Otago Polytechnic

The influence of staff development on the adoption of eLearning in the tertiary sector has been identified by a number of researchers. While different models of staff development are used in New Zealand organisations, it was unclear prior to this research which models helped staff develop capability and confidence in using new technologies for teaching. This article reports the findings of a project aimed at investigating the range of eLearning staff development models and their effectiveness in New Zealand tertiary education. The foci for the research were: the range of staff development models offered by a sample of New Zealand tertiary providers; how staff development models prepared academic staff for eLearning and the relationship to self-efficacy and why some models were more effective than others. A range of methodologies were used- focus groups, one-to-one interviews, questionnaires and case studies. Most participants had undertaken formal staff development of some kind, and all used a wide range of strategies for informal learning. The researchers concluded that existing formal staff development models were not regarded as adequate to assist staff to fully develop their capability and potential for eLearning, and many staff were engaging in a range of informal staff development activities