What is this GDTE?

The GDTE or Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education is a qualification that lecturers at Otago Polytechnic are required to work toward. On its information sheet, the programme's stated aim is: 

"to develop capable tertiary teachers who are personally effective, future-focused and able to practice sustainably. Graduates will be able to design and facilitate inclusive learning in the tertiary cultural context in which they will be practicing. Graduates will design, develop and deliver high-quality learning experiences using a variety of approaches, reflecting on professional teaching practice, for the purpose of supporting improved learner outcomes".

Other key phrases that it mentions include:

• study flexibly
• stimulating programme
• relevance to teaching context
• a way to study that suits work schedule and family responsibilities
• a way that appeals
• experience-based learning
• critically-reflective
• explore trends
• evidence from research
• future-focused
• effective teaching practice
• inclusive learning 
• practice sustainably
• design, develop and deliver high-quality learning experiences
• supporting improved learner outcomes

In addition, our collective agreement states in section 7.1 that:

"the employer has to provide ongoing professional development opportunities and support for staff members . . . [to] facilitate staff members continuing to develop their competencies as educators as well as specialists in their own subject areas". 

If that is true, I have no problem.

BREAKING NEWS: I have just learned that two GDTEs are offered at Otago Polytechnic, and they are quite different! But wait, there's more. Wendy Dore claims that they are one and the same. BTW Anne, welcome to the party!

How well does the GDTE match me?

It makes sense that teachers ought to be qualified, and it is sensible that all teaching staff engage in ongoing training. These are sound principles with which I totally agree.

I trained as a secondary school teacher in 1980. I have accumulated four decades of varied teaching experience. I was first employed at Otago Polytechnic in 1997, over twenty years ago. This month (February 2021) I turned 64, a year away from retirement, should I opt for that. Therefore, my being asked to complete the GDTE at this stage of my career strikes me as odd.

At a projected 1200 hours, the full GDTE is no mean undertaking. It represents a huge project, hence my need to weigh it up: Is it worth doing? In terms of credits toward another qualification, I'm not interested. The thing needs to be inherently meaningful to me. If it is, I would do it.

So let me break the bigger question down into three parts. First, is the GDTE worthwhile for me? That is, is it useful and interesting to where I'm at now? Second, will my engaging in the GDTE help my current batch of students? And third, will the GDTE prove worthwhile in the future for both parties?

I require positive answers to all of the above before proceeding. Basically, I'd like to make the GDTE work for me. I'm looking for a way forward, a way to proceed. In short, I'm looking for a fit.

Areas of concern

After previously (2018) been involved in the fiasco known as NCAL and then a week ago attending my first GDTE workshop (Learning in a Digital Age) on Friday, 12 February 2021 three main areas of concern became apparent to me. I'll break them down into Time, Individuality, and Relevance. I shall outline each separately, after which I'll consider what remedial action might be taken.

Time

The full GDTE is expected to take 1200 hours to complete (for 120 credits) if done properly (and I am not willing to pay it lip service and do just the minimum). For me, doing it on a part-time basis means 10 to 17 hours per week or two hours per day. This is a large chunk of time, especially when I am also teaching (0.6) and have a young family.

It would use up my free hours for creativity, constrain me, divert time and attention away from my students, and occupy me for 2 years. Two years at this stage of my life is a lot. (David Bowie didn't reach 70!)

Individualization

The GDTE has been put together by someone or some group with a generic trained tertiary teacher in mind. Its learning outcomes are not, therefore, tailored. For me to work toward them unquestioningly would not make sense. 

For example, the Learning in a Digital Age module highlights practices about referencing, copyright, and blogging, all of which I have dealt with in the past. There are much better learning outcomes that I should be addressing.

The GDTE course is detailed and prescriptive. Beyond having a limited number of electives to select from, and the choice of doing it over 1 year or 2, it is effectively set in stone. It is text-heavy and left-brain-oriented. I made a deliberate choice almost 50 years not to become immersed in the trivia and minutiae of disconnected facts but rather keep my eye on the bigger picture (right-brain versus left-brain thinking). 

Thus, my image of a trained tertiary teacher is very different from the one that the GDTE seems to assume. I do not have an interest in mainstream academia and am never likely to. Just as Edward de Bono doesn't reference in his books, that is not my habit either.

Relevance

If the GDTE has me undertake work that isn't relevant to my area of work, then I'm wasting my time. Therefore, I insist on a say in the learning outcomes that I work toward. I won't allow myself to become distracted by 'busy work'. Everything that I do needs to produce benefits for my students and me.

Proposed solution

The GDTE's goal and manner of reaching it do not align with my own plans and manner of learning. They are at variance with my core values and beliefs, and for me to be constrained to follow its framework would put my mental health at risk. I guard my headspace jealously, and so I refuse to submit to what I regard as having my thought processes hijacked. Another way to express this is that I value autonomy.

Since the GDTE is a generic course that does not suit my particular situation, the most obvious solution is for me to do it on my own terms. The GDTE needs to be tailored to fit my needs and, since I know myself best, I propose to do that tailoring.

I have no problem with the 5 Graduate Profile Outcomes and am confident that I can create my own pathway that achieves them.

Alternate learning outcomes

A personalized GDTE with learning outcomes that I would consider worthwhile, relevant, and important, and from which I would select, might include:

1. Identify the key principles of right-brain language learning
2. Construct a rationale for comparing the relative difficulty of different languages
3. Convert Krashen's theoretical acquisitional framework to create a practical, universal solution to language acquisition
4. Compile the best right-brain learning principles 
5. Identify the best principles of a wide range of online language-learning tools/platforms
6. Demonstrate in person the application of my research by learning Te Reo Maori (input only) within 6 months
7. Document the above acquisition journey in an ongoing blog on Tuhono
8. Survey the reluctance of students (and teachers) to experiment with right-brain techniques
9. Devise a set of instructions in English that help students learn English (the bootstraps conundrum)
10. Develop the best Asian language dictionary