Mrs Susan Elizabeth Armitage

National Teaching Fellow 2001 Susan specialises in learning technologies and teaching development in the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning & Teaching (CELT) at Lancaster University. Susan used her fellowship to research ways to assist and support academic staff with the implementation of networked learning, specifically the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), so that they become an integral part of teaching practice. Since then she has changed roles to become the Director of the Associate Teacher Programme, an in-service programme that aims to support inexperienced HE teachers in the development of their teaching skills and ideas in the context of their current role, and to increase their understanding and appreciation of alternative approaches and wider viewpoints of teaching and learning issues.  She also contributes to the Certificate in Academic Practice (CAP) and Continuing Professional Development provision activities of CELT.   The main impetus for the change arose from the NTFS project, which she says "made me recognise that blended learning needed to be an integral part of initial and continuing professional development for teachers in HE. In this way, they can experience this mode of learning for themselves and make informed decisions about how to embedding e-learning into their own programmes. This meant getting involved in the teacher development programmes that CELT offered to develop that aspect of the provision. The need to increase the flexibility of provision to busy academic staff has led to the creation of several new modules for the CAP, allowing a pathway to a Diploma in Academic Practice, as well as being aligned with related Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) awards, namely Enhancing Academic Practice in Disciplines, Supervising Postgraduate Research and, of course, Embedding Learning Technologies." This programme is also offered to a partner institution in Malaysia, where the need for a blended learning approach is even greater and affords new opportunities for pedagogical development of the programme and its use of a wide range of learning technologies. Development of a media rich learning environment to support these programmes is one of Susan's key development areas for the near future.