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This webpage provides suggestions on how to decide on a course structure, select a teaching strategy to support learning goals, and create a schedule. The guidelines present various alternatives for academics to consider, most of which are supported by references from the literature on teaching and learning. This ensures that the recommendations are authentic and will assist academics in their planning.

Ideas for CPD interventions
This resource could be used to review existing courses or develop new courses. It would be especially useful for inexperienced academics.

The resource offers an excellent, concise overview of the Constructive Alignment theory and should be compulsory reading for all academics. It also contains some examples of how to organize assessment tasks to align with Bloom’s higher order thinking skills.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
Ask academic staff to devise a set of assessments that align with different learning objectives e.g. recall, interpret, apply, create and evaluate for a course they are running.

This resource provides a good introduction to both formative and summative assessment.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
The reading provides educators who do not have an education background with an introduction to assessment and how it can be used to measure and/or reinforce course objectives. Ask academic staff to devise a formative assessment that would work in a class they are offering.

Summary of what to consider when aligning assessment with the course objectives.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
A great activity would be to turn the reading into a rubric with criteria to determine if any course has correctly aligned the assessment strategy with the course goals and objectives.

The article suggests that academics collect and analyse data on the effectiveness of their courses early in the course’s deployment. It offers some valuable advice as a case study of Eberly Centre. It suggests the types of questions that can be asked and provides the user with some logistical questions to consider.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
The resource could be used to encourage faculty to devise their own feedback loops in their course, ideally attempting to emulate what happened at this centre. It also begs the question ‘Does my own institution have a unit that would help me collect early course feedback data?’ and if not, what are my other options?

This article describes at a high level why it is important to have students assess their own learning. By extension, the results can inform your course design or course revisions. It is well argued and shows some of the ways you might collect the data.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
Can be used as independent study material or as background reading for a CPD intervention focusing on alternative assessment approaches.

A short web resource that provides hints on creating an inclusive online learning environment.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
This can be used as a discussion document in workshops on online learning. Participants can use the resource to reflect on how the hints can be used in their own contexts.

Useful short chapter resource on what blended learning is and how it takes place. Chapter backed by 8-minute video clip (accessed via a QR link).

Ideas for CPD Interventions
Excellent introduction to the subject. Encourage staff to read on their own and then find an opportunity for them to unpack as a collective.

This chapter will help academics to align their assessment strategies using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Ideas for CPD interventions
The downloadable assessment alignment handout is useful for creating an assessment strategy and pathway, aligned to the Bloom’s Taxonomy and learning outcomes. Encourage staff to complete the form with their own department or unit in mind. Is the current alignment skewed towards ‘comprehension’ rather than the higher order thinking skills, or not?

This short web resource clearly differentiates between formative and summative assessments. It is a one-minute read.

Ideas for CPD interventions
This is a background resource for a larger CPD activity. It can be used to provide background reading or act as a reference.

This module in the course and downloadable e-book is for academics to learn about providing feedback or feedforward and assessing performance.

Ideas for CPD interventions
The module can be used by individual academics as recommended reading or in a formal tutorial setting where participants discuss their perspectives on the chapter’s content.

This web resource is centred around three articles on the topic of providing feedback. The first looks at providing ‘’prioritized, descriptive, constructive, timely and actionable feedback’. The second looks at how you might use technology, specifically audio, to help you provide feedback, and the third looks at evidence-based best practices.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
The three articles could be divided up among staff and then a spokesperson identified, per article, to provide the feedback to the wider staff. Encourage discussion.

This encyclopaedia entry provides a definitive definition of the term authentic assessment.

Ideas for CPD interventions
This is a background resource for a larger CPD activity. It can be used to provide background reading or act as a reference.

A short article on how authentic assessment is being integrated into Irish higher education. It has some useful infographics that demonstrate the range of different ways authentic assessment is being used.

Ideas for CPD interventions
This would be a great case study that provides actual examples of how authentic assessment is being integrated into higher education. This could then be used to ask if anything similar is being implemented by faculty, or if for specific ‘pure’ faculties this is very difficult to do.

A virtual Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of individuals who share a domain of interest about which they communicate online. The practitioners share resources (for example experiences, problems and solutions, tools, methodologies). Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain. A virtual learning community may involve the conduct of original research but it is more likely that its main purpose is to increase the knowledge of participants, via formal education or professional development. Virtual learning communities could have learning as their main goal or the elearning could be generated as a side effect. Virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities are becoming widespread within higher education institutions (HEIs) thanks to technological developments which enable increased communication, interactivity among participants and incorporation of collaborative pedagogical models, specifically through information communications technologies (ICTs) They afford the potential for the combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication, access to -and from- geographically isolated communities and international information sharing. Clearly there are benefits to be derived from sharing and learning within and outwith HEIs. There is a sense of connectedness, of shared passion and a deepening of knowledge to be derived from ongoing interaction. Knowledge development can be continuous, cyclical and fluid. However, barriers exist in virtual CoPs and these are defined by the authors and illustrated with quotes from academic staff who have been involved in CoPs. Critical success factors (CSFs) for a virtual CoP are discussed. These include usability of technology; trust in, and acceptance of, ICTs in communication; a sense of belonging among members; paying attention to cross-national and cross-cultural dimensions of the CoP; shared understandings; a common sense of purpose; use of netiquette and user-friendly language and longevity. The authors recognise the enormous potential for the development of CoPs through e-mail discussion lists and discussion boards but have themselves experienced the difficulties inherent in initiating such a community. These are corroborated and illustrated with text from interviews with academic staff. Much of the literature on CoPs emanates from outside Europe, despite the fact that e-learning articles have a large diffusion around Europe. The authors suggest further exploration of this topic by identifying and studying CoPs and virtual learning communities across EU countries. Additional author: Fontainha, Elsa

This is a series of blogs on Communities of Practice written by Nancy White a regular keynote speaker on the conference circuit and expert practitioner. The blogs are fun, but give a really good idea of setting up and managing CoPs.

This report presents a support framework for higher education institutions (HEIs) to open up education. This framework proposes a wide definition of the term ‘open education’, which accommodates different uses, in order to promote transparency and a holistic approach to practice. It goes beyond OER, MOOCs and open access to embrace 10 dimensions of open education. The framework can be used as a tool by HEI staff to help them think through strategic decisions: pedagogical approaches, collaboration between individuals and institutions, recognition of non-formal learning and different ways of making content available. Contemporary open education is mostly enabled by ICTs and because of this, there is almost limitless potential for innovation and reach, which in turn contributes to the modernisation of higher education in Europe.