August 31, 2009 11:51 Age: 4 yrs
CFDL staff engages in in-house professional development workshops
CFDL staff at the professional
development workshop
On Thursday 20 August 2009, course development staff and English Language tutors at the CFDL attended the first of a series of 2-hour professional development workshops. The aim of the programme is to provide an opportunity for the staff to reflect on their profession and practice, to refresh and update on the theory, principles and disciplinary developments underpinning them, and to strengthen their capacities as teachers and professionals responsible for enabling and facilitating learning.
The first workshop examined the topic “The Teacher”. It began with reflection by the participants on their teaching professions and how the work that they did justified their claim to being teachers. The reflection unpacked a number of issues both discrete and integrated, related to the perceived and actual roles of the participants. The participants also noted that current developments in CFDL have required changes, extensions and additions to portfolios that have impacted their core responsibility of ‘teaching’ and best practice. In analyzing these changes, participants were able to distinguish between issues relating to their profession and those that related to workplace management.
The second workshop on Thursday August 27 focused on the Roles and Tasks of the Teacher/Instructional Designer in the Course Development Process. This workshop examined the broad roles of the participants in curriculum development and the various tasks that were required of them in these roles, utilizing their knowledge and expertise, to develop and produce a well-integrated and pedagogically sound course. In this workshop, participants (re)visited the curriculum, its various component parts and related development issues.
In workshops to come, and time being available, the professional staff of the CFDL will be critically evaluating and working in a hands-on approach to design appropriate learning objectives and outcomes, demonstrate effective teaching methods for various modes of study and develop constructively-aligned assessment tasks within the framework of select relevant theory and teaching models.
The first two workshops were highly animated and interactive, and participants brought a wealth of experience to stimulate discussion and debate. The momentum they have established will, no doubt, be carried over to future workshops.
The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Eileen Tuimaleali'ifano of SLS.
