Emerging strategies for a sustainable approach to professional development

Abstract

Recent elearning trends in higher education are unleashing non-traditional professional development strategies. Employing a pragmatic approach to research, an evolving evidence-based practice within an Australian university is examined to establish a set of guidelines for sustainable professional development practices. A combination of traditional and non-traditional professional development strategies are described and staff participation and strategic impacts are analysed. Whilst current initiatives demonstrate good practice in terms of approach, strategies, contexts, content, and quality indicators, incumbent challenges include a demonstrated preference among staff for traditional workshops, voluntary participation which contributes to uneven elearning development, and the absence of formal follow up on transferability of skills and impacts. The study concluded that a purpose driven, multi-dimensional professional development approach that is embedded across all layers of the organisation advances sustainability. Six design principles are proposed for the achievement of sustainability within a centralised professional development service at an Australian university.