Professur “Higher Education” an der Universität Bergen (Norwegen)

Prof. Dr. Wolff-Dietrich Webler hat einen Ruf auf eine Professur “Higher Education” im Department Education and Health Promotion (Faculty of Psychology) der Universität Bergen (Norwegen) angenommen. Der Dekan, Prof. Dr. phil. Arild Raaheim, hieß ihn herzlich willkommen. Die bereits erfolgte Pensionierung an der Universität Bielefeld hatte keine Rolle gespielt; allerdings ist die Mitgliedschaft in der Fakultät zunächst bis 2010 begrenzt. Die Amtszeit beginnt am 1. Januar 2007.
Für diese Zeit sind mehrere Projekte intensiver internationaler Kooperation und die Weiterentwicklung der Konzepte zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses geplant. Dabei soll auch eine Deutsch-Russisch-Norwegische Zusammenarbeit auf den Feldern der Hochschulforschung und Hochschulentwicklung begründet werden.
Die Aufgaben in Forschung und Lehre und insbesondere im Curriculum zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses lassen sich so bündeln, dass nur eine periodische Anwesenheit in Zeitblöcken erforderlich ist, ähnlich wie bei Weblers seit 1999 andauerndem russischen Engagement und seiner Ehrenprofessur in Jaroslawl.

Teil des Steering Comittee und Koordinator im Projekt NETTLE (Network of European Tertiary Level Educators)

NETTLE is a European Union funded Socrates Thematic Network. In its first phase (as a project), NETTLE is looking at approaches to the development of educational skills in tertiary level education teaching staff, across Europe. Especially, it is exploring the scope of Initial Entry and Continuing Professional Development for tertiary level (higher education / university) educators. The project aims to produce guidelines and a reference framework for skills development. This means to develop evidence-based European-wide academic frameworks within which to equip tertiary level educators with the competencies and skills necessary to provide effective and validated support for learners. It is hoped this will promote mobility through mutual understanding and recognition of educational skills, and act as a catalyst for building educational skills development. NETTLE grew out of the challenges presented by the Bologna Declaration and associated developments, and will contribute towards the development of a European Higher Education Area by 2010. It aims to promote mobility, European cooperation in QA, the European Dimension in HE, and Lifelong Learning.

Nettle, in it´s first year, has a three year work plan covering the collection and synthesis of information from across Europe, culminating in the evolution and dissemination of frameworks and guiding principles. The continuation plan for NETTLE is to link with established organisations working with professional educator skills, to produce an accreditation / mapping framework which will allow educators and institutions around Europe to have common reference points. These could be used to facilitate movement of established and new teaching staff between institutions and countries. Major outputs from the project will include a review across Europe of the provision and needs, and associated Reference Frameworks to give guidance in Initial Entry Professional Development.

In its second phase it will be a network of those interested in the development of tertiary (higher) level educator professional skills. NETTLE was established with a core of funded partners from a mixture of backgrounds. Non-funded partners are welcomed to contribute to all aspects of NETTLE, and if contributing to data-collection activities will be given access to the growing information resources and related on the web site.
The work of the project is organised into four main themes, as indicated by the Thematic Groups (TG, see below).

Thematic Group 1 (TG 1): The Policy Context of Educational Development
The activities of this group will be directed at enhancing understanding of the various influences that shape tertiary level educational development, nationally, regionally and locally, and of current pressures and issues. These are of critical importance in seeking to scope the competencies and skills required of tertiary level educators. Although some of the information can be sourced from public documents and web sites it will also be necessary to access key individuals within institutions in order to obtain a richer picture. A robust structure for reporting will be developed to facilitate the making of comparisons and the identification of similarities and differences.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Aniko Kalman, University of Debrecen, Hungary

TG 2: Policy and Provision for Initial Entry Training of Tertiary Level Educators.
This group will establish the nature and extent of national, regional and institutional policies. Some of the information may be available at national level but it will also be necessary to tap more local sources. Particular attention will be given to the extent to which curricula are competency based, as well as approaches to entry level educational development; modes of assessments; current trends; major influences; any drivers for change; and current issues and concerns. The content and coverage of competency-based schemes will be of considerable interest since these will serve as a precursor for establishing the generic and subject-specific competencies for the academic frameworks.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Arild Raaheim, University of Bergen, Norway

TG 3: Policy and Provision for Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education.
In some respects continuing professional development (CPD) presents a greater challenge, since there are almost certainly greater national variations in policy and practice between institutions and subject areas. It is unlikely that this kind of information has been collated before, especially in such a comprehensive way and achieving this goal will be a particular challenge. We anticipate that the group will highlight various trends and issues that can then be pursued through some kind of progressive focusing. As in the case of TG2, the ultimate goal will be the identification of generic and subject-specific competencies.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Wolff-Dietrich Webler, Bielefeld Institute for Research on Science and Education, Germany

TG 4: Accreditation and Quality Assurance/Enhancement.
This group will gather data on which to base a synopsis of the various accreditation agencies, procedures and policies for tertiary level education that currently exist in member countries and the hurdles to be overcome to facilitate moves towards mutual recognition of qualifications and professional membership arrangements for tertiary level educators. It will also investigate quality assurance arrangements for initial and continuing professional development, with account being taken of current issues and drivers.
Coordinator: Vicente L. Francés Francés, University of València, Spain

A major objective for NETTLE is to evolve Reference Frameworks which can support initial entry training and on going educational skills development, of those working within Higher Education. The frameworks alone could provide direction at an institutional level, but if the aspirations of the Bologna Declaration are to be achieved, there also needs to be wider understanding and recognition of the educational development processes and standards. There is such cultural and academic diversity across Europe that this is no small task. For NETTLE to make a really useful contribution we believe that in evolving the frameworks we also need to consider how we might inform and attract the interest of national bodies.

These frameworks should include:

• guiding principles - e.g. reflective practice, action learning, research led teaching, European perspective, lifelong learning;
• content and learning outcomes - e.g. general and subject specific competencies relating to theories of student learning and motivation, small group teaching, approaches to assessment, facilitating skill development and level descriptors e.g. for Cycles 1 to 3 educators;
• learning resources - technical and human;
• delivery methods - e.g. workshops, viedeoconferencing, mentorship, peer observation, cross-national projects, open and distance learning, e-learning;
• quality assurance processes - e.g. external review, internal audit.

Primary aim of NETTLE is to develop European-wide academic frameworks within which to equip tertiary level educators with the competencies and skills necessary to provide effective and validated support for learners.

Its objectives, over a three-year period, will be to:

• draw on work undertaken by the working groups of the Tuning Project to establish the pedagogic traditions and trends and associated approaches to learning, teaching and assessment at the tertiary level in each of the participating countries;
• carry out a needs analysis of the competencies and skills required of tertiary level educators;
• research and compare existing provision to meet these needs, both on entry to the profession and subsequently, and to identify any significant gaps;
• establish academic frameworks within which to meet these requirements, taking account of the current ability of European technical and human resources to support the frameworks and to make recommendations for future developments;
• develop an online community to foster communication and collaboration, and to aid data gathering and the formulation of frameworks; and
• devise a strategy for building on the achievements beyond the end of the project.

The major outputs of the project over a three year period (2005-2008) will be made available in a minimum of four languages (English, German, French, Spanish).

Steering Commitee:
Dr. David Baume, Consultant in HE, Great Britain
Vicente L. Francés Francés, University of València, Spain (Coordinator Thematic Group 4)
Prof. Dr. Anikó Kálmán, University of Debrecen, Hungary (Coordinator Thematic Group 1)
Prof. em. Dr. Victor de Kosinsky, Brussels, Belgium
Prof. Dr. Arild Raaheim, University of Bergen, Norway (Coordinator Thematic Group 2)
Dr. Paul Riddy, University of Southampton, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Great Britain, (Chair)
Prof. Dr. Wolff-Dietrich Webler, Bielefeld Institute for Research on Science and Education, Germany (Coordinator Thematic Group 3)

The NETTLE project was initiated by Paul Riddy, head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the University of Southampton, UK, and is co-ordinated by the Centre. It involves around 40 partners from most European countries. For more information please look at the NETTLE web site: http://www.nettle.soton.ac.uk:8082

Contact:
Rebekah Musuku: R.C.Musuku [@] soton.ac.uk, tel +44 (0)23 80595331, fax: +44 (0)2380592651, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Building 2, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, U. K., http://www.nettle.soton.ac.uk:8082/GenDoc