How do you best support colleagues to achieve their fellowship status through the institution’s Professional Recognition Team? This is a question that rolls backwards and forwards within our team. A nice little wicked issue, right? Wicked in the sense that there are many grey areas and design knots to unpick within such a dynamic environment. Should we split categories up for support sessions or is there a beauty in seeing breadth of practice and interaction across the UKPSF? Is there something to be said about timing support in relation to need- that “just in time” training. We see individuals across the spectrum of readiness for writing up their practice- from pre-contemplation stage right through to requiring final editorial input. Then there is the age old conundrum of matching up expectations from candidates with the capacity of a service or indeed (yes, sounds pompous….) but delivering support that achieves results rather than what is comfortable. That final comment relates to knowing when to stop giving advice pre-writing and supporting a person to start and continue.
Ping…COVID-19
Like most learning provision we’ve had to pivot our offer. We had planned this year to begin developing a more blended approach to supporting fellowship based on the assumptions above and feedback from our communtiy. The wholescale, cross-institutional shift to virtual provision however meant our slow and planned entry to online support had to pick up pace. We had several face-to-face workshops that needed a revised format and so with 2 days to prep we were running writing sessions and 1:1 support via MSTeams. Two months down the line we are ready to pause and reflect.
Manipulating MSTeams for Fellowship Writing Session?
We were keen to keep hold of the various activities we use in the face to face workshop that help participants surface appropriate fellowship material and promote writing productivity. We also needed a space that would allow some participants to join a “scheduled” workshop but also be welcoming to those who needed to dip in and out or enter the space when their calendars allowed (we were really aware that many colleagues wishing to write up their fellowship were also frantically supporting learners in significantly different formats).
We used the posts to serve up the activities that help individuals progress their writing. See examples below;
Notice the colour-coded step number? That was our workaround as the order of posts changes when people reply- the forthcoming pinned post facility might help with this. We also repeated the colour-coding through our agenda to help with navigating the activities.
Posts contained a series of activities (sometimes linking to narrated powerpoints, prepopulated padlets and our fellowship biteables). The activities then lead onto our NTUwritenow format which involves a series of pomodoro writing bursts. Whilst the participants can work through the activities at their own pace we do intersperse the writing throughout the day with optional drop-ins using the “meet now” facility. During these drop-ins we encourage participants to share progress and practice whilst facilitating discussion about the place of pedagogy, CPD and impact within a submission.
And so….
Yeah I know it is only fellowship (yes…professional development and recognition of good practice is important) but this model of capturing learning from the healthcare context is helpful. Here’s how our pivoting leap onto online is influencing our NTU fellowship support.
End– the complete social distancing perhaps but really we haven’t needed to put in short-term measures that haven’t found themselves being adapted for long term gain.
Amplify– Blend, blend and blend again! Going forward our new practice will include MSTeams-based writing sessions with synchronous and asynchronous opportunities. The feedback we have received suggests colleagues like choice, in terms of medium, pace and delivery. The ability to step on, join in, silently or vocally engage, park and return to fellowship via MSTeams are all pluses. No surprise there, just that the benefits of blended learning are emerging in fellowship support. The peer exchange is working well and so is the feeling that participants are supported through the process. The teams channels are now tangible destinations where a participant can track their progress through a navigable path and also meet other travellers on route! – something we weren’t necessarily achieving on our VLE space. However within the channels we are also able to repurpose and re-serve material we have stored on our VLE using the tabs.
Let Go– Dependence on face to face is high up there. But so is rejecting the idea that the pursuit of fellowship is a lonely/ solitary endeavour. We have been struck by how collegiate it can be, the sharing of learning and teaching practice alongside the sharing of “how I am doing this fellowship thing” has been tremendous.
Restart– MSTeams is a find for our scheme support but spending time with colleagues on their campuses alongside their students, classrooms/labs/etc is not only really pleasurable but also brings to the fore the diversity of teaching across NTU in a much more visceral way. This is important knowledge so we don’t loose touch with the variety of teaching and learning modalities and continue to ensure our scheme is inclusive.
It would be great to hear how other schemes are adapting their support offer through lockdown and beyond. You can engage with all things NTU Fellowship by following @NTUTilt #NtuWritenow
NTU Fellowship Community 