Belonging, power and ‘fear’: #ujhtl as a social learning space for academics at UJ

Ingrid Marais, Najma Agherdien, Carina van Rooyen

Presentation to #HETL14 in Alaska on 1 June

academic professional development

Quinn (2012:3) defines academic development as “a range of

formal and informal activities aimed at contributing towards

academics’ capacities as scholarly educators.”

Source: http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/Portals/0/SmithCart/Images/Re-imagining-Staff

Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWOMtcKevIU/TVVY2ffFzQI/AAAAAAAAAA0/-BFfHLoOnA8/s1600/tpck-model.jpg

cont

ext of

PD

Source: http://static.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1341923042678_6530462.png

Source: http://static.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1345083655202_4256151.png

Source: http://www.literacyta.com/school-wide/elementary-school-professional-development/academic-writing

Source: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104021/chapters/Professional-Development-Today.aspx

social learning spaces (SLS)

• Oldenburg's (1991) definition: "physical and/or virtual area that is not predominantly identified with either social or work/study perspectives but transcends both and facilitates both formal and informal student centred collaborative learning" (Williamson & Nodder 2002)

• Wenger: “those contexts where you feel like you are able to have really meaningful conversations with people about your experience of and involvement in practice.”

Source: http://www.orthopaedicsone.com/download/attachments/68190527/cop-picture1.jpg?version=1&modificationDate=1315790600000

Personal)Learning)Networks)Photo%by%Steve%Wheeler%

Steve%Whe

eler,%U

niversity

%of%P

lymou

th,%2014%

Personal learning networkSource: http://w

ww.onlinecollege.org/w

p-content/uploads/2012/09/The-

Social-Media-G

uide-to-Grow

ing-Your-Personal-Learning-Netw

ork.png

Humanities at UJ• Humanities Teaching & Learning Committee formed

task team on 21st century teaching (we call it T&L with technologies)

• Two lecturers (none with PhD then) & instructional designer to drive CoP for Humanities lecturers

• Three underlying principles agreed on

• Focus of activities to be pedagogy, not per se tech

• Voluntary participation in activities

• Activities to include research component

#ujh

tl

Source: http://eafernan26.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/constructivist2.jpg

Our research approach

Source: http://constructivisminelt.wikispaces.com/file/view/thinkers_cartoon.jpg/334589238/273x293/thinkers_cartoon.jpg

“I expect you all to be independent, innovative critical thinkers who will do

exactly as I say!”

findings: interested but not participating

Whilst interested, reasons for marginal participation included 1. PD is supposed to be presented by the university; not

primarily my responsibility “The things should be there, and you should be informed what is there.”

2. Doing is the best PD; not talking 3. Relative unimportance of teaching PD; doesn’t see it as

important as ‘research’ PD “…it also means I need to say no to certain things and not over commit myself to the things that are not absolutely necessary.”

4. Teaching PD seen as not necessary

“Can you teach someone to be a lecturer?”

5. Issue of time: intention to participate but never have time (blame on high student numbers)

“we are overburdened…we have too many students and too few staff members”

6. ‘Fear’ of tech & rejection both in F2F & online • Uncomfortable-ness with technology (Twitter/

Google groups) “…this group chat! Really, you get intimated.”

Some lurked for Twitter discussions

“I felt like an interloper” • BUT ALSO uncomfortable with F2F – issues of

trust “But you see the problem is that I don’t want to come there and look stupid … I know I’m doing myself a… probably disadvantage because the world is so technologically … I also felt that if I come to the face-to-face I’d probably sit there dumbfounded and really confuse myself more…”

Source: http://imgc-cn.artprintimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/60/6067/8TZD100Z/posters/bruce-eric-kaplan-i-don-t-know-if-i-m-untamed-or-if-i-just-have-a-fear-of-being-ridden-new-yorker-

cartoon.jpg

“I don’t know if I’m untamed or if I just have a fear of being ridden.”

Findings: participants

why participate

1. Importance of teaching

• PD as ‘necessary’ / core to practice as academics, especially regarding T&L

• To teach effectively must look at own learning

• Identity as teacher AND identity as subject specialist

“As much as I work on my PhD, there is also being conscious of who I am as a teacher, what is my teaching philosophy.”

• Participants seem to have a compound identity as teachers & as researchers

• Acknowledge context in which ‘researching’ / ‘publishing’ is rewarded more than teaching – lesser motivation for developing into good teachers

2. care for students• “I really care for students…the way they understand the world, and I really

enjoy engaging with them, most of them.”

• “I really love the first years…I can get into their heads.” • “I think those that have joined the #ujhtl group, …the thing that they have in

common is that they are all passionate about students.”3. pedagogy interest; not per se

tech interest• “I don’t think they are all passionate about technology. The drive is not technology but

they are passionate about students…the student is first… I do not think you can claim to care about you students, if you don’t care about informal learning in the era we are living in — personal and professional learning via various social media.”

• “it’s just not about the technology, its about the pedagogy…I’m interested in teaching and learning as a field…I like engaging with people who like talking about these things.”

Source: https://chrispearce.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/comicteach94.jpg

Source: https://nabihameher.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/i-study.jpg

4. own lifelong learning• “It was such a massive shift, not only in how I teach but how I learn. It has become such a key

part in my own professional development and how I learn and I am really convinced that social learning is the way we learn. And technology makes that so easy. I really think that is how our students must learn and that is how I want to teach. I want them to discover this amazing wonder in your life that for the rest of your life whatever you want to learn I don’t need to enrol for a formal course. I can learn anywhere I want with any expert in the world.”

• “With technology being so ubiquitous, the need to transform the way we work, teach learn, engage forces us to unlearn and relearn.”

• “My big motivator is being relevant in future, having an interesting, engaging job, not being stuck in a comfort zone that turns into a prison – traditional teaching. But constantly learning, remaining relevant, evolving as education evolve, being really connected to my job, I want to remain invested in it, connected in it, …for personal growth”

• “It is bringing home this notion that learning can take place everywhere, you don’t have to be in the classroom to learn.”

• “Through participation in the group I have met new colleagues whom I would otherwise not have met. My interest in this area as well as engagement has opened doors for me to further engage… I feel like this domain has added a great deal of value to my personal and professional growth.”

Source: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/a7/a6/e3/a7a6e3af44673d215406bce07af016e4.jpg

Source: http://terrya.edublogs.org/files/2011/05/ishot-71-qlo3c3.jpg

5. notion of pd• Research-teaching nexus

“Professional development I see as multi-faceted, with many parts to it. So enriching oneself, …it is engaging with others… by branching out in other areas, through networking, through coming in touch with your context, with your environment, you space. I think space is really important; not just as a concrete space but as your learning space. So professional development is really important; it depends on what your goals are, is it really self-centred or is it part of team. Where does one see oneself going?”

“For me my professional life has different lives to it, different aspects: part of it is the teaching bit, part of it is the area specialist bit. So, I think about professional development in terms of those two things… For me professional development is important because it helps me do my job that I’ve been hired for, which I have been trained in one part of it, the subject specialist. I have the PhD to show I am the so-called expert, and there is a lot of emphasis on that part of it— get the PhD, get the MA, publish articles. But only part of it is that bit; the other part of it is the teaching bit. And we don’t actually get taught how to do it. We are expected to do it but there is actually very little incentives for people to become good at it because you don’t get rated on it. But that aside, I think professional development is what I need to do all aspects of my job well.”

6. Agency in PD• Own responsibility

“I think those that have joined the #ujhtl group, what they have in common…the one thing that I think is very strong, is that they take responsibility for their own learning; they are not waiting for anyone else.”

“We don’t need a workshop to tutor each other on what to use and what not to use.”

“If I think of my own professional development it is really a mixture of formal and informal learning, so the real formal learning is when you get a PhD…But in my teaching stuff we never really received any training. … I think where our group fits in for me is part of my informal professional development and I think it is not just mine, it is every person’ responsibility. You must have formal and informal areas of doing it. So, some would think some of the formal is ones that the university provides and I think those are important ones, but I think we all have a task…and I think academically one of your big […] is having networks and learning through networks. And it has always been that for academics….I don’t have to wait for the [PD Unit] to arrange one or another workshop on assessment; I can go ask Steve Wheeler or I can go read his blog or I can watch videos, I just Google… I think the most shocking thing is that others can still be stuck where they want others to tell them something. Have you tried Googling?”

Source: http://stephaniestroh.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/sacrifice-femininity.jpg

“Do you every worry you’ve had to sacrifice your femininity to succeed in the male business

world?”

“While I think it is important for the university to create some opportunities for PD, or support me when I ask for support, it’s up to me to do it. It’s my job, it’s my pride, so I want to look for opportunities for myself. And that is what #ujhtl is for me. It is one of many opportunities that I created for myself…to be better at that one thing of my job.”

“There was always - when you were a tutor, etc. - the next step, the next responsibility that you could assume and feel like you are making progress. But in the university level you become a lecturer, and ja sure you can become a professor and a senior lecturer, but that is related to your own research, not your teaching. So once you hit the level where I am now…there is nothing beyond this. I can look to other lecturers for inspiration but I have to find my own next step, my own creativity…it is not there waiting for you to aspire to, you need to create it. It becomes your responsibility, I think as some point you grow up. I think you reach a stage in your professional development where it is no longer someone else’s job to teach you or to grow you, it becomes your own job and that shift is difficult.”

“If I think about talking to people about joining #PhDChat — and I think it will hold true for #ujhtl as well — I think there is a larger taking responsibility for your own learning process. While other people feel someone else must come in and do it… so much more agency. So a lot of people that I encourage to join #PhDChat has [sigh] oh I don’t have time or I don’t have this or I don’t have that but you know no-one is giving me opportunities. But then there are opportunities but you just don’t want to join them. And then it becomes less about time and less about learning and just actually you don’t want to do it; you want someone to come and give you the answer or force feed you the answer, which is such a problem we face with our students as well. It’s an orientation thing.”

“I see it [professional development] as my own development as a person as a progression from where I am to where I would like to be, so for me there is a path that I need to follow to get to where I would like to see myself. … I am not going to wait for my line manager to say I think you need to develop this area. Yes, if they see something, perfect, fine. But if I see something there is a workshop. So I love going to workshops, I love going to conferences, I love talking to people….For me the personal learning networks being on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, that is all just so valuable, that is all part of my professional, my own learning.”

“For me, personally, I am not going to wait for someone to tell me this is, you need to attend this workshop… but I think it is my responsibility and I have always been open to trying new things…if you think it is the university that must professionally develop you then it is easy to then sit back and say well from your side you never came up with any suggestions, you never told me to attend this workshop, why didn’t you offer me that skill, that workshop… I have the desire to try new things …I did it for my own [professional] development…if I don’t grow, I don’t think I have much to offer the people that I work with. And I think it is my responsibility to see that I do grow.”

5. trust & belonging• Safe & encouraging space

[ujhtl] is kind of a safe space to try out things….You have like minded people…that is the beauty of the group.

There are people taking the conventional route […] and then there are people willing to learn, to try out new things. But it is a difficult space to be in because you are almost trying out new things, but you don’t know if it is going to work. So the #ujhtl group is a very nice space to almost pilot these ideas.

Every time I reflect and discuss my ideas within this group I feel inspired. I feel happy about what I do and it’s really a great space to share ideas and the colleagues are a great sounding board to bounce off these ideas but also offer great insight and alternatives to my ideologies.

• Feelings of trust

There are such different trust relations between those that are in the group and they talk so much more to one another… so there is a cohesion because we are engaging because we are a network for one another, we learn from one another. And I am not sure whether we are learning from one another because we trusted one another from before, or because we are learning we are trusting more. I think it is probably a mixture of both. …If I think social learning means ‘I learn from you’; so, it must respect you; I must respect and trust working with you. And I wonder to what extent it must be present. If you don’t trust, you can’t be part of a social learning group?

My participation has enabled me to join a network where I can learn from various members with experience and knowledge on teaching practice. It has given me confidence as I know a ‘body’ exists of people that I may turn to discuss issues and triumphs in my own experience. I also feel good knowing that I can reflect my experiences within this group and also draw from their experiences.

picture of bear in tree

Source: http://themetapicture.com/we-belong-together/

• Feeling that belong with group, belong to a community (COP)

Every interaction with the group makes me feel a bit more comfortable with the members. I feel like I belong.

I really value the #ujhtl group… I think the value is not only in learning something new, but the value is in you knowing that here is a group of us that think similarly, and want to see similar stuff. Even if it is just at the level: I am not alone in this. I’m not the only one that is crazy…we are here; I belong, I am part of a community. … And if you are then confronted by other stuff… then if you have this, it is a nice counter for those negatives and the constraints. Because there is a group of us that can and will, and we can just flippin do it!”

Yes, I realise that collaborative effort is so much more valuable than simply figuring out approaches on my own. It is affirming to speak to others and find out that we have similar views on issues. Perhaps this is what makes this CoP so valuable.

• Accountability / obligation

#ujhtl as both a support and pressure group

I felt more obligated to participate in the chats [because the group is so small]. Even at times when I felt I didn’t have much to add, I felt obligated to participate…if I don’t say something the discussion will go a bit quiet…but [with the big chats] there are sometimes to many voices.

how participate

which platform?• Open vs closed spaces

I really prefer open platforms. The platforms we are using now [Google Hangouts], I am not convinced it works, not as a professional learning tool.

After engaging in a few sessions within the Google Hangouts domain I really feel like we having a private discussion. At least on Twitter we were more publicly involved and had many lurkers gaining from our discussion but also had experts following us and contributing. So even though I think this domain is purposeful but we need to rethink the long term goals of our group and decide the type of involvement we want within the online realm.

I was learning Twitter but over time it was getting quite frustrating because on a practical level you do come across ideas but in order to make anything of that idea you need to commit a further two or three hours a week in your own time to think about applying it in your course. […] The communication barrier of having 140 characters was the biggest frustration for me.

• Across platforms

One of the things that would happen for us that were meeting in the hallway, we would then chat over tea about this morning or yesterday’s talk. So, in a way you would continue the Twitter discussion… and that is when we could get to the more nuanced things.

• Intro- & extroverts

When ujhtl started it was Twitter based, which I really enjoyed…I never joined the face-to-face discussions…because I was new [at university] it was a bit of negotiation around leaving the office which I can do more freely now…I don’t do face-to-face networking, conferencing very well. It feels more confrontational face-to-face, the chance for rejection is larger. I don’t think fast on my feet with face-to-face there is that immediacy that I don’t do well while when you are online its okay to have a pause.

• Technical glitches

Constraints / opportunities

“I joined because I wanted to learn something new. I enjoyed learning Blackboard when it came out and working with it with the first years. And Twitter I could incorporate something fresh in my courses because I get bored. […] I found that it isn’t just once a term but it is something that you have to set aside a lot of time to do it and that has been a bit of a stumbling block…”

This is your career! You care about your career — what do you do to make sure you keep on learning? In academia if you are serious about your career you have to keep on learning, it is just a given. Part of how we are learning, and how we learnt in the past, is we would attend courses, we would go to conferences, and all I am saying is we do exactly the same, we are still doing it. The only difference is I don’t now go to Pretoria to attend the course, I sit and watch the course on a webinar. Instead of physically going to the conference I block the time, I sit on Twitter and follow it, or via Connect I’m following it. For me to say I don’t have time, it shows a lack of understanding of how the world has changed and how this is not additional too, it is the very core.

One of the things that I realise now that time is so constrained for me is that you prioritise. I have choices, it is handy to say I don’t have choices. If someone tells me I don’t have time, what you are saying is that I am not prioritising this. And I am saying that is just soo stupid! It’s your career!

1. make time

I think it’s a very easy excuse to say you don’t have time…its a matter of priorities, if you value teaching, or if you value professional development, then you make time for this, but people will always have an excuse of time…I also think it goes through stages, sometimes you just don’t have time, what I like about a Twitter chat, if you can’t be there right now you can go back and read the Twitter chat or you can come in and out as you have time. But I think time is often a handy excuse for I don’t really want to or I’m not really interested.

It’s got to do with attitude as well, I know. Teaching at UJ, doing my PhD, there isn’t time …and I could easily say I don’t want to participate because I have enough on my plate. But at the end of the day, if you want to grow you must make the time. You know there is time, maybe prioritise in a different way. […] And with being in the #ujhtl it is the most convenient way to be able to do other stuff as well as participate.

Does participation in a CoP get taken into account for your performance appraisal? It does get taken into account, but let’s be honest, it is the articles that count… It’s all about the publications and sometimes I feel I must let go of the workshops and prioritise in order for my research. Because at the end of the day that is what counts… There is an imbalance in the way which it is structured, but because my personal principle is to be both a good teacher as well as a good researcher.

What I try to do is put it in my diary very early that I know that space is for our discussions. People have different visions of where [my unit/department] should go, and you have that kind of not objections from others, but you don’t have their support. But you kind of hope that they see the value of it in the end, and realise that in order to achieve those outcomes there are different ways to get to work.

There seem to be this busy-ness, all too busy to do anything else but their lecturing and their marking. And other people are saying it is unfair of UJ to expect them to do extra and to do more than what they are already doing. For me there aren’t really clear boundaries of this is — work, leisure and family time, for me it is all integrated and for me I don’t have a problem with that. But for a lot of the staff I work with, they say ‘Sorry I am just not prepared to do that. When I leave here at 5pm I don’t want to be bothered with emails and work-related stuff.’ So part of their professional development they see as work-related stuff. There is no way that they are going to make time for that in what they consider their private space. And I think that is a barrier for many people. And then this thing of being comfortable with technology. There is so many of the staff that I’ve come across that fear the technology and they also feel, why do it, they have been managing without it for so long and they don’t see the need to use it.

2. get others to value this kind of pd

3. Student numbers the issue?• Both core & marginal participants raised large classes BUT core

participants did not see this as a barrier per se

Source: http://www.cowart.info/blog/uploaded_images/NY-Half-Full-772603.jpg

4. tech glitches

The technology can be constraining but for the group, having the problems is fine. If we want to use it for our students you need to understand. We are here at UJ, how can I use it here, and if I struggle with it the whole time then I must know this is what it is going to be […] for me that is what #ujhtl must push us: to be much stronger in pushing others in the university on faster wifi, faster Internet, more data. So, I value our own group’s tech problems; it’s a wonderful opportunity to think of how I can actually use it for etching and learning with students. For me it is a value.”

Technology hasn’t been such a barrier, once or twice here it was difficult connecting. I think connecting issues are really a good excuse online, no-one can ever really blame you. It is legitimate especially in this country, but it can also become a kind of dog-ate-my-homework excuse, the connecting issues.

We try and keep the momentum going, although that is not always easy. But the nice thing about this space [#ujhtl] is that it is a fluid space, nothing is cast in stone. Even the platforms we are using; if the one is not working we move to the next. And it has been really valuable to try these new platforms and see. Because in theory it actually looks fantastic but when you actually do it and you experience all these technical glitches and challenges, then you can actually see this won’t work in that context, it will actually work better in another context.

5. Doing, rather than talking

We talk too much, we don’t do enough. We can actually try to implement more what we discuss.What are we trying to change? I find sometimes we repeat a lot of stuff.

[Has #ujhtl enriched your teaching] “It hasn’t, it’s enriched my thinking, made me more aware what my teaching is lacking, but I can’t say that I have come across an idea that I managed to developed, that I tried to implement, that I sought advice on that I gotten back over the #ujhtl format, that I troubleshoot with people. That is what I was expecting and that is because I committed an hour a week. And I didn’t commit to another two, three hours a week, implementing those, ideas, following through on those ideas and that is my own deficiency.

The value for me is the structured-ness of it, I know every couple of weeks I will be having discussions on teaching and learning. And the other value for me is that the context is similar…the South African context. …For me the big thing is useful is to relate the ideas…to our own context.

6. isolated to teaching pd?

As an academic or as a [subject expert] I think I have two jobs. I connect #ujhtl with the lecturing thing, not the [subject content] side of thing.

For me professional development is for the lecturing side; it is things that we have been doing…such as assessment workshops…conversations…ethical questions, balancing sensitivities

Conclusion• Both core and marginal participants indicate similar

constraints; what is different in one group that allows them to ‘make’ time & value PD in this manner?

• Accept change as a natural / given • “concern with disruption, here defined as ‘adopting a stance of

questioning, challenging and critiquing taken-for-granted ways of doing things in higher education’ (Quinn 2012:1)”

• Participants see PD as ‘necessary’ / core to their practice as academics, especially regarding etching and learning • Doing this without any acknowledgement, credit or compensation • Research-teaching nexus • Use of open platforms: wider PD & power of lurking

Source: http://www.socialsciencespace.com/wp-content/uploads/join-or-die_smallified.png

Source: https://jennymackness.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/a-complex-landscape.png

acknowledgements• Ferman T 2002 Academic professional development practice: What lecturers

find valuable. International Journal for Academic Development 7(2): 146-158

• Mishra P & Koehler MJ 2006 Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record 108(6): 1017–1054

• Mostert M & Quinn L 2009 Using ICTs in teaching and learning: Reflections on professional development of academic staff. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT [Online] 5(5). Available: http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=860

• Quinn L (ed) 2012 Re-imagining academic staff development: Spaces for disruption. Stellenbosch: Sun Press

• Wheeler S 2014 Digital learning futures: 3 things you should know about the future of learning. Available at http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/digital-learning-futures-3-things-about-future-learning