Introduction
This blog post is about a recent experience within the Economics and International Business (EIB) department where we effectively mobilised collective knowledge and shared practices during the transition to online teaching amid the Covid-19 crisis. It is the story of how the Business and Economics Education (BEE), a series of sessions spontaneously grown into what could be referred to as a Community of Practice (CoP) raised to the challenge of providing a virtual space for colleagues to meet and share experiences, knowledge, support, and concerns, and inform plans within the department, the faculty, and the university.
History of the BEE
The BEE are a series of two hour monthly departmental sessions, which started in September 2018, which considers various aspects of our teaching practice. Some examples include how we can best engage and support a diverse student population, reduce awarding gaps, and support colleagues’ scholarships in teaching and learning.
Professor Hawkes’s previous experience in the faculty of education is key in understanding the idea behind the BEE. The idea of sharing practices and reflective practice is common in education but far less so in Economics and International Business.
The BEE sessions looked at the Who, What, How and Why of our teaching. For example, with respect to the Who, we have run sessions titled ‘who are our students’ aimed at understanding the diverse student community we have in our department, where we also invited teachers and heads of school. In addition to acknowledging diversity, and to understand how we can become more inclusive, we have organised sessions on outreach, improving the induction, personal tutoring, and retention as well. We have had sessions on how to decolonise our subjects and embed deep sustainability into the curriculum, which has now spun-off into permanent working groups coordinated within the BEE.
The BEE sessions are attended on average by approximately 35% of the department (authors own calculation based on TEAMS data for this year), which is a remarkable success considering that some members of the staff are teaching at the time of these sessions. It is also interesting to note that many of those participating are colleagues highly active in research in their respective disciplines.
Covid-19 and the move to online teaching
On the 16th of March 2020, the University moved all activities online and on the 26th of March 2020 we were due to have our monthly BEE session. We pondered whether to cancel the session, given how overwhelmed everyone was by what was going on. In the end, precisely because of the uncertainty and anxiety that characterised the days immediately after the move online, we decided to use the session as a virtual space where colleagues could meet again and share their feelings and experiences of teaching online.
To our surprise, the session had the highest attendance we have ever had and participants were actively engaged. Evaluations of online practice as well as important suggestions for how to move forward emerged spontaneously in the session. This generated many ideas that formed part of the plans for online teaching in term three, also beyond the department. For example, we discussed how to record online engagement, the balance between synchronous and asynchronous activities, and the delivery and duration of online lectures to ensure inclusion. It was a dense session, full of examples from actual practices across diverse and levels of study, from the large MBA to the smaller but highly heterogeneous UG programmes. It became apparent how, despite the different online teaching experiences we were having, we shared a commitment to our students, an ability to reflect on our practices, and mutual respect and trust. The latter, the element of trust, is crucial, as real sharing only happens when it feels safe to do so. It is perhaps because of this that the session also provided a space to share concerns about the immediate and long-term impact of the move to online teaching. It emerged clearly that the challenge of online teaching went beyond the technical aspect that was the immediate institutional concern.
Opening the BEE
Following the success of the first online session, we decided to organise one for all faculty colleagues teaching in term three. For this occasion, we also invited colleagues from GLT (Greenwich Learning and Teaching), who proved invaluable in answering the many questions colleagues had and in providing advice on how to move from online delivery to online module design. This was not the first time we had opened our BEE sessions to colleagues in other departments, but it felt quite different in a virtual environment and prompted us to reflect on the nature of the BEE. It seemed to us that over time the BEE had spontaneously mutated into more than just a series of monthly seminars, and into a Community of Practice (CoP), as it shared many of the characteristics that Situated Learning Theory (Lave and Wenger, 1991) recognise as essential to a CoP, namely (i) the active involvement in the practice (this distinguishes a CoP from a Community of Interest for example); (ii) the fact that the term ‘community’ implies also a social rather than merely a cognitive process; (iii) the development of trust being key in enabling the transfer of tacit knowledge. The last two points perhaps explain why it felt different when we opened the BEE to other departments.
Does the BEE help to promote inclusion within our diverse department?
It is important to stress that in thinking of the BEE as a ‘community’ we do not imply a homogeneous group, but one that respects and values each member’s diverse contribution. This matters because an important question to consider is whether the BEE has supported inclusion for staff. An anonymous survey to participants revealed that the BEE has provided a welcoming space for everyone and a sense of belonging, especially for colleagues who do not have an affiliation to a research centre.
Another important aspect that promotes inclusion is that the focus of the BEE is on practitioners’ development. This shifts the emphasis from the ‘outcome’ to the ‘process’, away from KPIs and towards the creation of a space for experimentation and reflection, where ‘making mistakes’ is seen as an integral part of the development process. This can be very liberating in the context of the marketisation of the Higher Education sector, where the performative element has gained so much prominence. A final interesting aspect of the BEE that further supports inclusion is its democratic nature and dynamic aspect in terms of boundaries and what is discussed, as these evolve with its members. All colleagues are encouraged to propose sessions they would like to see happening and to organise, lead, chair and present in the sessions.
Conclusions
We believe that the BEE has been, especially during the difficult move to online teaching amid the Covid-19 crisis, an example of how collective knowledge held by academics can be mobilised effectively and be a powerful force for change, by informing decision-making in a moment of high uncertainty. The BEE is also an example of how the sharing of individual experiences benefits the individual as well as the group (and the institution), especially at a time of isolation and anxiety. It also shows how important it is to provide a safe space for staff to share, and to feel valued and trusted. This helps with feeling emotionally supported, which is also crucial for good practice. As we prepare for a future of uncertainty and to address society’s grand challenges through education, we believe that something like the BEE could deliver important benefits. Work is already underway to collectively organise new BEE sessions for the next academic year.
Blog Authors
Dr Sara Gorgoni
Associate Professor
Department of Economics and International Business
Greenwich Business School
Prof Denise Hawkes
Professor
Department of Economics and International Business
Greenwich Business School
References
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991), Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.