SEDA special editorial

This special issue of Innovations in Education and Teaching International is comprised of articles written by presenters at the SEDA Conference held in November 2015 in Cardiff.

This journal is associated with SEDA (the Staff and Educational Development Association) based in the UK. Each year SEDA holds two conferences, one in May and the other in November. The second conference is traditionally targeted at a wider audience than simply educational developers. Both conferences attract mainly educational developers and are seen by many as an opportunity to network and build the educational development community. Since SEDA is based in the UK and the conferences are held there it is not surprising that most of the participants are themselves from the UK. However there is always a healthy smattering of international delegates. IETI is an international journal which attracts authors and readers from across the world. In the past the connection between IETI and SEDA has not been widely publicised.

When Gina Wisker and I discussed the possibility of a special edition of IETI based on sessions at the SEDA conference we were somewhat surprised to realise this had not happened in the past. This edition of IETI is therefore a first. It is not a full conference proceedings since the eight articles arise from a small selection of the many conference sessions. One of these is based on the inspirational keynote provided by Dilly Fung while the others are drawn from sessions.

Everyone who presented at the SEDA conference was invited to submit an article for consideration for publication. Each one went through the usual rigorous process of peer review. This process takes time as well as unpaid but highly appreciated work by reviewers. Usually once an article is accepted for publication it is added to the list of accepted pieces. Each issue of IETI draws articles from the list. The backlog of articles accepted for publication and the limit imposed by the space available in an issue can result in some delay between acceptance and publication. Fortunately we are now able to publish articles online as soon as they are accepted. In the case of the special we were able to publish the accepted articles a little quicker than usual as we had the space allocated for this issue.

I am delighted to be able to present this special issue. The eight articles address different topics all within the conference theme: the importance of using an evidence base for teaching and learning, with most of them focusing on aspects of professional development for instructors and all of them concerned with scholarly practice.

Dilly Fung starts this issue, as she did the conference with her keynote address. Her article – Strength based scholarship and good education: the scholarship circle – reexamines what is meant by scholarship in higher education. She argues that our understanding of the diversity of academic practice could be more subtle and nuanced allowing us to draw on the strengths of individual’s characteristics including their values, their strengths and their goals. Her call is at root a request for a closer relationship and valuing of teaching and research.

Baume continues Fung’s theme of scholarship as he develops a model that enables and encourages scholarly approaches in higher education. Using three examples to illustrate his argument he suggests ways in which scholarly practice can permeate our work in universities. It seems to be widely believed that we are and should be scholarly, however what this means in practice is less often discussed. Baume, like Fung, brings this discussion to our attention, as he discusses this both for academics and for academic or educational developers.

Both Fung and Baume discuss scholarly practice. Asghar and Rowe put this into practice as they explore reciprocity and critical reflection through a case study on social justice in service learning. They examine an example of service learning in a health care setting, in particular addressing the criticism that is sometimes levelled at service learning that marginal groups may be exploited for the benefit of student learning. Their model of ‘Converge’ brings together students and service users in a way which encourages reflection and challenges to established practices resulting in an experience that is meaningful for the students and is socially just.

The rest of the articles in this issue discuss a range of professional development approaches. Van der Sluis, Burden and Huet have investigated the effect of an institutional professional recognition scheme which supports instructors in gaining HEA accreditation on the wider institution. Their research suggests that the scheme has had a positive impact, in particular in encouraging reflection and reinforcing the importance of teaching. It is this kind of empirical research that is often lacking in our field, this is therefore a particularly valuable contribution.

A paper by Foxe, Frake-Mistak and myself argues for the use of a three day workshop popular in Canada where it was devised and 60 other countries, but unheard of, until recently, in the UK – the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW). In this paper we first describe the ISW and then explore reasons why this approach has not yet been embraced in the UK. We then provide arguments why and how we feel the ISW could contribute to teaching development in the UK and complement existing professional development opportunities such as PG Certificates in Teaching and Learning.

Turner et al. are also concerned with instructors’ continuing professional development (CPD). In particular they have examined this through the lens of students. Their study of students’ perception of teaching related CPD raises novel and thought provoking suggestions including ways in which students could be involved in these activities.

Smart explores the use of poetry to aid in reflective practice as a professional. She argues that reflection is often an individual exercise, but the use of what she dubs ‘poetic transcription with a twist’ enables participants to engage in reflection as a group activity. This approach is presented for general discussion and in particular with a view to educational developers using this as an approach to aid in reflective practice with colleagues.

Kell and Sweet also introduce a method called ‘dynamic visual notation’ which they use as a way to improve peer teaching and learning observations. The authors argue that this method enables observers to record non-verbal interaction, such as body language and eye contact. These are aspects of the teaching and learning relationship that are often ignored in conventional peer observation sessions. Having been recorded, they can then be discussed after the observed session. This is an exciting development which many will appreciate being able to add to the arsenal of tools available to assist in peer observations.

While this issue has taken 17 months to reach fruition, I am pleased to be able to share it with our readers. The range of articles is a mere snapshot of the SEDA conference. I thank the authors of the eight papers for their perseverance in engaging with the process to share their thoughts more fully and formally with the community.

Celia Popovic
[email protected]