[This application, for the professional recognition then being demanded by the government, nicely summarises the depth of my teaching experience]

 

0321 ILT Application

 

 

Application for ILT Membership Part I

 

Please complete this form in electronic or paper format, keeping to word limits where specified. If you are using the paper version, please use continuation sheets as necessary.

 

Personal and contact details

Title  Mr                   Forenames or initials   David Steuart    Family name        Mercer
Job title I principal role       Senior Lecturer
Principal institution I Department    Open University Business School
Postal address  Walton Hall                           Milton Keynes                           MK7 6AA	Mailing address for correspondence (if different)
Telephone number 01908 232165 Fax number 01908 655898                           E-mail address d.s.mercer@open.ac.uk

If you work for more than one institution, please give details.

 

 

How many years have you been teaching or supporting learning?

25 years                                                                                                                   -

How many years have you been teaching or supporting learning in higher education?

12 years

 

Please list any programmes of development in learning and teaching (award-bearing or non award­bearing) that you have completed as a participant, together with the date of completion and the name of the awarding body, if applicable.

 

N/A

 

Please name any professional bodies or subject associations of which you are a member, together with your membership category and particular responsibilities where appropriate.

 

Chartered Institute of Marketing - member advisory panel on e-commerce education

Strategic Planning Society - chairman of Futures Observatory special interest group

Academy of Marketing - including refereeing papers

British Academy of Management - including refereeing papers

World Futures Society - chairman of the United Kingdom Chapter

 

  

 

Membership information

Your answers to the following sections will help us identify and plan services that will be helpful to our members. Your answers will not commit you and are not considered by accreditors assessing your application.

 

Please provide the names, addresses and full contact details of two referees, stating in what capacity they know of your professional practice.

 

Name  Richard Wheatcroft	Name  Geoff Mallory
Position  Masters  Programme Director	Position  Acting Centre Head
Contact address Open University Business School Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA	Contact address Open University Business School Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
Telephone number 01908 655888	Telephone number   01908 655888
Fax number   01908 655898	Fax number   01908 655898
e-mail address r.h.wheatcroft@open.ac.uk	e-mail address  g.r.mallory @open.ac.uk
In what capacity can this individual comment on your professional practice?	In what capacity can this individual comment on your professional practice?
He is the manager for my most important (MBA level) teaching programmes. As such, and in view of the extent of my experience,  he was provided with a copy of this completed application and simply asked to certify that the facts contained in it were a true record of my achievement s.	At the time of submission he was my acting (academic) line manager. As such, and in view of the extent of my experience,  he was provided with a copy of this completed application and simply asked to certify that the facts contained in it were a true record of my achievements.
Declaration
I declare that the information I have given is accurate to the best of my knowledge, and forms the basis of my application for membership of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.
Print name David Mercer            Signature                                   Date 25 August 2000

If you complete and submit the form electronically, you will need to print out the declaration sheet and send it signed with your references.

 

Please return this form to:

 

ILT, Membership Services, Genesis 3, Innovation Way, York Science Park, Heslington, York, YOlO 5DQ

 

If you have any queries about membership criteria and routes to membership, please contact Victoria Eaton on 01904 434244 or e-mail victoria.eaton~ilt.ac.uk

 

If you have any queries about the progress of your application please, contact Alison Robinson on 01904 434226 or e-mail alison.robinson(~ilt.ac.uk

 

For office use only

Date received                              Identification number                 Processed by:

 

 

The ILT anticipates that members will undertake professional development activities to enhance their professional practice and to remain in good standing as a member of the institute. CPD can be undertaken through conference attendance, formal training courses, mentoring, generic or subject-specific peer-group networking, directed reading and the like. These activities could be undertaken in the workplace or elsewhere, including through participation in I LT activities.

 

The following list is provided as a guidance of the kind of events programme the ILT Membership Services Team may wish to formulate in support of individual CPD requirements. Your preferred events and further suggestions will be welcomed in helping us to plan our activities. Please freely indicate what your preferences are. Analysis of CPD statements will inform the events programme formulated by the ILT Membership Services Team, and does not constitute a direct commitment by the applicant.

 

Introductory Advanced

                                                                                                                        level                level

 

Improving / diversifying assessment

Supervising research and project work

Combating plagiarism/cheating

Improving small group work

Improving lecturing performance

Enhancing workshop practice

Enhancing studio practice

Enhancing laboratory practice

Developing students’ key skills

Developing students’ information retrieval and research skills

Writing open and distance materials                                                                               √

Supporting the needs of diverse students

Using IT for assessment

Using IT in classroom teaching

Using IT to support lecture presentation

Promoting reflective practice

Promoting and supporting independent learning                                                           √

Getting your research published

Other (please specify)

 

Other (please specify)

 

Other (please specify)

 

 

Name		David Mercer Date 1 February 2000
For Office Use Date received			Only             Processed by            ILT reference number

 

 

  

Application for Membership Part Two: summary of experience

 

The purpose of this summary is to provide Accreditors with evidence of your experience and expertise as a teacher and supporter of student learning.

 

This application must be accompanied by two references from people who are in a good position to comment on your teaching and learning achievements, using the enclosed guidance notes.

 

You should provide them with a copy of Part Two of your application before asking them to write the references, to ensure that their references support this particular kind of application.

 

Wherever possible, you should include brief summaries of readily available supporting evidence, such as synopses of student evaluations, analyses of how your students perform, outcomes of peer observation, quotations from external examiner’s reports on your work and so on.

 

We expect considerable variation in the evidence different applicants provide. Complete the form using your experience as the focus of your summary. You do not need to use the maximum number of words and may wish to answer some sections more fully than others.

 

 

Teaching and the support of learning (500 words maximum)

 

Please indicate the range of teaching and learning support activities in which you are involved. Give examples of successful activities or techniques you use and comment on how you came to use them and why you think they are successful. Include proportion of time spent teaching/supporting learning, subjects and level taught, methods adopted and any special responsibilities you carry (such as Course, Programme or Subject leadership or Head of a Learning Support Unit).

 

As almost all of our students are taught at a distance[1] the teaching roles with the OUBS occupy a number of different levels - and the most important aspects of these do not typically feature in those of traditional universities (though they will increasingly do so). [Where this may pose problems for your accreditors, I have now added footnotes explaining the differences.]

 

Authoring - the basic role, however, is that of 'author'; creating the printed material[2] - along with the audio-visual and computer based elements - which represent the teaching sessions which students experience. As such, these are equivalent to the lectures given by traditional university academics[3]. The standard unit, of 20,000 words, is designed to be studied by a student over a 20 hour period.

 

Over the past 10 years I have produced several dozen such units[4], at all the levels from professional to post-graduate, including in particular the Certificate/Diploma and MBA levels, covering a wide range of subjects; including, marketing, market research, corporate strategy, long-range planning, operations management. I have made significant contributions to others in the fields of sociology, technology and politics - as well as computing. In addition to my main work on the MA(Marketing) programme, my most recent contributions, have been to the new Diploma and to the B825 (Marketing in an Uncertain World) MBA elective.

 

 

Critical Reader - another key role is that, as a member of a course team[5], of critically reading other authors' material; and contributing positive comments, and additional material, to this.

 

In this role I have contributed to more than a dozen other courses in the OUBS - at Certificate, Diploma and MBA level, over a range of topics which have included international marketing, research and knowledge management as well as those mentioned above - as well as some in the Social Sciences faculty.

 

Text Book Author - in a personal role I have also written a number of textbooks[6] which have been widely used - on courses covering up to 5,000 students a year - by other business schools, including the London Business School, and professional bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

 

 

Contribution to the design and planning of learning activities (500 words maximum)

 

Please identify the different ways in which you contribute to the design and planning of learning activities. These might include both involvement in the design or re-design of courses and programmes and identifying and planning different kinds of interaction with students in various contexts. Equally it might include indirect involvement through participation in validation panels, feedback to colleagues on team teaching or contribution to the creation of learning resource packs and computer-based or open learning materials.

 

In terms of planning and design:

 

Course Teams - take academic responsibility for the content of individual courses, commissioning the material and then reviewing this to ensure it meets the requisite academic standards[7].

 

My main role recently has been as the Chair of two key MBA course teams:

 

B851 (Future Marketing - MA (Marketing) course) - In terms of development of new courses, the key work of a course team, at the beginning of 2000 I brought to a conclusion 5 years of negotiation with the Chartered Institute of Marketing by successfully launching the new Masters in Marketing programme (due for first presentation in November 2000). As the key part of this new programme, the first named Masters launched by OUBS, I now chair the course team of the B851 course (Future Marketing, due for first presentation in November 2001). The initial second stage drafts[8] have now been received (from internal and external authors). The course is, in particular, pioneering the OUBS leading-edge work on e-commerce. We will also pilot one of the first electronic deliveries of a mainstream OU course (due for launch in 2002) .

 

B885 (The Challenge of the External Environment - MBA elective) - I previously launched the B885 (Challenge of the External Environment) MBA strategy elective, which broke new ground in addressing the wider external environment. To grossly simplify, it covered the social sciences and technology (the STEP factors) from a management perspective - a 'discipline' that had not been explored as comprehensively in any other institution. The course included many innovations, such as extensive use of computer conferencing and - especially - students working together as a team on a TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment); and it was commended, for these innovations in particular, by the HEFCE[9].

 

My external roles, in this case relating to traditional face-to-face taught post-graduate courses, have included:

Southampton Institute (1995-1999) - external examiner of its MBA (Marketing) and MA in Marketing Management

De Montfort University - validation of MBA (Marketing)

Luton University - validation of MBA (special routes)

Nene College - validation of MBA (Marketing)

 

Assessment and giving feedback to students (500 words maximum)

 

Please indicate how you give feedback to students (eg in writing, orally, as part of the supervision of research students). Please also describe the types of assessment you use with students, both formal and informal, including the variety of methods used (eg essays, unseen time constrained exams, portfolios, live critiques etc) and which approaches you use (eg tutor assessment, self assessment, computer-based assessment, group assessment). Also indicate how and why you choose the approaches and methods you use, in so far as this is your own decision, and to what extent, if any, you are involved in designing assessments. Describe how you try to ensure that the feedback you give to students helps them to improve and remedy deficiencies in performance.

 

Course Teams - also manage the subsequent assessment process[10], which is finally brought together by the award board which is chaired by the Course Team Chair[11].

 

My B885 (Challenge of the External Environment) course has been successfully delivered to more than 5,000 students. My role, as chair of the course team, includes designing and managing[12] the tutor-assessed part of the process - together with designing and monitoring the examinations, which has included the OU's first use of team assignments[13], and chairing the award board; as well as coordinating, and monitoring, the work of the 30 or so Associate Lecturers (ALs) who tutor it[14] and the half dozen Script-Markers who mark the exam papers[15].

 

Developing effective learning environments and student learning support systems (500 words maximum)

 

Please comment on the range of ways in which you contribute to making the students’ learning environment effective through such means as placement or project supervision, personal and academic tutoring, one-to-one advice, counselling, learning support in IT laboratories, laboratory work supervision, studio critiques, placement supervision, support of work-based learning, and information retrieval and management.

 

In terms of delivery of the face to face 'teaching' OUBS academic staff regularly run the residential schools for the various courses[16]. In addition there are:

 

Project Teams - on an ad-hoc basis, teams of OUBS academics may teach certain groups of students face-to-face; in exactly the same way, apart from support by the distance teaching material, that traditional university lecturers do.

 

My main contribution on this front was as Director of the OUBS project teaching members of the Council of Ministers in Ethiopia (including the President. My role included teaching, face to face, all the courses (apart from Finance) within the second stage of the MBA; as well as managing the team of senior OUBS academic staff who also supported the work there[17]).

 

 

Reflective practice and personal development (500 words maximum)

 

Please include here a brief description of the means by which you evaluate your learning/teaching support activities, and how you build on what you learn about your working practices. You should also refer here to any activities you have undertaken to update yourself on aspects of teaching and learning, including staff development activities or conferences on learning and teaching. Also include participation in projects to develop learning methods (eg FDTL, UMI, TLTP, or in-house activities in your own university) and reading, research and/or publication specifically related to your teaching.

 

Course Teams - the performance of courses is regularly monitored by OU research[18], and it is the ongoing responsibility of course teams to develop the effectiveness of their offerings; especially by developing new theory and, in particular, new teaching approaches. The B885 course team, led by me, have consistently pushed back the leading-edge of distance teaching; and was commended by the HEFCE for its work on this front.

 

The leading-edge work on teaching through electronic conferences was reported to various conferences[19]. In addition, as part of the development of the B885 course, I developed - largely through the vehicle of the Futures Observatory - significant new approaches to long-range planning. Along with a range of other developments, these have been widely published in a range of journals, numbering in total more than 70 publications[20], as well as coverage by all the broadsheet national newspapers and radio/TV.

 

Other information (500 words maximum)

 

 

As the first Head of the OUBS Centre for Strategy and Policy, I had management responsibility for the eight academics who then were full members of the Centre. This included responsibility for appraisal and workload planning, as well as negotiating, with Programme Directors, their participation on the various course teams and other functions/projects. As a member of the School's management team, I was also heavily involved in the general management activities of the School; including recruitment of academic staff. Since that time, as a member of the OUBS MBA Board, I have led a number of task forces and I am currently investigating the possibility of a post-MBA ('Fellowship') programme of life-long learning - which is being explored with a number of other leading business schools.

 

The Futures Observatory, which has been used to support the B885 course, is the major OUBS research project into future developments in society. Funded by a number of leading multinationals, and working in conjunction with the Strategic Planning Society, it has developed new research techniques, especially in terms of scenario forecasting, to build a 'futures' database of more than a million elements. This has resulted in publication of several dozen papers, and advice being requested from governments and international agencies. Indeed, outside of the OU, I have advised the European Commission, as well as UNESCO and the DTI, on future developments in Life-Long-Learning; as well as acting as a visiting lecturer at a range of postgraduate institutions - recently including the London Business School, Henley Management College and The Tavistock Institute - and delivering lectures on scenario processes and outcomes to a number of external audiences[21].

 

 

  

Declaration

 

I declare that the information I have given is accurate to the best of my knowledge, and forms the basis of my application for membership of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

 

If you complete and submit the form electronically, you will need to print out the declaration sheet and send it signed with your references.

 

Please return this form to:

 

ILT, Membership Services, Genesis 3, Innovation Way, York Science Park, Heslington, York, YOlO 5DQ

 

If you have any queries about membership criteria and routes to membership, please contact Victoria Eaton on 01904 434244 or e-mail victoria.eaton(ä~ilt.ac.uk

 

If you have any queries about the progress of your application please, contact Alison Robinson on 01904 434226 or e-mail alison.robinson(ä~ilt.ac.uk

 

For office use only

Date received                           Identification number             Processed by: