Everyday CPD

"I had no idea that counted as CPD!"

(Valerie Rumbold, Department of English, Birmingham University, commenting on her work over a two-year period to work with a team of colleagues in designing a completely new syllabus for the BA English programme.)

In our jobs as professional academics we are constantly encountering new demands and challenges. Meeting these challenges, often in collaboration with colleagues, gives us experiences and opportunities to acquire new knowledge. By building into the process some evaluation and critical reflection work, we can make the most of these opportunities to develop our professional expertise, and by getting into the habit of doing this our CPD becomes truly embedded and ongoing.

Examples of everyday CPD opportunities

Here is a list of the sorts of  ‘everyday’ professional activities that may provide you with opportunities to extend your experience and develop new areas of knowledge and expertise in teaching and learning.

• Teach a course that you have not previously taught.
• Develop a new course (Programme, Module, short course etc) or revise an existing course.
• Integrate a new component into a course (web-based learning, project work etc.).
• Enhance student learning via technology, critical thinking, experiential learning etc. (see ‘Beliefs about Learning’ on this website).
• Promote attention to and respect for diversity (in course content, methods, etc.)
• Document and assess student learning within a course/set of courses.
• Develop new methods, or improve existing methods, of assessing students’ work.
• Create teaching development materials for department/programme use.
• Research on teaching and learning.
• Encourage interdisciplinary/cross disciplinary connections through teaching for other departments or schools.
• Be an active member of a department, school or university teaching and learning committee or group.
• Contribute to the development of a learning and teaching strategy.
• Contribute to widening participation, recruitment and retention activities.
• Participate in University learning and teaching conferences and colloquia.
• Promote dialogue and leadership among colleagues around an existing teaching need/concern.
• Engage with colleagues in other universities, HEA Subject Centres (UK) etc on learning and teaching issues.
• Act as a mentor to new colleagues.