA SLEC programme was another valuable opportunity to link with other practitioners beyond the Highlands of Scotland and help to create a sense of my own belonging to a professional group. I also use Twitter (@AnnTilbury), in a professional capacity to actively engage in my own reflective practice. Following professionals in learning and development, learning and teaching and academic development has allowed me to assimilate these various strands within my own professional practice. I can then share these with colleagues and encourage them to reflect and consider the wider contexts of professional practice.
Throughout my career in human resources and learning development, I have demonstrated a strong commitment to continuous professional development (CPD) with over 25 years of membership and active engagement in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Engaging in critical reflection is a fundamental part of this CPD. Beyond accumulating new knowledge and skills through CPD activities I also aim to find time to explore the ‘why’ of this new understanding and how best to relate it to enhance my practice (Hickson 2011).
Critically reflecting on the learning from the SEDA SLEC programme, I find that I am more able to view quality enhancement as ‘playing the long game’, recognising that it can take considerable time to persuade others to try things, to convince them that innovation is important and to see the outcomes of such activities. Moreover, I recognise that it takes courage and trust to create the mental and emotional spaces for critical reflection to take place and this informs my approaches to supporting improvements to practice. Change can feel risky and exposing and I consider my role as an academic developer to create these safe spaces for myself and my colleagues. This was one of the many lessons learned from my fellow students on the SEDA SLEC programme.
Learning portfolio by Ann Tilbury 