NorthTec hosts staff development practitioners

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Vasi Doncheva

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Nov 27, 2012, 9:18:13 PM11/27/12

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NorthTec hosted staff development practitioners from the north of New Zealand on November 9 to give them the opportunity to disseminate worthy practices and discuss common issues to benefit professional learning and ultimately the success of staff and students.

The attendees were from a network known as TASDEN, (Tertiary Academic Staff Development and Education Network) and represented NorthTec, Massey University, Manukau Institute of Technology, Unitec, Waiariki Institute of Technology, Waikato University and WinTec.

Eric Stone, the NorthTec convenor of the event, summarised the enthusiasm and motivation that practitioners brought with them stating, “The spirit of sharing and caring is well and truly alive with us all.”

Topical issues presented included: Moodle2 implementation for staff and students, a teaching modernisation and development programme, and improving staff workshop attendance. Best practice themes included: Learner and teacher in Te Ao Māori (including e-portfolio examples), academic staff induction process, contextualised models of professional development of staff, and on-going support for academic staff post initial tertiary teaching certification. Research findings discussed included breaking down the barriers in building teaching competence.

Participants rated the quality of presentation and relevance to their work as high, finding the most beneficial factors being the common interests and problems, sharing and networking.

Diana Ayling from Unitec said, “It was a real success and I have had great positive feedback. I think everyone learnt something from the day and we certainly connected together.”