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Introductory comments by Dr. Bernadette Robinson for the fourth "Virtual conference":
Staff Develompment:   (1 - 20 February 1999)

1 February 1999

WELCOME to this ‘virtual’ conference on Staff Development (1-20 February 1999) and greetings to all participants.

This is the Commonwealth of Learning’s fourth (and last) "virtual" conference before the Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Brunei. I hope it will prove as lively and vigorous as the previous ones! To achieve this goal, may I request that as a participant you throw something into the pot (ideas, comments, questions, problems, information) as well as taking something out of it. If you can throw something, however small, into the pot, please do it soon—we only have three weeks to create something substantial to chew on! At the time of posting this message there were 93 subscribers to this conference.

1. The Purpose

The purpose of this on-line conference is two-fold: to help participants and conference planners to prepare for the Forum in Brunei and to provide a means of participation for those who may not be able to attend in person. I hope that whichever of these groups you are in, you will find something useful and relevant in our discussions and also feel free to contribute.

2. To Introduce Myself ...

My home is in the United Kingdom but I spend much of my time working in other countries (33 so far) as a full-time consultant in open and distance learning on a range of projects, from non-formal basic education and literacy learning to post-graduate university level. The work involves helping to plan or review or evaluate projects or courses or institutions. Often I work as staff developer with groups creating multi-media learning materials and systems, or with trainers producing training materials or models, or with planners and managers or government ministries. Sometimes I work on international staff development workshops, such as IIEP-UNESCO’s on ‘The Planning and Management of Distance Education’, run in partnership with the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Bangkok last month. I’m currently working on projects in Mongolia, Vietnam and China. In the UK, I provide staff development workshops for traditional universities moving into open and distance learning (ODL), and occasionally for my ‘alma mater’, the UK Open University (where I conduct an annual workshop on ‘Quality Assurance in ODL’ as part of the Institute of Educational Technology’s Professional Development programme). Until 1997, I worked in the UKOU’s School of Education, based for much of the time in a regional centre (responsible there for the staff development of part-time tutors) but also working on course production teams A psychologist by training, I became involved in ODL ‘by accident’ (or happy chance!) rather than as a planned career choice, as has happened to many others.

3. The Structure of our Discussion

Our time span is three weeks. I thought about the various ways in which we could structure this time. It could, for example, be sliced into week-long topics but I decided that this was probably too restricting— everyone has busy schedules and might not be able to keep pace with this. Also, it might reflect only my own agenda and priorities for discussion rather than yours. So let’s try for a more flexible (though hopefully not chaotic!) approach.

I’m proposing three main topics to focus on: current concerns, lessons learnt so far, and future directions. Though there’s some value in beginning with the first one, in order to try to map the scope of our discussion, this shouldn’t prevent you from contributing to the other two at the same time, if you wish, or from raising new and different topics.

4. My Role as Moderator

My role is to introduce the topic of Staff Development and to assist the discussion (refocussing it if I think it needs it), bearing in mind the kinds of outcomes hoped for. These are:

• a current agenda of concerns;
• the exchange of experience and ideas for good practice, and identification of lessons learnt;
• desirable future directions for the improvement of staff development and its contribution to the quality of ODL.

I will aim to provide a summary of the discussion at the end of each week.

I also have the task of putting together a summary of our discussion for circulation and presentation at Brunei. So if you are not able to attend the conference in Brunei, this is an opportunity to get your voice heard! However, I think we should try to go beyond a summary alone, by identifying desirable future directions in staff development, including those for organisations like COL. (What will COL’s agenda for Staff Development look like by the time of their next 10-year celebration conference, in 2009? What will their role be then?)

So, to start off our discussion > > > > >

Introduction to the Topic

Staff Development used to be a poor relation in open and distance education: often under-valued, usually under-funded and regularly given a low priority. It also tended to stick to traditional face-to-face methods of delivery, in contrast to the kind of open and distance learning being provided for students. This picture has changed quite a lot (though it’s not clear to what extent—perhaps you can throw some light on this?). Human resource is now acknowledged as a key element in achieving good quality in ODL, and staff development is seen as an essential part of shaping the quality of human resource.

More generally, some approaches to the management of quality in organisations now take staff development as a major focus of effort. In these cases, staff development is seen as an investment, not just a cost. More attention is undoubtedly paid now than in the past to staff development for ODL, but the training budget in many ODL projects and organisations is still one of the first to be cut when financial savings have to be made. Added to this, the learning resulting from staff development is not always put to good use. Staff development provision is often too intermittent to have impact, or too short to consolidate new learning. Learner-centred staff development has not yet caught up with the learner-centred approaches adopted for students. But perhaps the picture is really rosier than I paint ... ?

Topics for Discussion

1. WHAT ARE OUR CURRENT CONCERNS ABOUT STAFF DEVELOPMENT?

I think it’s important that we start by constructing our own shared agenda of concerns and current (‘hot’) issues in Staff Development for Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Please can you contribute to this, however briefly? The fact that we are an email group gives us a rare opportunity to create something which reflects a wide number of current perspectives. At the time of posting this message there are 93 subscribers to this virtual conference.

Some questions

• What are the main concerns or issues relating to staff development for ODL in your context? Which kinds of staff do these relate to?
• What are the main constraints in providing effective staff development in your context? What are the unmet needs?

2. WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM OUR EXPERIENCE IN STAFF DEVELOPMENT SO FAR?

Some questions

• What works best in your context?
• What should be avoided, from your experience?
• What models of staff development have proved valuable and affordable?
• What value, if any, does staff development add to the practice of ODL??
• What are the limitations of staff development as a contributor to quality?
• What constitutes good quality in staff development? What quality assurance is needed?
• How can we help staff get more effectively from ‘knowing’ to ‘doing’ in the practice of ODL?
• What’s an appropriate balance between individual and institutional priorities in staff development choices?
• How can we make better use of new technology for staff development?
• What cultural issues are significant in staff development?
• What do we know about staff development? What research has been done?
• What’s the best value for money in staff development?

3. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: WHERE SHOULD WE BE HEADING?

Some questions

• Where do we go from here in staff development?
• What kinds of innovation are needed?
• Is globalisation encouraging the dominance of a particular set of norms and approaches? Is this desirable?
• Since the beginning of COL, staff development for ODL has improved, and COL has played a key role in this, though regional workshops, publications, access to information and the support of debate and regional associations. What now remains to be done? What should be the role of COL and other international organisations in the immediate future?

So, over to you ...

Bernadette
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Bernadette Robinson
Consultant in Open and Distance Learning
17 Church Lane
Costock, Loughborough,
Leics. UK
LE12 6UZ
Tel/Fax: +44 1509 852268
email: B.Robinson@open.ac.uk

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