Professor Sylvia Rodger

Capacity building

Purpose: To build curriculum leadership capacity within the occupational therapy profession nationally through a community of practice and personal learning networks.

 Development, evaluation and refinement of a curriculum reform framework  Development of evidence-based guidelines/ resources associated with this framework  ger ger  Development of a cadre of emerging curriculum leaders nationally who engaged in capacity building opportunities

 17 OT academics nominated by HOS from 15 HEI  7 webinars and 2day  F2F workshop  In or moving into leadership positions  Also used social networking tools

FocusFramework  Content focussed on each aspect of framework  Guest presenters in each area OT and HE sector  Discussions and questions  Leadership reflections

 Community –social fabric  Domain – common identity (emerging leaders)  Practice –the shared practice (curriculum leadership) (Wenger, Snyder & McDermott, 2002)

 Developed to focus on the Framework  ELN in pairs to develop a GPG  Other GPGs and exemplary Case Studies developed by ALTC Fellow  GPGs peer reviewed, edited and developed as hard copy and pdf for upload

 Increase in the number of ELNs coordinating a whole year level with significant and full responsibility 34% pre to 62% post.  Coordination of whole program 19% pre to 50% post.  Post - more responsibilities related to curriculum development, new roles such as course director, program coordinator.  New skills allowed them to discuss and engage in curriculum issues with confidence and a greater vision.

 Identifying key stakeholder groups, occupational therapy specific and other curricula, and curriculum drivers within their local context.  Identifying curriculum drivers external to their local university.  Developing processes for curriculum mapping and developing processes for discussing curriculum matters with their academic team  Own leadership capacity.

 Peer networking, support  Positive experiences of peer collaboration  Having the space and time to focus on curriculum development over one year  Resources developed  Sharing of expertise by Fellow, guests and peers.  Formed relationships with different faculties and TL communities within their universities. “Now you feel like you go to conference and you feel connected”

 informed their curriculum including planning and evaluation.  communicated and shared their learning with their colleagues.  new teaching and learning leadership roles (all)  increased interest in teaching and learning issues  2 undertaking Grad Cert HE  2 presented at conferences on T/L, attended T/L conferences for first time  Applied T/L grants for first time

 “Specifically its around curriculum evaluation. We’ve evaluated our course even after one semester and we’ve changed about 50% of it we think”  Gateways, capstone courses and learning theories, informing the orientation process, educational methods, philosophy and first year experience  “With the first years I’ve used the threshold concepts and have tried to focus on more kind of pastoral care issues. So those were the important things I picked up”

 Leadership in professional preparation founded on two pillars: ◦ knowledge and expertise in curriculum planning: development, vision, design, stakeholder engagement, mapping and evaluation ◦ capacity for leadership in the contemporary HE sector, with an understanding of contextual drivers and change management.  Modeling effective leadership is critical in developing leadership

 Have a successor!  Working with OLT funding OT Academic Leaders Network – Discipline Specific Network  OLT grants  School and Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee (chair), UQ  Major curriculum reform across OT, PT, SP, AUD at UQ.

 Rodger, S. (2011). Final Report. Building capacity among emerging occupational therapy academic leaders in curriculum renewal and evaluation at UQ and nationally. Strawberry Hills, Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.  Rodger, S. (2011). Good Practice Guides and Cases to Support Curriculum Development and Renewal in Occupational Therapy. Strawberry Hills, Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.  ational+therapy