Highbury College Changing ILT practices: our approach Nadim Bakhshov, Head of Centre, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Ofsted Report: “The college promotes the development and use of ILT to enhance learning particularly well. Development of the VLE is a key part of the college’s long-term strategy and vision for learning and there is a clear framework and timetable for its continued implementation across the institution. The college provides much support and training for ILT and reports on its use effectively through the course review process. “

Workshop Approach Use a Recipe and Ingredient Metaphor Starting point: There is no universal recipe There were key ingredients for Highbury College

Highbury Pedagogical Framework eLT Strategy Group, chaired by Principal Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and Learning Technology Unit iHighbury, online learning eLT Training programme ‘Raising the Threshold’ Our Recipe

Ingredient 1 Senior Management Support Reasoning: In order to bring about organisational change you need to have a key player from the Senior Management Team. This person will be responsible for agreeing changes in staffing, reviewing and implementing performance targets, chairing a strategy group which will be responsible for agreeing actions and reviewing each stage of the implementation

Ingredient 1 Senior Management Support Activity 1 Identify the senior management lead Note: they must be in a position to be able to implement changes in performance targets if required, authorise college-wide mandatory courses, agree all staff changes and, if required, develop of new organsational roles

Ingredient 2 ILT Strategy Group Reasoning: To bring about change in the organisation you need to put into place the right people to disseminate, develop, support and drive the changes. You will need to have key stakeholders within your ILT Strategy Group

Ingredient 2 ILT Strategy Group Activity 2 Can you assemble the team you need to support and drive the changes across the organisation? Some suggestions: Head of IT, Head of Learning Technology, Head of Quality, Key Academic Departments Who do you think are relevant stakeholders?

Ingredient 3 Pedagogical Principles Reasoning: Once you have the right people in place and senior management support you need to think about the underlying pedagogy to support your change in ILT practices. This is perhaps the essential key ingredient that organises much of what follows.

Ingredient 3 Pedagogical Principles Activity 3 Can you write down what pedagogical principles you think need to drive the changes in ILT? Do you want to have an interactive pedagogy for ILT? If so, why? What are the implications of this?

Ingredient 4 Audit Procedures Reasoning: Without a clear set of measurable audits (based on clear pedagogical principles) of your current IT and ILT infrastructure you will make no real progress in changing the practices. However awkward their results. You will have to audit accurately actual use and current state of the ILT technologies and the usage of them using your pedagogical principles. In fact the ILT pedagogy should supply you with the key categories for your audit.

Ingredient 4 Audit Procedures Activity 4 Derive a set of audit categories from your pedagogical principles. Identify the IT and ILT systems you want to audit. Identify who will carry out the audits and what you want them to report back to senior management.

Ingredient 5 Training Reasoning: Once you have the right management support, key players, a pedagogy for your ILT and a derived audit you will have to look at the training implications for the organisation. You will have to agree the relevant team to develop the training programme, gain target and performance review mechanisms for management and then, through an action plan, get academic staff through it.

Ingredient 5 Training Activity 5 Identify the training your audit results and analysis reveal. Identify the team to create the training programme and an implementation schedule. Gain management support to make this mandatory.

Ingredient 6 Supporting and Implementing Change Reasoning: Finally you need to develop some kind of support structure to drive changes through at the daily level. You cannot rely on staff having time out of their normal routine to implement changes. Change has to be built into what goes on in daily practice. Consider a Learning Technology Unit.

Ingredient 6 Supporting and Implementing Change Activity 6 Identify a way of taking on students through an internship programme or apprentices to support staff on a daily basis and support the change process. Is there room in your staff rooms for them to sit?