Train the Trainer of University Teachers

Building effective professional development for university teachers

In the past decade, more and more universities started to invest in educational quality by training their teachers. Many of these trainings correctly focus on student-centred learning. However, in our own practice and in research about professional development of university teachers we see that this is often a bridge too far, as in the experience of the teacher should be taken into account. The needs of university teachers seem to be on different levels than what is often taught and should be taken into account when designing training activities.

In this course we will discuss the current state of affairs of research on professional development of university teachers and what this means for training of these teachers. Throughout the week participants will work on the actual design of their own professional development activity, through the following topics and activities:

Academic development – focusing on the professional development of didactic staff
Needs analysis of university teachers in your institution
Professional development programmes
Designing with impact - focusing on principles to take into account when designing professional development activities.
Analyze and select effective training skills.
Evaluation, to research whether the aims of professional development activities were achieved.

Working methods will be group discussions, individual reflection, presentations and design activities. This culminates into a final design product/assignment of your development activity.

Practical information

Dates	1 – 5 July 2024
Location	Groningen, the Netherlands
Level	Practitioners
Fees	€ 1000, which includes lunches and refreshments
Academic coordinators	Rick Huizinga & Irene Douwes-Van Ark
Contact	ESI Summer & Winterschools, ESISummerWinterSchools@rug.nl

Requirements

This summer school is designed for Educational developers, Teaching and Learning Staff, Educational Support Staff, Teacher Trainers of University Teachers. Participants should be involved in teacher training of University Teachers, and have foundational knowledge on effective teaching in universities.

It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.

Course schedule

Monday: Academic development – focusing on the professional development of

didactic staff
Introduction
Explanation of ESI as an organization and its programmes
Formulation of personal learning objectives
Explanation of Akerlind and Van Dijk’s framework
Reflection on own personal development
Reflection on the development of teachers in the institution

Tuesday: Needs analysis of academic / didactic staff

What do teachers of your institution need? (-> possible pre-school activity!)
Which stakeholders do you have? What do you and they need? How to reach out to them?
Explanation of the ADDIE model (analyze, design, development, implementation, evaluation) -> Analyze!

Professional development programmes:
What kind of professional development activities are there?
Case-studies
How to promote self-efficacy beliefs in professional development activities?
Example of training: how to activate students in your classroom?

Wednesday: Designing with impact - focusing on principles to take into account when designing professional development activities, to make sure that the impact is high and will last

What does an effective professional development activity look like
Explanation of the ADDIE model (analyze, design, development, implementation, evaluation) -> Design!
Participants will start creating their own activity

Thursday: Evaluate, analyze and select effective training skills. Which and how can these be applied to your own context?

What does an effective trainer look like?
What are some core elements of effective training? (e.g., introduction + closure, learning outcomes, activate participants, case-studies)
What are your strengths and weaknesses as a trainer?
Specific training methods, e.g., storytelling, blended learning
Practice with training competences

Friday: Evaluation – aim to learn how to evaluate activities, to research whether whether the aims of professional development activities were achieved + mini-case studies

Evaluation with the Kirkpatrick model. What do you measure (satisfaction, learning results) and when?
Examples of evaluation (questionnaires, observations, etc).
Participants will start making a plan for their evaluation.
Mini case studies!

Learning outcomes

After this course you will be able to:

1. Describe how academic teachers develop.

2. Select professional development activities based on the needs of teachers in your institution.

3. Design a professional development activity specifically for your own institution

4. Apply effective training skills for your own context.

5. Evaluate a professional development activity

Workload

Preparation: 10 hours
Lectures: 36 hours
Presentation: 4 hours
Final Design/assignment: 8 hours

Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 58 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS so in this case, 2 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.

Participants who successfully complete the summer school (including the assessments) have the possibility to obtain a Proof of Competence (digital credential) to acknowledge participation and engagement with the content. Participants who qualify for a Proof of Competence can obtain a digital badge via the EduBadges platform managed by SURF— the cooperative of Dutch education and research institutions. The digital badge is stored on this platform and contains metadata, making the content, learning outcomes, study load hours and language of instruction of the educational activity clear and transparent. The digital badge is therefore verifiable and can be shared on, for example, a CV or LinkedIn.

Application procedure

To apply, kindly fill out the online application form. Please note that you will be asked to upload the following documents:

Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
Motivation letter, clearly stating why you want to join this summer school, what you will bring to the school and what you hope to learn (max. 1 page)

Apply now!

Application will be done on a rolling basis and registration will be on a first come, first serve basis.

The deadline for application is 10 June 2024.

Last modified:

22 May 2024 12.56 p.m.