Where have all the students gone? Developing capacity and competence in online teaching and learning

Where have all the students gone? Developing capacity and competence in online teaching and learning

With a move to a ‘digital first’ paradigm in pre-service teacher education, university academics are being required to reinvent the way they approach pedagogy as they move from on-campus to online delivery. In this chapter, the author explores how his notions of capacity building have developed and changed within his role as online technology pedagogical support mentor. As technology has changed the learning and teaching landscape, so too have the needs of the academic staff within this regional university’s education faculty. These changes in turn have required a shift in the leadership provided by the author as the ways of developing capacity have become more complex, moving away from lower order problems such as ‘how do I?’ to higher order issues such as ‘how might I best?’. Sustainability of the role has seen it change from that which merely provides support to one which endeavours to build group capacity through sharing, allowing those who take part to better cope with change as the learning environment evolve to keep pace with technology. Leadership is an essential part of the change process and transformation leadership is explored as a style potentially well suited in this context. The author then puts forward strategies to further build the skills, knowledge and practices of academics as they teach in online environments within the constraints of university policy and ways of working.

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