Yesterday I attended a presentation at CORE of the Review of the recently completed T4T4T project. This was a research-oriented pilot of online community of practice for teaching staff at the four major tertiary institutions in Canterbury.
It is encouraging to see the extent to which online collaboration is being embraced in this sector and the richness of the learning gained through this pilot. I recommend reading the review when it is released.
Some questions emerge for me.
While T4T4T clearly shows that it is possible to increase the opportunity for participation among tertiary teaching staff, it seems that the motivation to do so remains at best variable. The increasing incentives for the NZ tertiary sector to focus on research does little to encourage it. What can be done to develop a culture of development in teaching and learning in this area? One idea raised at yesterday’s meeting is encourage research into subject-specific teaching.
The pilot also shows that there is some interest in teaching and learning among tertiary staff. I would be interested to hear of any research as to what these folks are doing already to act on that interest. If we are to invest in encouraging this, would we be better to create new communities or to encourage and teach people to join ones that are already there – or simply to start their own?