1. Informal staff
development via a
centralised tutoring
system in an online
lecturer education
programme
Aileen McGuigan
University of Dundee
ECER Cadiz 2012

2. Will technological developments
continue to march on and multiply at
the current rate?
Will the technology we’re using today
still be in use next year?
How can we equip our teaching staff to
be ready for the challenges ahead?
All… staff of higher education
institutions should be equipped to
respond to the changing demands of
the fast evolving society (European Ministers

3. blog
email
micro- blog

4. method

5. TQFE-Tutor for
professional development:
framework
strengths weaknesses
transparency need for need for
& collegiality adherence to strong team
consistency FAQs ethos
knowledge time saving over- increase in
of & dependence admin
cohort resilience on email

6. transparency
& consistency
‘it’s not the
secret garden ‘on another distance learning
syndrome’ programme I work on, very
part-time and there it’s very
much that each member of
staff has their module and
their marking… people want
to feel they’re not exposed in
‘there’s a any way, but there’s no real
transparency benefit in learning from that’
to what
we’re doing’

7. collegiality
‘you do feel in touch. Although I’m not up [in
Dundee] much, I do still feel in touch with the
rest of the team and there is contact’
‘it does keep you… part of
that bigger picture’
‘in the spirit of a group of
people … a feeling of unity’

8. Knowledge of cohort
‘you see more of issues from other
perspectives… it’s like we’re all appreciating
what each other are dealing with’
‘we’re all responsible for the
full cohort and their problems
or issues, their successes’
‘it is an advantage for all staff to see learners
engaging and responding online and helps to
motivate tutors as well as benefiting those
participants who want the answers’

9. time saving
and resilience
repetition one-to-many
avoided
peer cover for
collaboration absent staff
alleviates
stress for staff

10. weaknesses
need for adherence to FAQs
need for strong team ethos
over-dependence on email increase in administration

11. conclusions
opportunities social learning
for informal opportunities
cpd
sense of
belongingness
time savings resilience

12. finally
TQFE-Tutor: supporting
new ideas for a new any
kind of academic questions?
Aileen McGuigan, MA, PhD
McGuigan
Programme Director, Teaching in the College Sector
School of Education, Social Work and Community Education
University of Dundee
email: a.mcguigan@dundee.ac.uk
phone: +44(0)1382 381496

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