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=Teaching staff are provided with e-learning design and (re)development assistance that encourages and supports diversity. =

Evidence
Teaching staff need training and support if they are to be effective with new technologies and the associated pedagogies. This is a complex area and teaching staff need to be able to access a range of professional support as they encounter issues during their work (Harasim et al. 1995). E–learning is not just a technological add-on that teachers need to learn how to use; it is a new educational system involving new pedagogical and professional procedures and processes that require support and professional development. Khan (2005) notes that many academic and administrative staff may have not experienced e-learning themselves. He recommends that they should undertake a course using the medium in order to better understand the learner’s position (p. 35).

The total learning environment must be geared to learner access regardless of gender, race, or disability and must cater for a range of learning styles (Forman et al. 2002). Teaching staff should be enabled and supported in being open to flexible teaching and learning methods and should support and encourage students negotiating or using alternative learning approaches that are better suited to their personal circumstances.

‘Instructional designers must carefully weigh the user characteristics, the available faculty, the institutional concerns, and the delivery tool in order to create an effective instructional experience online’ (Tallent-Runnels 2006, p. 113).

Resources
Under the heading ‘academic management’, Laurillard (2002) identifies several factors for development and support, including an induction programme for staff with the objectives of: ‘raising awareness of current teaching practice and use of new technology in their field; elaborating their understanding of how students learn through different media; developing their expectations of, and critical approach to, new technology; developing formative evaluation skills for improving learning design; increasing the likelihood that they will make their own contribution to the field’ (p. 226).

The University of Sydney has a Guidelines for Good Practice in Teaching & Learning document which includes advice on valuing and supporting student diversity: http://www.usyd.edu.au/ab/policies/Good_Prac_T&L.pdf

When performing well, higher education institutions will have developed an overall support mechanism including instructional designers, graphic designers, multimedia specialists, programmers, and information system specialists (Vovides et al. 2007).