THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL STAFF COMPETENCIES VIA INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE

CDIO standards 9 and 10 require institutions within the initiative to work toward systematically supporting and developing the teaching and the more general competency of their faculty. Conventionally this is assumed to be the academic teaching staff responsible for the curriculum, learning outcomes and assessment on a given programme. CDIO by implication from the other standards requires significant involvement by students in practical projects and experiences all of which typically involve the use of technical support staff. While technical staff will generally not be directly involved in designing curricula or setting assessments, they are often a key contact point and enabler of the students learning experience particularly with regard to many practical or problem solving competencies desired within programmes. Despite their importance, the opportunities and support given to technicians to enhance their competence, particularly with regard to the learning process and student engagement, can be quite limited. This paper describes an effort by CDIO partners the University of Twente and Aston University to trial an exchange visits scheme to help encourage and support our technical staff to gain new perspectives, have opportunity to develop, to build a collaborative network and share best practice.