Non-formal Faculty Development. Conceptual considerations and implementation in practice

Abstract

Non-formal faculty development offerings might reach those lecturers who, for a variety of reasons, are reluctant to attend formal faculty development programs. It can also provide an opportunity to supplement informal workplace learning with evidence-informed knowledge. A centre for teaching and learning at a German university has implemented non-formal learning opportunities through an open learning portal. Lehrblick.de offers lecturers from all departments access to a bilingual, accessible service that provides them with concise, quality-assured content on innovative topics in teaching and learning in higher education, regardless of time or location. With this approach, it reaches nearly 10 times as many lecturers every month as the university's formal faculty development program.This contribution describes theoretical considerations of non-formal faculty development, its design and implementation in faculty development practice.