Author: Cath Fenn, c.a.fenn@warwick.ac.uk

JISC e-Learning Activity Area: Learning Resources and Activities

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine

This case study illustrates...staff support, an effect on learning, an effect on student personal development, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, an influence on educational research, staff satisfaction with e-learning, staff personal development, a positive effect on recruitment, a positive effect on retention, an influence on policy, use of resources, modifications to learning spaces, management of learning assets

Lessons Learned

Summary and Reflection

Bringing staff together as a team provides a supportive environment. Additional support online using the tools that also support the students learning environment aims to promote familiarity and a gradual understanding encouraging team members to communicate on 'similar wavelengths'.

The team-based approach has opened up networking opportunities for colleagues and improved confidence levels. The investment in time has been considerable but the benefits of taking a strategic approach to staff development are already becoming apparent in the growth of collaborative (peer-to-peer) initiatives and the dissemination of outputs via the staff forum. In many ways the skills required of our staff and the pressures under which they work are similar to those of our part-time postgraduate students. We are in the process of planning student induction activities for the coming academic year with plans to include a range of online orientation activities using the tools showcased during staff development activities.

This is only the start of the journey.