Moodle's Little Helper: Making use of the Self-Determined Principles of Heutagogy to Support Academic Staff who are Learning to Teach Online

Abstract

Tailored professional development (PD) programmes assist university teaching staff to capitalise on the educational use of technology. To supplement on-campus PD support, staff at Avondale College of Higher Education developed a self-help online resource, Moodle's Little Helper (MLH), that has since become an integral and accepted component of the institution's PD landscape. Since Avondale's overall PD program is built upon the theoretical underpinnings of heutagogy (Hase, 2009; Hase & Kenyon, 2003), a self-determined learning theory, the purpose and nature of the resource also reflects the key principles of this educational philosophy. Adopting a utilisation-focused research methodology (Patton, 2011) ensured staff needs were identified and met within MLH 's customised content, homegrown style and iterative development. The outcomes from the first stages of the study provide commentary on how the theoretical principles of heutagogy can be employed to gain greater reach and efficiency when PD support is in high demand. MLH filled the gap between face-to-face PD sessions and provided customised, flexible access to just-in-time PD resources. However, the voluntary nature of engagement with the resource meant some staff received little or no benefit. Previously published as conference proceedings for ASCILITE Dunedin NZ 2014.