P-OE - UniversitätsVerlagWebler

Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung/-politik
P-OE
Arild Raaheim
Initial entry training at the
University of Bergen, Norway
Arild Raaheim
1. Introduction
All new members of academic staff at the University of Bergen
have to sign up for a programme in order to achieve
what is called “basic pedagogical competence”, unless they
can document this from another institution of higher education
(Norwegian or international). This training was made
mandatory in 1990. The programme is quite comprehensive,
being equivalent to 20 ECTS credits, and has to be undertaken
within one year of employment. Two years if Norwegian
is not ones native language (there are special language
courses run by the University). The University of Bergen
has its own Educational Development Centre, which is responsible
for running this programme. The members at this
centre also serve as consultants to faculties and departments
in their planning of new study programmes, or in
other cases when there is need for pedagogical assistance
(e.g. open lectures/seminars, or individual counselling/coaching).
Ever since it was established, the Educational Development
Centre has been part of the Faculty of psychology. The centre
has 4 full time researchers and one adjunct professor in
a 20% position, and draws on administrative resources
from the faculty administration. The centre reports to a
board and to the dean at the Faculty of psychology. The
board is made up of representatives from different faculties
(5) and one representative from the Division of Academic
Affairs at the university. The board appoints an external examiner
whose task it is to control the quality of the educational
programme offered by the centre. The Educational
Development Centre pursues a model for the future in
which its staff is supplemented with 6 educational developers,
one from each of the six other faculties at the university.
These individuals will be regular members of academic
staff within their own faculty, but with a 20% obligation towards
the Educational Development Centre. This way the
centre may stay updated and be able to respond to particular
needs and demands of the different faculties.
The Educational Development Centre is provided with
names of all new members of academic staff by the university
administration. Upon receiving this list, a letter of invitation
is mailed to them all, inviting them to take part in
the programme. Dates and information concerning the programme
is provided in the letter of employment, and is also
available at the centres’ home page.
2. The programme
The programme is - as from 2006 - made up of several
units. One of these units – the basic unit – is mandatory.
This runs twice every year and is equivalent to 10 ECTS credits.
In addition, several smaller, optional units are offered
once or twice every year. These optional units cover a range
of different topics, and are of two different kinds;
(a) 5 ECTS credits and (b) 2.5 ECTS credits.
The Educational Development Centre has as its policy to
offer units equivalent to 30 ECTS credits at all times. In addition
to the basic unit, the following 5 ECTS units are at
the moment (May 2008) offered:
(1) information competence and learning,
(2) learning and assessment,
(3) presentation skills,
(4) supervision (master and phD).
A fifth unit – ICT and learning – is to be offered by the end
of 2008. Smaller – 2.5 ECTS units – are developed in cooperation
with, and on demand by, different departments
and faculties, covering topics like; plagiarism; course design;
the use of technology in teaching and the like. Thus,
there are three ways to earn basic pedagogical competence;
(i) basic unit (10 credits), plus two 5 credit units,
(ii) basic unit, plus one 5 credit unit and two 2.5 credit
units,
(iii) basic unit plus four 2.5 credit units.
Although the programme is meant for new members of
academic staff, others (older members of academic staff)
may follow one or more units of their choice (as long as
there are available places). Maximum number of participants
in the basic unit is 20. When it comes to the optional
courses, the maximum number of participants may differ,
depending on content and structure/way of organisation.
In the presentation skills unit, the maximum number of
participants is 8, as we rely heavily on video recording and
oral feedback.
3. Basic unit
In the basic unit we concentrate on three main topics;
(a) different perspectives on learning and teaching (the
“whats” and “hows” of learning and teaching),
22 P-OE 1+2/2008