Yesterday I was a guest speaker at the Learning Innovations Network (LIN) Webinar on the topic "Does your lecturer need to be qualified to teach?". This followed on from my post on 7th March last when I commented about an article in the Irish Times - How Qualified is your Lecturer?
Image link to LIN website. |
This was the first time I had taken part as a speaker in a webinar. I must say I enjoyed the experience. I shared the "platform" with Shannon Chance who is Associate Professor of Architecture at Hampton University - the session was chaired by Kevin O'Rourke of DIT. There were about 25 people attending - I hope they found the webinar interesting. My piece starts about 20 minutes in.
Most discussion was about teaching qualifications for third-level lecturers. Many at the webinar did have teaching qualifications. I sat on the fence as far as the need for having a PhD is concerned - "Yes", I think lecturers should have PhDs, but it is also important to give access to the many excellent teachers out there who are educated to Masters level.
A recording of the Webinar is located here.