Application of Five Models of Academic Developer Practice to Develop Educators for Applied Learning

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to share the application of the Five Models of Academic Developer Practice (Popovic & Plank, 2016) in preparing strong educators for applied learning. In our case study, we share our application of the five different models, which include i) Grassroot, ii) Faculty-led, iii) Strategic, iv) Community Building and v) Research-led. Under Grassroot, regular lunch-time seminars and workshops are organised to draw best practices and development to different pedagogies for applied learning. Faculty members are encouraged to actively share their teaching practices and how they assess applied learning. For Faculty-led initiatives, support is given to organising trainings that are often discipline or programme specific. Under the Strategic model, we work with management to draft policies that affect teaching and learning, organizing faculty retreats, and creating opportunities for faculty to attend conferences that are aligned with our strategic directions for applied learning. As part of Community Building, several communities of practices are run regularly, either face-to-face or through online platforms. Through grants and support for research, scholarship of teaching and learning is ignited specific to applied learning. A comprehensive model enables the consideration of different approaches to reach out to academic staff from varying backgrounds, interests and needs. Instead of random topics, it is important to align our development efforts with applied learning methods that prepare students to be work ready upon graduation.