Project Success Story - Capacity building in the context of Jordanian higher education

Background/Context

In the late summer of 2022, Advance HE secured a British Council bid to devise and deliver a capacity building programme working collaboratively with five universities in Jordan.  

Specifically, the task was to “provide technical assistance and capacity building, to support the development and implementation of a culture of teaching and learning working with Hussein Technical University and a group of pilot universities, and with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research at the policy level”. 

Solution

The project was shaped by four areas of focus, the aim of which was to: 

• Support participating universities to establish strategies and systems towards their ‘Faculty Development Journey’ – which included road-mapping exercises and working towards a best practice unified approach meeting quality assurance levels. 
• Enhance teaching and learning through ‘capacity building workshops’ and to offer dissemination using the tools and methods for professionalisation and professional development of academic standards.
• Establish a community of practice between UK and Jordan, increasing engagement and to develop institutional links.
• Ensure the programme aligned with British Council principles of EDI and Gender Toolkit – and to improve employability and career succession for women, as well as leadership development practice and policy to reflect all gender and EDI tools within the work plan. 
  
  By the end of October 2022, the programme was underway with the delivery of the first part of the 12-week, ‘Advancing Change in Learning and Teaching in HE (ACLTHE) programme.’ 

The project went live using an online platform and was divided into three phases: 

• Phase 1: ‘Getting started’  - looking at inclusive, value-based education practice
• Phase 2: which was the bulk of the programme – ‘Examining the evidence base and leading transformational change’ which explored change agency through a variety of lenses aligned to strategic priorities
• Phase 3: the concluding, in-country showcase event, that brought together the 16 project participants, the core group of which had driven the initiative forward, two guests from the UK – Professors Catriona Cunningham (Edinburgh Napier University) and Helen King (Bath Spa University), –  Kristian Rumble (Advance HE), lead staff members from the British Council and Professor Fiona Smart – Learning and Teaching Enhancement Consultant, Advance HE Associate – the project lead. 

Outcomes

Reflections from the project lead and delegate feedback 

As the project closed and the report was finalised, Fiona Smart wondered about lasting change coming out from a 12-week Advancing Change in Learning and Teaching in HE (ACLTHE) programme thinking about the difference between outcome – something happened – and impact – something changed. 

At the British Council suggestion, the groups had a one-year-on catch-up with the participants  - an opportunity to share what the individual projects they had initiated as part of the wider ACLTHE programme had achieved; and to include in their one-year-on reflections feedback on the networks created for them with individuals from a number of countries including Australia, New Zealand, China and the UK.  

Ahead of the catch-up, the participants were asked to capture their thoughts in an infographic responding to the following prompts: 

• What has changed in your learning, teaching practice and assessment in the last year noting that the changes might link directly with the ACLTHE project, but might not? 
• Thinking about the network created for you, is it still operational, if so, what are the benefits to you, and what have you been able to contribute to it? If not, how and why might you reignite it? 
• Focusing on your change project, what has changed in your practice and perhaps more widely in your University because of what you initiated? What have been the challenges and how have you overcome them? What has been the impact to date?

To capture the impact, excerpts from some of the infographics created are now shared with the permission of their authors. One participant reflected on changes in their own practice generally and then specifically on their project. 

Another participant identified the need to adapt their early ideas for the project in the light of evaluative data, contextualising their change within the broader aim of the ACLTHE programme itself.  

One participant reflected on changes within their own practice because of their particular project: 

“My change project has transformed my approach to teaching and the overall administration of the educational process. I now view students as partners in various aspects, including course design, scheduling, teaching methods, assessments, and even in the management of the faculty. " 


A second individual from the same University maintained the focus on change in their practice and more widely. 

“The main challenge in implementing such a shift at the university level is the time required to bring about these changes on a broad scale.” 

The final contribution illustrates learning from the ACLTHE programme. It speaks to transformational change in everyday practice with students, and as a consequence, supports the belief that capacity building within a short timeframe, and without occupying too much time in a busy world where academics continually juggle priorities, can be game-changing

• More conscious effort to create an accessible and inclusive learning environment, as well as transparency and clarity in how I communicate with learners; I constantly rethink the style and presentation of all aspects of my courses. This includes everything from communicating behavioural expectations, to the learning goals, outcomes and objectives, how I deliver content and feedback, and how I present the assessment criteria. Language has become exceedingly important to me as an educator.
• More conscious effort to encourage the active involvement and personal agency of learners, and for learner-assessor collaboration, in all aspects of the learning journey. For example, this semester my students and I collaboratively created a contract in which we mutually agreed on a number of rules which we all need to adhere to and which we decided based upon our values as a collective. I signed too, to model accountability.
• Heightened awareness of the significance of community, collaboration and togetherness, which is being reflected more and more in my instructional methods and interactions with students and in my increased desire to communicate and work with other educators locally and globally.
• Employing more tools for students to measure their own progress in tangible and effective ways.

Speaking on behalf of the British Council Jordan, Nour Al Jumaili, Education Project Manager, said, “This project has helped set the course for the participating universities and delegates in building approaches to transformational change in teaching and learning, and making great strides to building capacity in the sector."

Kristian Rumble, Head of Membership (Global) at Advance HE, said, “Our model for capacity building works through a tried and tested combination of the expertise in our team and building an effective partnership and collaboration with those with whom we are working. In Jordan, this has worked extremely well. 

“We look forward to the opportunity to continue our work here, supporting capacity building, helping to develop and recognise teaching staff and co-creating effective approaches to student success.”