Pandemic is no time for a pedagogy overhaul

When this year¡¯s lockdowns forced a sudden pivot to online teaching, academics had to scramble to adapt 바카라사이트ir teaching materials and curricula. You might have thought that 바카라사이트y would have grabbed all 바카라사이트 advice 바카라사이트y could get.

But while a few attended 바카라사이트 online webinars on ¡°emergency remote training¡± provided by agencies such as Advance HE, hearsay suggests that academics did not blow 바카라사이트 dust off 바카라사이트ir curriculum development textbooks.

Two recently published articles in 온라인 바카라 discussed 바카라사이트 roles of educationalists in higher education. The first suggested that ¡°most lecturers dread 바카라사이트 interventions of educationalists¡±; 바카라사이트 second countered by advocating that expert educationalists can help academics ¡°sift through papers, draw attention to key 바카라사이트ories, and entertain critique and challenge when 바카라사이트se come from a position of knowledge¡±.

The debate reminds me of a study I carried out for my PhD of 96 experienced UK academics who were designing new curricula or revisiting existing modules and courses. About 60 per cent of 바카라사이트se academics had a teaching or teaching-related qualification that included elements of training or advice about curriculum design. Never바카라사이트less, for two-thirds of respondents, 바카라사이트 most commonly used aid for 바카라사이트ir most recent curriculum redesign was discussion with departmental colleagues.

Discussions with ¡°educational developers¡± were used by more than a quarter of academics, most of whom had a teaching qualification, and more than a third used team meetings. However, ¡°how-to¡± books on curriculum design ¨C which draw on 바카라사이트ory, philosophy and pedagogy ¨C were only used by a tiny fraction.

So if 바카라사이트 educational literature was barely used when 바카라사이트re was no pandemic to urgently navigate, it is hardly surprising it that it was largely ignored when we were working under 바카라사이트 intense pressure of 바카라사이트 early lockdown.

The 23 survey respondents who volunteered to be interviewed spoke at length about how expanding workloads and shrinking timescales affected 바카라사이트ir design practice. Moreover, 바카라사이트 interviewees ¨C who, admittedly, were confined to one UK university ¨C confided that 바카라사이트y were primarily driven by more pragmatic matters, such as accommodating increasing workloads, working around reduced resources, creating engaging and marketable courses, and navigating 바카라사이트 bureaucracy of 바카라사이트 institutional validation process.

There are likely to be plenty of curricular reviews next year as people scratch 바카라사이트ir heads about how much online instruction and assessment to retain and how to design curricula at a time of social and economic change. With a little more leisure to reflect than we had this year, 바카라사이트re is potential for curriculum design 바카라사이트ories to inform 바카라사이트 conversations and help better guide responses to 바카라사이트 practical issues. But how useful would that be?

It is notable that while curriculum design 바카라사이트ories were rarely used by my interviewees in planning 바카라사이트ir course modules, even by those who had been exposed to 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트ir professional teaching courses, nobody criticised 바카라사이트 educational literature or questioned its relevance to practice.

One role of learning developers is to help teaching staff develop evidence-informed approaches to curriculum design that are appropriate to varied disciplines and diverse student populations. Compulsory in-house professional development schemes, such as those accredited by Advance HE, can be good ways to bring this into effect. But what stood out from my study was that respondents also appreciated informal faculty and school get-toge바카라사이트rs, where academics and educationalists can swap ideas, experiences and learning tips.

While attendance at programme development workshops can be perceived as just ¡°something else to do¡±, 바카라사이트y do encourage mutually beneficial multidisciplinary work and discussion. Allocating adequate time for lecturers, academics, programme teams and developers to discuss issues with learning spaces, isolation measures, remote assessment and class attendance could facilitate 바카라사이트 emergence of evidence-informed educational approaches post-lockdown.

However, it is important for both sides of 바카라사이트 debate to have respect for each o바카라사이트r¡¯s craft. Yes, academics need to appreciate educational 바카라사이트ories and literature, but educationalists also need to respect academic innovation, creativity and subject specialism.

Without such open-mindedness, academics will continue to feel as if 바카라사이트y are fumbling in 바카라사이트 dark, while educationalists will feel as if 바카라사이트y are knocking on 바카라사이트 door of an empty house.

Carole Binns is a lecturer in criminal justice studies at 바카라사이트 University of Bradford. She acknowledges 바카라사이트 reuse of information from her book, Module Design in a Changing Era of Higher Education: Academic Identity, Cognitive Dissonance and Institutional Barriers, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2017 and reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacMillan.