Professional development for professional developers: Who’s learning about e-learning from whom?

Margaret O’Connell
Education Development Centre
Canberra Institute of Technology

Robyn Benson
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Monash University

Gayani Samarawickrema
Institute of Teaching and Learning
Deakin University

This paper examines the critically reflective approach of a group of academic support staff in the design, development and evaluation of an e-learning resource. The resource was a showcase of examples of electronic learning and teaching approaches developed at Monash University titled Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA). This paper does not focus on the resource itself, but rather on the critically reflective approach used, which drew on the features of participatory action research and was extended to include a participatory component in the evaluation of the site so that the outcomes of this process could be formally accommodated in data collection. The paper explores this critically reflective approach as a model for e-learning developers to monitor and progress their own professional development, engaging in collaborative dialogue to enhance their professional practice.

Keywords: teaching and learning strategies, educational paradigms, research methods and approaches, learning communities/collaborative learning, personalised learning