International Higher Education Teacher Award ^2024/25

The innovative aspect of the learning design “Blog to Grow” was to support knowledge sharing with peers, experts, and researchers in the field of human resource management outside the study programme as a means for professional competence development. Students were encouraged to develop a sound and safe online identity. They were introduced to the basic mechanisms of professional online communities and had the chance to develop and test their online identity in a safe space. The learning design followed a highly individual, learner-centred approach, allowing students to choose how much and in which way they want to share their experiences, reflections, and their knowledge with others. An important aspect of the learning design was that students were able to gain first-hand experience of the benefits of sharing knowledge online for their professional competence development, but also self-marketing and employer branding activities. In terms of instructional design, the learning design was based on a backwards-design approach, ensuring constructive alignment through agile implementation of the learning design. Intended learning outcomes were identified and suitable learning activities were suggested and continuously, collaboratively adapted to the students' prior learning experiences and learning progress. Step-by-step, students were introduced into an online, asynchronous communication culture. The main outcomes of the participative learning design: * All 19 students reached the intended learning outcomes * More than 100 tweets commenting on the blog carnival on Twitter * Approx. 550 views at the public blog carnival website between December 2019-February 2020. * All 19 students started a blog and published their first blog post. Some of them made it accessible to the public, others decided to share it with selected individuals. * 14 public contributions to the blog carnival: 8 blogposts were contributed by students who decided to share their blogposts with the public and 6 blogposts were contributed by external experts and professionals in the field of HRM. * Based on the popularity of the #PKNM10 blog carnival in the online HR community, learning coach Isabell was invited to speak at a face-to-face event of the XING HR community in Vienna. Isabell presented the learning design "Blog to Grow" and its relevance to HR. The face-to-face event was a possibility for the students of the online study programme to meet their peers and other HR professionals.

Methodology

An agile approach of instructional design was applied, including 4 phases (based on the Successive Approximation Model by Allen & Sites, 2012): 1) Analysis of target group and educational context: The instructional designer gained information about and empathy for learners of the module with the support of the study programme manager. The broad educational objectives and delivery modes as laid out in the curriculum as well as the context of the module within the curriculum were identified. 2) Development of learning design prototype: The instructional designer defined intended learning outcomes based on the information gained in phase 1 and identified cognitive levels according to Bloom's revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). She developed suitable learning activities and chose digital tools to meet the learners' needs based on cognitive levels of intended learning outcomes as well as based on scaffolding as laid out in Gilly Salmon's 5 Stage Model. The instructor identified a suitable assessment method interlocked with the method of blog carnivals. She identified assessment criteria and made sure that students have various possibilities how to participate in “Blog to Grow”. The instructional designer ensured that the learning outcomes, learning activities, and assessment methods are aligned and relevant to the students’ individual learning pathways. 3) Adaptive implementation of learning design: Introducing students to digital tools and platforms together with a technician, introducing students to chances, challenges and rules of online knowledge sharing for competence development and HR (Waycott et al., 2017 and Oltarzhevskyi, 2019), discussing intended learning outcomes and suggested assessment criteria for the final assessment, collecting formative feedback of students to further elaborate the learning design (activities and learning resources), giving immediate feedback on learners’ progress based on learning evidence shared in the messenger service Mattermost, hosting the public blog carnival via WordPress, engaging in online discussions with online communities of interest and communities of practice, involving students into discussions, students published blogposts and they gave and received feedback. 4) Summative evaluation: Evaluation of learning based on assessment criteria, collecting feedback on learning design through quantitative survey as well as through qualitative feedback of students about their learning progress in the module based on an entry in their online learning diary, collecting feedback by HR professionals during the Xing Puls HR event in Vienna, using collected feedback to further improve the learning design. Methodology of blog carnivals: A blogger starts a blog carnival with a blogpost about a topic or an issue to be investigated. In the case of our learning design, a topic connected with the intended learning outcomes of the course was chosen, addressing the relevance of blogging and social media in HR. The host of the blog carnival shares this blogpost inviting to the blog carnival on social media, using hashtags to attract relevant communities of interest or communities of practice to participate. People can contribute to the blog carnival by writing a blogpost about the topic of the blog carnival on their own blog. After publishing, they share the link to their contribution at the comment section of the original blog carnival blogpost published by the host. The original blog carnival blogpost for “Blog to Grow” can be accessed here: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2019/11/22/pknm10-blogparade-soziale-netzwerke-blogging-und-hr/ After the blog carnival deadline in January 2020, the blog carnival host summarized all contributions and shared the outcomes of the blog carnival in a follow-up blogpost: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2020/01/31/pknm10-hr-blogparade-im-ruckblick/ Furthermore, the host showed her gratitude to the contributors of the blog carnival by sharing the links to the contribution on Twitter using #PKNM10. This way, the blogposts were further promoted and discussed online. All in all, more than 100 tweets were published on Twitter using #PKNM10.

Tools, equipment, technology used

The instructional designer aligned digital learning activities and digital tools with intended learning outcomes and assessment methods. She used various digital tools and platforms: * Mattermost: An online messenger service for internal class discussions. Mattermost has similar functions like Slack or MS Teams. In the pre-Covid19-times of Nov 2019-Jan 2020, when the learning design was implemented, these kinds of tools were rather unknown and a novelty to students. * Articulate rise: An authoring tool, which was used to develop an interactive coursebook. * Podcasts: The learning coach recorded a podcast episode to introduce herself and her approach to blogging, working-out-loud and LLL, furthermore also other popular HR podcasts were introduced as good practice examples in the interactive coursebook. * YouTube: YouTube videos were embedded into the interactive coursebook to provide a variety of different media for learners. * Blogging and ePortfolio platforms (WordPress and Mahara): Students were advised how to make an informed choice of blogging platforms. The blog carnival was shared via WordPress and promoted through social media. * Social media: Mainly WordPress, Twitter and Linkedin were used for promoting the blog carnival. The hashtag #PKNM10 was used to share the discussions with others online.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The main outcomes of the participative learning design: * All 19 students reached the intended learning outcomes * More than 100 tweets commenting on the blog carnival on Twitter (#PKNM10) * Approx. 550 views at the public blog carnival website between December 2019-February 2020. * All 19 students started a blog and published their first blog post. Some of them made it accessible to the public, others decided to share it with selected individuals. * 14 public contributions to the blog carnival: 8 blogposts were contributed by students who decided to share their blogposts with the public and 6 blogposts were contributed by external experts and professionals in the field of HRM. * Based on the popularity of the #PKNM10 blog carnival in the online HR community, learning coach Isabell was invited to speak at a face-to-face event of the XING HR community in Vienna. Isabell presented the learning design "Blog to Grow" and its relevance to HR. She collected feedback from HR professionals on the topic and the learning design for further improvements. The face-to-face event was a possibility for the students of the distance learning study programme to meet each other as well as professionals in the field of their study.

Lessons learnt

My most important lessons learned were that opening the course and inviting external professionals to the course has great advantages: * "Social proof": Students understood the value and the relevance of the course topic and course assignment since also external professionals were highly interested in it. * Various levels of "openness": To stir conversations, it needs private class discussions as well as open discussions with external contributors using the hashtag #PKNM10. * Adult learners have rich prior learning experiences, and the module gave them the possibility to make their knowledge, skills, and competences visible. They felt understood and seen, as their prior knowledge was relevant for the learning activities. * If you give, you also get back: This rule applies to knowledge exchange online and it once again proved itself during the implementation of the learning design. Furthermore, I learned that the following aspect were crucial for the learning progress: * Scaffolding learning experiences step-by-step, including a suggested work plan how they could organize the flexible module activities helped students to find their own way of interacting and contributing to the course at their own pace. * The learning coach needs to act as a role model for working-out-loud, online networking and competence development through social media. * Some students were very skeptical regarding the use of social media at the start. Sharing information online with strangers for competence development or self-marketing can be intimidating for novices. The learning coach solved this problem by introducing the messenger service “Mattermost”. It is a private, safe space for the learning community of the study program. Students were able to get acquainted with mechanisms and functions like hashtags, emoji-reactions, tagging, commenting, integrating media content into postings, etc. but were not forced to register at a public social media platform. * The workload for students was perceived to be higher than expected. The digital competence of students varied, and some students needed more support than others. Together with the technician, we responded to this need by providing additional webinars and individual coaching sessions. * The interactive course book with its multimedia education resources like podcasts and YouTube videos was a great way to guide students step-by-step. Other thoughts for future implementations of the learning design: * “Blog to Grow” opens the module assignment to adult learners outside of the study programme. In the future, it could be offered to assess these learning artifacts by external participants validated, so they could receive ECTS (e.g. micro-credentials) * The topic of the blog carnival was determined by the instructional designer and learning coach, but for future implementation, the learning coach could develop the topic together with the students. * Adding a voluntary face-to-face event, like it was the case with the Xing Pulse event in Vienna, is a great chance for students to meet each other and to have a chat in person. In the future, a similar event could be integrated as a planned element in a hyflex learning design.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

Blog carnivals can be easily adapted in various disciplines to involve external experts in the discussions of a module. Important prerequisites are: * It needs a basic blogging platform (e.g. Mahara or WordPress, but basic blogposts could also be written on LinkedIn, Padlet, or blogger) * Not forcing students to make their blogposts public * You need to find a unique hashtag for the blog carnival * You need to identify relevant hashtags for the online communities in your field * You need to introduce students to basic mechanisms of working-out-loud using social media for competence development * The topic of the blog carnival needs to be tailored to the intended learning outcomes of the course * The topic of the blog carnival needs to be relevant for professionals in the field, something they can easily relate to and share their experiences about * The lecturer and/or learning coach needs to act as a role model in social media and blog carnival host Advantages of the learning design involving blog carnivals are: • Students further develop their digital competences (especially also in the culture of online knowledge sharing). • Students work on their professional online identity in a community in their field. • Students learn how to verbalize their knowledge, skills, and competences. • Students learn how to communicate their ideas to a broad audience. • Students gain empathy for online readers. • Students get first experiences on working-out-loud. • Students learn how to measure their impact in social networks. • Students enlarge their professional networks.

Promotion of best practice

Naturally, the learning coach promoted the learning design and the blog carnival on her researcher blog as well as on social media using the hashtag #PKNM10. Great outreach and impact in the German-speaking HR community were achieved, which lead to an invitation to the face-to-face meet-up of the Xing Pulse HR Community in Vienna. The learning coach was invited to speak about the learning design, the blog carnival, and its results in front of approx. 100 HR professionals. All in all, the learning coach wrote 4 blog posts about “Blog to Grow”: • A blogpost for hosting the blog carnival: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2019/11/22/pknm10-blogparade-soziale-netzwerke-blogging-und-hr/ • A blogpost with a look-back on all blog carnival contributions as well as summarizing the content further discuss the original topic of the blog carnival: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2020/01/31/pknm10-hr-blogparade-im-ruckblick/ • A blog post about the presentation at the Xing Puls HR event: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2020/02/19/wieso-ins-virtuelle-panopticum-3-grunde-wieso-es-sich-lohnt/ • A blogpost with a look-back on the learning design of “Blog to Grow”: https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2020/02/11/blog-to-grow/ All in all, the four blog posts were viewed more than 1000 times. Furthermore, the blog carnival was promoted in 14 different individual blogs online.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• National level
• EU/EHEA/International level

“Blog to Grow” had an impact on the course/department level as I implemented results from my research projects into the learning design and exchanged ideas with the study programme manager. I was introduced to lecturers from other modules, who were interested in the approach of blog carnivals. The learning design had an impact also on a national level, as I was invited into the Viennese community of HR professionals (Xing Puls Event) even though I was a newcomer in the field of HR communities. The impact of “Blog to Grow” was not restricted to Austria: Various Germans also contributed to the blog carnival. A bond between higher education and the world of HR practitioners in organizations was developed, which led to fruitful discussions and a lot of positive feedback. All in all, I need to emphasize at this point, that the impact mostly affected connections to practitioners and the economy to successfully connect theory and practice in this study program for academic continuing education.

6.1 Digitalization

• Outstanding, innovative, excellent practices of online / blended / hybrid learning
• Innovative, novel methodology in using digital tools/devices in teaching
• Digital skills development and assessment both general and profession-related, embedded in course design, in teaching and assessment
• Digital scientific sources used in T&L
• Data security and responsible digital presence embedded in learning outcomes

Reasoning: "Blog to Grow" is an example of how to introduce students to the world of online networking and knowledge sharing by contributing to a blog carnival. Students were prepared to develop their first blogposts through an interactive coursebook and various activities to support competence development. Through the introduction of this kind of knowledge-sharing culture, a learner community was established at the start of the fully online study program. Students developed digital & disciplinary skills.

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6.2 Internationalization

• Outstanding practices of international online collaborative learning
• International projects/research results embedded into course development and T&L

Reasoning: "Blog to Grow" was designed for a learning community in a fully online study program. Students were geographically separated in different parts of Austria and Germany. Furthermore, also the external participants of the blog carnival were living in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland. Results from the TEMPUS and the ApprEnt project were applied: Developing constructive alignment, writing transparent learning outcomes, mentoring for professional competence development.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Inclusive course design, universally designed divers activities to meet special students' needs
• Innovative teaching methodology for inclusion and meet diverse student needs

Reasoning: The learning design was tailored to the diverse needs of adult learners with full-time or part-time jobs and care-work responsibilities in their families. Diverse student needs were met through a flexible learning design, which included individual coaching sessions when needed and establishing trust and rapport between the learning coach and the students.

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6.4 Sustainability

• Special courses reflecting to UN 2030 Sustainability goals, Green Deal - mini-courses, microcredentials

Reasoning: "Blog to Grow" addresses the UN 2030 sustainability goal No. 4 "Quality Education" as it opened the higher education module to practitioners and experts in the field outside of the university, encouraging them to participate in a blog carnival (basically an assignment) hosted in the context of a university course. Often, adult learners are unaware of the depth and variety of their prior learning. "Blog to Grow" gave a chance to get in touch with higher ed, and to see that they could fit in.

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Isabell Grundschober	isabell.grundschober@donau-uni.ac.at	https://isabellgru.eu/index.php/2019/11/22/pknm10-blogparade-soziale-netzwerke-blogging-und-hr/