{"id":11346,"date":"2024-11-14T14:12:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T14:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/?p=11346"},"modified":"2026-10-14T14:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:42:49","slug":"global-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/2024\/11\/14\/global-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformative Pedagogy? Creating online and blended learning spaces for Leaders in the Global Development Sphere\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; fullwidth=&#8221;on&#8221; next_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_fullwidth_menu _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.106&#8243; menu_id=&#8221;7&#8243; submenu_direction=&#8221;downwards&#8221; fullwidth_menu=&#8221;off&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;dark&#8221; module_class=&#8221;main-navigation&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; prev_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; next_background_color=&#8221;#1d1d1d&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_4&#8243;][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; meta=&#8221;off&#8221; featured_placement=&#8221;above&#8221; featured_image=&#8221;off&#8221; \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h3>Overview\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>Our teaching and scholarship journey included our attendance at a Symposium, a Manchester-Melbourne University Partnership Panel Event and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.developmentstudies.asn.au\/conference-program\/\">Development Studies Association of Australia\u00a0 (DSAA) Conference,<\/a> which took place in Melbourne, Australia between 03 to 13 July. The central purpose of our visit was to further explore pedagogy and scholarship related to teaching senior practitioners working in the global sphere development at a master\u2019s level, and then apply this to our online and blended learning programme, Master\u2019s in Leadership for Development (ML4D).\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Background\u00a0\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><i>First, a few words about the background and history to understanding teaching practices, principles and concepts relevant to people working in the global development sphere.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our interest in transformative pedagogies emerged several years ago, with a group of staff from the Global Development Institute seeking to develop a new online and blended learning master\u2019s programme for emerging leaders in the development field. This required significant investment and scholarship in developing the teaching and learning materials and the teaching and learning principles that would most suit the distinctive and complex nature of Leadership for Development. The programme was developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne, with the first cohort starting in Sept 2021, and graduating in Summer 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Journeying with the first and subsequent cohorts of emerging leaders helped us identify opportunities to share what we had learned about the distinctive and complex nature of leadership for development.\u00a0 We wanted to reflect on the impact of the transformative pedagogy we had embraced: the importance of reflexivity, collaborative learning and scope for further scholarship particularly with academic and practitioners located in the global south.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>What we contributed to the events\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>Out trip started with a day Symposium, reviewing the overall programme materials in the light of what we had learned about the distinctive context of leading in the global development field. This led into a panel event in which we worked to share our understanding of current scholarship in the field, identify gaps and develop a research agenda specifically related to teaching emerging leaders. Using this foundation, we then attended the DSAA Conference both presenting our own papers and learning from a rich variety of academic and practitioner panels.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Natalie spoke about <b><i>reconceptualising resilience<\/i><\/b>. Developing resilience was seen as a key factor to be addressed for sustainable practices to be embedded. There is considerable difference in conceptualisation of the term resilience in the International Development field. This paper drew on practice and literature to categorise the conceptual understanding of the term. Recognition that resilience development requires a multi-level focus on individual and collective well-being, as well as understanding organisational structural resilience and further extending the definition of the term to systems being able to mitigate and recover from shocks and be less vulnerable \u2013 a broader integrated definition of resilience is developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jaco presented on the growing interest in <b><i>Digital Transformation for Development (Dx4D)<\/i><\/b> in the development field. Drawing on a survey of 45 Dx4D stakeholders, scholarly literature, and expert consultations, the presentation argued for the critical importance of leadership and associated dynamics within Dx4D initiatives. The study contributed five pivotal success factors pertaining to the human dimension of Dx4D. This research was directly done for developing learning materials and activities as part of the International Management and Leadership course unit on our ML4D \u2013 it directly led to a contribution towards appropriate curriculum content on digital transformation for development field leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shirley presented a paper entitled <b><i>Re-imagining the contribution of Higher Education in shaping global development leadership and community praxis<\/i><\/b>. This discussed the internationalisation of higher education and specifically examined HEI programmes for people seeking to become development field leaders in international development organisations and agencies. This paper presents the findings of a study at the University of Manchester\u2019s Global Development Institute (GDI) during 2023 to 2024 in which international development master\u2019s students collaborated and co-created new forms of knowledge-sharing to enhance understanding of community-based praxis. This paper presents an account of the students\u2019 experiences and shared learning in a co-created partnership with academics, university support staff and alumni- practitioners through an action-learning methodology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11349 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"members of staff attending a Symposium dinner in a restaurant located close to the University of Melbourne campus\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-250x188.jpg 250w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-510x382.jpg 510w, https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/2.-Melbourne-Manchester-Symposium-Dinner-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>What we learned or gained from the events\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>What resonated most for Natalie was that the intersectionality of leadership in the development field often draws leaders to much of the darker shadow side of society \u2013 exceptional poverty, corruption, exploitation of the weakest in society. Natalie left with a question are we truly preparing our leaders to deal with the impact of these factors on their personal resilience and coping mechanisms. Developing people as leaders needs a deep awareness of impact of contextual issues on self.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jaco was surprised by the lack of focus on digital development (the role of digital systems and technologies in socio-economic development) in research and teaching. Few, if any, Australian development studies programs include subjects or pathways that address this area. Informal discussions with DSAA delegates revealed that digital systems and technologies are often seen as outside the scope of development studies, which is primarily viewed as a social science discipline. This presents an opportunity to engage Australian colleagues on the socio-technical nature of digital technologies and their crucial role in shaping global development outcomes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What Shirley learnt from the conference delegates and student feedback was that those teaching and studying in the Global South found strong resonances in terms of challenges and opportunities international post-graduate students face. There was strong support to continue developing pedagogies that promote student agency and peer-knowledge-sharing and an awareness that this can have a ripple and decolonising effect within institutions own teaching, learning and student support systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Next<\/h3>\n<p>Natalie\u2019s <b>What\u2019s Next <\/b>was to implement and design a series of micro credentials in Resilience for the development field to be offered globally online.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jaco\u2019s <b><i>What Next<\/i><\/b> focussed externally, to build and strengthen relationships with Australian HEIs, specifically creating opportunities to amplify digital development research and incorporating socio-technical perspectives in development studies curricula. We\u2019ve made a start with this in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/study\/online-blended-learning\/courses\/master-of-leadership-for-development\/\">joint ML4D programme<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shirley\u2019s <b><i>What Next<\/i><\/b> was to work with the GDI employability Champions, to encourage them to further share their own stories and their student voice activities, for example in a recent GDI Blog entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gdi.manchester.ac.uk\/student-voices-championing-career-success-in-gdi\/\"><b><i>Student Voices-Championing Career success in GDI<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Summary and Thank You\u00a0\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>So, this was a very productive journey: sharing recent scholarship, learning with and from academics and practitioners. We have returned with new impetus for transformative pedagogy, new connections for further partnerships and a new commitment to publish a distinctive contribution about the nature and required knowledge, skills and abilities for effective leadership in the Development Field. Thank you!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_comments _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; header_font_size_tablet=&#8221;51&#8243; header_line_height_tablet=&#8221;2&#8243; custom_button=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; button_use_icon=&#8221;off&#8221; parent_locked=&#8221;off&#8221; button_text_size__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_text_size__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_text_size__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_text_size__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_text_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_text_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_text_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_text_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_border_width__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_border_width__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_border_width__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_border_width__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_border_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_border_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_border_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_border_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_border_radius__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_border_radius__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_border_radius__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_border_radius__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_letter_spacing__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_letter_spacing__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_letter_spacing__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_bg_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_bg_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_one_bg_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;off&#8221; button_two_bg_color__hover=&#8221;null&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_4&#8243;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Spacer&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; \/][et_pb_button admin_label=&#8221;Home Button&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; button_text=&#8221;Blog Home&#8221; button_url=&#8221;https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn&#8221; \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2024\/11\/3.-University-of-Melbourne-Campus-e1731575687354.jpg&#8221; \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shirley Jenner<\/strong>, Global Development Institute\u00a0<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/research.manchester.ac.uk\/en\/persons\/shirley.jenner\">Research Profile<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shirley-jenner-97b5a325\/\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie Cunningham<\/strong>, Global Development Institute\u00a0<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/research.manchester.ac.uk\/en\/persons\/natalie.cunningham-3\">Research Profile<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/natalie-cunningham-a7ba4a5\/\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jaco Renken<\/strong>, Global Development Institute\u00a0\u00a0<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/research.manchester.ac.uk\/en\/persons\/jaco.renken\">Research Profile<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jacorenken\/\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243; \/][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Ref&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.17.6&#8243;]<\/p>\n<pre>Ref: 090<\/pre>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;Connect Title&#8221; module_class=&#8221;footer-section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.90&#8243; background_color=&#8221;#1d1d1d&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;0px||0px|&#8221; prev_background_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; disabled_on=&#8221;on|on|on&#8221; disabled=&#8221;on&#8221; global_module=&#8221;380&#8243;][et_pb_row global_parent=&#8221;380&#8243; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shirley Jenner, Natalie Cunningham and Jaco Renken attended a Symposium, a Manchester-Melbourne University Partnership Panel Event and the Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA) Conference in Melbourne this summer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":3201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,50,21,108,34,28,110],"tags":[119,122,118,121,120,80],"class_list":["post-11346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-active-learning","category-digital-skills","category-international-students","category-learning-blog","category-peer-learning","category-reflection","category-student-voice","tag-global-development","tag-leadership-for-development","tag-master-of-leadership-for-development","tag-online-and-blended-learning","tag-resilience","tag-seed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11346"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12537,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346\/revisions\/12537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humteachlearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}