PREDAC (Professional Educational Development of Academics)
The rationale for the PREDAC programme has always been to induct new staff members into the Teaching and Learning culture and practices at SU at both an institutional and faculty level. In an attempt to align the PREDAC programme more closely with the institutional context as emanating from the most recent official SU documentation, a new PREDAC model is implemented in 2019. This revision of PREDAC is in line with the aim stated in the revised Teaching and Learning (T&L) Policy, namely to promote the professionalisation of academics in their teaching role, and the scholarship of their teaching practice.
The revised T&L Policy also states that teaching practice is constituted through a mix of various modes of delivery, ranging from face-to-face to fully online. Aligning PREDAC with the shift in 'education paradigms' (SU Vision 2040 and Strategic Framework 2019-2024) the envisaged redesign of PREDAC will have a blended approach allowing for lecturers to experience the enabling and constraining aspects of such a learning environment.
The new PREDAC model will guide lecturers on a reflective journey through their own teaching and who they are as teachers, towards formulating their own teaching philosophy and ultimately towards the start of a teaching portfolio. PREDAC 2019 consists of seven phases over seven months (April to October). Phases will include face-to-face and online sessions, presented in and across faculties with a focus on reflective, contextual and scholarly teaching and learning. CTL advisors will facilitate the process and will be available for support throughout the phases. Group work and peer feedback form part of the design.
The following design principles underpins PREDAC:
· Reflecting: on own being and becoming a reflective practitioner;
· Contextualising: teaching and learning principles in module design;
· Connecting: with knowledgeable others to create a professional network;
· Engagement: in a community of peers to create mutual support;
· Collaboration: with peers to refine module design;
· Sharing: with peers by giving, receiving and responding to feedback to enhance professional growth.
The seven phases of PREDAC:
1. Teaching Perspectives Inventory –Individual phase - April
Participants complete an online questionnaire to determine their orientation towards teaching. This is followed by personal reflection tasks on SUNLearn.
2. The storyboard of your module –Intra faculty phase - April to May
Participants unpack the teaching, learning and assessment of their own modules in a visual way. This will take place in faculties and online. Participants will comment on each other's storyboards online and meet with the CTL adviser in the faculties to reflect on and discuss this process.
3. Designing learning opportunities – Inter-faculty - 22 May at STIAS
Participants will discuss how students learn and how to design learning opportunities. They will interrogate their modules and design learning opportunities to address areas of concern.
4. The blueprint of your module – Individual - July to September
During this phase participants will write a vision for their modules, in faculties and online. Participants will access electronic resources on outcomes, assessment, constructive alignment and threshold concepts to assist them in creating a vision for their module.
5. Teaching and learning context –Inter-faculty - 9 September STIAS
The sessions will take focus on how context (discipline, department, faculty, institution, national and international) influence Teaching and Learning. SU institutional documentation will form the backbone of the sessions.
6. Design for learning (DfL) – Intra-faculty - August to October
Participants get the opportunity to work together to redesign an aspect of their modules, implement it during a class and obtain feedback from students about the learning opportunity. This phase culminates in the design of a poster.
7. Poster presentation – SoTL conference - October
Participants attend the annual SoTL conference and present their findings of phase 6 as a poster presentation at the conference.
Participating in an optional phase after October would allow PREDAC participants to finalise the compilation of their teaching portfolios in order to apply for an SU teaching award or promotion based on their teaching.
The new PREDAC model includes assessment which would allow for it to be registered as an official SU short course.
Please contact the CTL advisor in your faculty if you have any questions.
