The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 1

2017 Operational Plan: Continuing Professional Learning for Academic Staff

(Broome, Fremantle & Sydney Campuses)

Purpose: To support strategic planning for Academic Staff professional development activities provided by the University on the

Broome, Fremantle and Sydney Campuses

Responsible Executive: PVC, Academic

Responsible Office: Learning and Teaching Office (LTO)

Related Documents:

Effective Date:

Review Date:

University’s Strategic Plan 2013-2016 ; Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016; Blended Learning Strategic Plan 2016-2018

1 January, 2017

October 2016

Modification History: Created January 2013 & revised annually

Date of Next Review: October 2017

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE & SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 2

Foreword Continuing Professional Learning (CPL) is a sector-preferred term for ‘professional development’ as it recognises the ongoing or lifelong nature of quality improvement as an academic teacher practitioner (Trevitt & Stocks, 2012)1. Consequently, this document (and all related documentation) refers to professional development as CPL.

1 Purpose

The purpose of this 2017 Operational Plan: Continuing Professional Learning for Academic Staff (Broome, Fremantle & Sydney), and referred to herein as the CPL Plan 2017, is to provide a strategic and University-wide approach to academic professional development by identifying priorities, areas of focus and associated activities. It will inform the Learning and Teaching Office’s Work Plan for Academic Continuing Professional Learning (CPL), which details CPL strategies for academic staff and indicators of success, which will be used for reporting purposes.

More specifically, the CPL Plan 2017 is intended to enable the achievement of the following aims: - Support the University’s ethos as a Catholic employer and community of learning; - Build capacity in Schools and Centres by supporting staff to enable effective student learning; - Engage early career and sessional staff in relevant CPL opportunities; - Facilitate the achievement of the related University goals and priorities identified in strategic

and operational planning; - Establish clear, effective and well-communicated procedures for annual planning of academic

CPL and the reporting of outcomes; - Ensure the programme of academic CPL meets the needs and requirements of the University,

Schools, academic and student support areas and individual staff; - Increase access to CPL opportunities for staff in higher education and vocational education and

training (VET) sectors in rural and remote; and - Foster a culture of practice-sharing and scholarship of teaching and learning.

2 Related Policies and Procedures

The CPL Plan 2017 is informed by the following documents: - Strategic Plan 2013-2016 - Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016 - Blended Learning Strategic Plan 2016-2018

1 Trevitt, C., & Stocks, C. (2012). Signifying authenticity in academic practice: A framework for better understanding and harnessing portfolio assessment. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 37(2), 245–257.

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE & SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 3

3 Institutional Priorities for Continuing Professional Learning 2014-2016

CPL planning is primarily driven by the priority areas identified in the institutional Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016. While other topics may be addressed during the year, this happens on an ‘as-needs’ basis. Due to the impromptu nature of these additional CPL foci, they do not constitute part of this formal plan, but will, nonetheless, be captured in subsequent reporting.

The following priority areas for learning and teaching development have been identified in the institutional Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016:

- Curriculum / Educational Design (in a traditional and blended learning context) - Assessment Design and Practices - Peer Observation and Feedback - Developing Professional Practice in Higher Education Learning and Teaching

Many of these areas were addressed in the 2016 CPL Plan. However, given the central feature that they play in learning and teaching generally, they remain priorities in the CPL Plan 2017. Furthermore, at the time of developing this document, the next iteration of the institutional learning and teaching plan had not yet been completed.

Table 1 (CPL Focus Areas Aligned to the Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016) elaborates on these priorities and identifies specific focus areas for CPL.

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 4

Table 1: CPL focus areas aligned to the Learning and Teaching Plan 2014-2016

Priority Alignment with Learning and Teaching Plan Areas of CPL Focus for LTO

Educational / Curriculum Design

OBJECTIVE 1: Provide a distinctive and personalised student experience.

STRATEGY 2. Identify and implement initiatives to integrate further

and cross‐reference the Core Curriculum across discipline‐specific content in all courses. STRATEGY 5. Develop an institutional approach to identifying and supporting students at risk of not progressing academically, including identifying students at undergraduate commencement who may need additional academic support for success. STRATEGY 6. Coordinate resources to improve support for academic and social transition to the University community for commencing students.

Integration of the core curriculum into courses so that it is relevant and integral to discipline content (e.g., mapping of core curriculum to course learning outcomes).

Support for staff designing curriculum to support first-year students transition into and throughout their courses.

Support for designing curriculum to promote academic integrity.

Exploration of how to support staff in using Blackboard Analytics to personalise instruction for students.

OBJECTIVE 2: Deliver quality academic programs aligned to the University’s Objects.

STRATEGY 3. Ensure the University’s graduate attributes, as well

as discipline‐specific attributes and knowledge, are embedded in all coursework awards. STRATEGY 4. Promote and embed good practices in assessment and curriculum design; including embedding in all courses defined academic standards of student attainment and developing guidelines to facilitate peer review of curriculum and moderation of assessment practices.

Understanding the Higher Education Threshold Standards (2015).

Support for embedding graduate attributes and capabilities into curriculum.

Supporting staff to ensure ‘constructive alignment’ in unit design.

Supporting curriculum mapping

OBJECTIVE 3: Sustain and build excellence in teaching, supported by flexible approaches to educational delivery.

STRATEGY 2. Develop, resource and implement an institutional blended learning policy that supports building capacity and developing capability in blended learning, complements current delivery models, and enhances student access. STRATEGY 3. Provide flexible electronic and physical learning environments to support learner-focused pedagogical models and collaborative learning.

Develop staff capacity to integrate educational technologies into learning and teaching.

Promoting pedagogical principles for learning and teaching in a blended learning space.

Designing instruction for ‘blended learning’ (pedagogical and technical know-how).

Maximising potential of LMS as a tool for rich, activity-based learning design.

Assessment Design & Practices

OBJECTIVE 2: Deliver quality academic programs aligned to the University’s Objects.

STRATEGY 4. Promote and embed good practices in assessment and curriculum design; including embedding in all courses defined academic standards of student attainment and developing guidelines to facilitate peer review of curriculum and moderation of assessment practices. Strategy 6. Develop and implement a mandatory online learning module for commencing undergraduate students to support student understanding of the importance of, and processes for, upholding academic integrity.

Assuring standards (through standard setting, moderation, designing effective rubrics).

Promoting academic integrity via assessment design.

Configuring assessments in Blackboard.

Seamless integration of the academic integrity module into the assessment programs in first-year units.

Peer Support & Observation

OBJECTIVE 2: Deliver quality academic programs aligned to the University’s Objects.

STRATEGY 4. Promote and embed good practices in assessment and curriculum design; including embedding in all courses defined academic standards of student attainment and developing guidelines to facilitate peer review of curriculum and moderation of assessment practices.

Peer review of teaching and assessment practices.

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 5

OBJECTIVE 3: Sustain and build excellence in teaching, supported by flexible approaches to educational delivery.

STRATEGY 5. Develop, resource and implement an institutional approach to peer review and observation of teaching.

Reflective teaching practice – self-reflection, use of student and peer feedback.

Growth in Higher Education Learning

& Teaching

OBJECTIVE 3: Sustain and build excellence in teaching, supported by flexible approaches to educational delivery.

STRATEGY 1. Encourage and facilitate scholarly teaching and research‐informed teaching practices by recruiting, promoting, and rewarding staff for these activities and implementing

initiatives to disseminate examples of good practice in research‐informed teaching. STRATEGY 4. Further enhance the quality of teaching by reviewing, expanding and increasing targeted professional development opportunities and induction programs for academic staff, including those employed on a sessional basis; and by supporting staff to apply for internal and external teaching and learning awards. STRATEGY 6. Develop effective leadership capacity in teaching and learning across all disciplines, including through formalising an institutional mentoring and support program for early career academics.

Research and scholarship of Higher Education learning and teaching (SoTL).

Effective capacity building, support and maintenance of external grants participation.

Benchmarking institutional support for sessional teaching staff.

Strategies (e.g., handbook, series of workshops, eResources) for supporting sessional staff.

Strategies for documenting and disseminating effective practice and innovation.

Cultivating communities of practice.

Recognition of excellence – internal and external teaching awards and citations, academic portfolios.

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 6

4 Scope

The intended audience for the 2017 CPL Plan is all academic staff (inclusive of sessional staff and VET teachers where relevant). General staff may also attend sessions where relevant.

As much as possible, CPL activities will be the same on all campuses. For example, three to four half- day fora will be held on both the Fremantle and Sydney Campuses throughout the year, focusing on common institutional priorities. Similarly, staff on all campuses will have access to a repository of informational resources via the LTO website (to be launched November 2017). However, some variance in CPL activities across sites may occur due to local needs as expressed through Deans and Associate Deans Learning and Teaching.

The LTO also recognises that some Schools have existing pockets of expertise in curriculum and pedagogy and can offer in-house academic development. Where invited, the LTO can support these activities with planning and informational resources. Schools are encouraged to keep records of such activities to support the University’s external reporting obligations.

Where relevant, the LTO will alert staff to external opportunities which might be beneficial including workshops and seminars offered by other local universities, project dissemination associated with externally funded projects, and conference dates for key peak bodies such as Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN), and Council of Australian Directors of Academic Development (CADAD).

Avenues for sharing professional development offerings across all campuses will be sought and incorporated as appropriate. Support initiatives will be developed to maximise the reach and utilisation of available resources (e.g. recording of sessions for compilation into a CPL Resource Library uploaded on the LTO website; linkages with existing units/courses within the University; further development of academic development resources compiled for shared staff use where possible/permitted etc).

5 Approaches for Engaging Staff in CPL

The LTO aims to work in partnership with Schools and Centres in supporting academic development and growth. Rather than being a discrete office that sits outside the functions and operations of Schools and Centres, it will be more effective if it can connect with the academic community and provide CPL support through shared projects and collaborations that are relevant and timely. The capacity for professional learning is increased if learning and teaching development is a collaborative endeavour.

As a service and a resource for the academic community, the LTO aims to offer a multi-dimensional approach to ‘continuing professional learning’ opportunities, as a one dimensional model is ineffective. While a whole-of-institution approach ensures institutional priorities in learning and teaching are progressed in a consistent manner, there will also be a requirement to support Schools in addressing discipline-related learning and teaching needs. Additionally, individual staff may have specific requirements that can only be addressed via one-to-one consultations, or by accessing self-paced flexible resources. This multi-dimensional approach to supporting CPL is illustrated in Figure 1.

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 7

Figure 1: Multi-dimensional approach to Continuing Professional Learning in the LTO

Examples of CPL options that are available in each of these dimensions are as follows:

Whole-of-Institution approach:

- LTO hosted fora (often facilitated by a visiting scholar) - Lunch-time workshop series progressing an institutional priority - Facilitation of Communities of Practice - Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education (GCLT) - Working collegially with existing school-based learning and teaching champions, such as

award recipients, to leverage their expertise locally and to the wider University

School-based approach: - School-driven CPL workshops co-hosted by LTO and the School - Small-group consultations with academic developers - Partnering in research and scholarship projects

Individual approach:

- Individual consultations with academic developers - Informal interaction / conversations with LTO staff at University-wide events - Facilitating peer learning sessions and support networks - Connecting academics with internal and external pedagogical knowledge, scholarship and

resources

Flexible delivery - Self-paced resources including stand-alone modules that form the GCLT - Just-in-time digital resources available through the LTO website

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 8

School-based support is essentially driven by the Dean (or Associate Dean Learning and Teaching) in that they identify academic matters on which the School would like to focus on and who requests the LTO to provide a program of support for its staff. Generally, arrangements for staff participation in the program are organised by the School as are calendar and room bookings.

To ensure equity in distributing LTO time to Schools, a limited number of hours will be available each semester per School.

The types of support Schools might like to access are as follows: - Professional learning

o Blackboard & Turnitin workshops o peer review of unit outlines, Blackboard units, teaching and assessment o moderation of assessment tasks o learning design (blended or face-to-face)

- LTO representation on the School Learning and Teaching Committee (or equivalent) - Course review - Scholarship of learning and teaching (research) projects - Other (as identified by the School)

At the beginning of the semester, Deans / Associate Deans wishing to access School-based support are requested to complete a form (which will be forwarded by the LTO) outlining the academic matter they wish to explore, and send it to the Manager of the LTO. In consultation with the School, a program of support will then be developed and delivered by the LTO at a time identified by the School.

Additionally, individual and/or small-group consultations can be accessed by booking time with academic developers. At the beginning of each semester, an email will be sent to all academic staff indicating the time that academic developers will be available each week. Staff can use this quiet opportunity to seek advice on a wide range of academic matters such as:

- What is happening in the sector

- Best practices in learning and teaching

- Testing ideas regarding a learning and teaching strategy

- Feedback on assessment tasks and rubrics

- Support with technology enhanced learning inside and outside of Blackboard

- Implementing University-wide strategic direction

6 Measuring Success – Levels of Impact

The aim of CPL programs is to support staff in engaging in best practice learning and teaching. Often, this requires a change in practice. While not all CPL will lead to a transformation in how teaching is practised, the LTO has structured activities such that they support staff along a continuum of growth that will ultimately lead to change. Figure 2 illustrates the various stages of growth that lead to transformation, and the sorts of activities that support learning at each stage. These stages constitute the levels of impact against which the LTO will measure the success of CPL activities provided in programs.

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 9

Figure 2: Impact Levels of CPL and examples of supporting strategies and activities

Awareness

Raising

Fora

Advocacy for

best practice

Fora

Building skills

(pedagogical

and technical)

Skills

workshops

eResources

Implementation

(embedding into

practice)

One-to-one

support

eResources

Community of

Practice

Transformative

practice

Project based

SoTL support

for Schools

One-to-one

support

Community of

Practice

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

The University of Notre Dame Australia – effective 1 January, 2017 10

7 Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education (GCLT)

The Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education (GCLT) offers staff a formal opportunity to engage in professional learning, which results in a post-graduate qualification. Following an external review of its predecessor the Graduate Certificate in University Teaching in 2013, this course has undergone major changes in an effort to ensure it effectively prepares educators for contemporary practices in higher education. Some of the major changes to be introduced in 2017 are as follows:

- Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) have been rewritten to ensure they better align with the Australian Qualifications Framework standards, and that they address relevant issues related to learning, teaching and scholarship in higher education

- The name of the course has been changed to the Graduate Certificate Learning and Teaching for Higher Education (GCLT) to reflect the broadening of the focus to include a range of contemporary issues facing educators in the higher education sector. It also aims to be more inclusive and capture a wider audience outside Notre Dame staff (for whom it historically catered)

- The ICT unit has been archived and its focus on blended learning and learning with technologies has been integrated throughout all the units that comprise the course.

- A core unit focussed specifically on assessment and evaluation in higher education has been included

- Unit content has been redesigned as modularised, interactive online eBooks to facilitate flexible, engaging access

While the GCLT offers staff a formal opportunity to engage in CPL, this course can also be ‘unpacked’ to be used as discrete, topic-specific resources for staff to complete outside the award. Plans are in place to provide staff who complete these discrete resources with recognition of prior learning (RPL) if they later wish to enrol in the GCLT. Furthermore, in an effort to increase the profile of this course, opportunities to accredit it with the Higher Education Academy (HEA) will be explored in 2017 such that students who complete it become fellows of HEA.

8 Evaluation of Professional Development Opportunities

As previously mentioned in Section 6, CPL activities will be evaluated in terms of the impact they have had on an academic based on his/her level of development in a particular area. A concrete way to carry out this evaluation is to measure an activity in terms of a) staff reaction, b) their take-away messages, c) the extent to which a skill has been translated into practice and, d) the overall outcome of this new practice. Therefore, key performance indicators used to measure success of CPL will be:

- Reaction

- Learning

- Behaviour/Transfer

- Results

2017 OPERATIONAL PLAN: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF (BROOME, FREMANTLE &SYDNEY CAMPUSES)

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Data will be collected via the following means:

- Analysis of survey feedback on scheduled CPL activities using an electronic form (e.g. Survey Monkey);

- LTO team reflection; - Direct consultation with key staff, and unsolicited emails; - Reviewing attendance, participation data and levels of engagement with Schools / Centres; - Identifying linkages to improvement/development initiatives or outcomes; and - Reviewing Service Desk data for Bb related issues.

These data will be used for reporting outcomes of CPL on all campuses in an Annual Summary report generated by the LTO in February of each year.