What are the teaching and learning expectations at Deakin?

1. What are the teaching and learning expectations at Deakin? Prof Colin Mason Director, ITL

2. Outline • My background and personal reflections • An introduction from you • Who will you be teaching and how – some further observations • Removing tension between teaching and research? • Student-centredness and student engagement • The key role of assessment and interactivity • Q & A and evaluation

3. Who am I? • BSc Nutrition, MSc Pharmacology, GCE, PhD “Anaemia of chronic renal disease” • Lecturer/Senior Lecturer Haematology, Bradford, UK • Secondment (0.5FTE) T & L, Bradford, UK • Head Staff Development St Andrews, Scotland • Director Teaching and Learning Development St Andrews • Warden UG/PG Halls of Residence, St Andrews • Dean Teaching & Learning, Auckland, NZ • Director, ITL Deakin

4. Teachers • Those that can, teach • Those that can’t, teach teachers • Those that can’t, research teaching • Those that can’t, become Professors and Deans • Those that can’t, become heads of internal quality assurance • Those that can’t, become Directors of External Quality Assurance (eg QAA, UK; AUQA, Australia) • Those that can’t, become Ministers for Education

5. In your (table) groups introduce yourselves (5 min) • Your name • Your School at Deakin • Where you were born • Something ‘completely different’ about you that you think no-one would guess

6. To which Faculty do you belong? • Arts and Education • Business and Law • Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences • Science and Engineering

7. How long have you been teaching in higher education? • > 5 years • 2-3 years • 1 year • 3-12 months • Not at all

8. And my gender is • Male • Female

9. And my cultural/national origin is • Australian (indigenous) • Australian • European • Asian • African

10. Deakin’s Principles of Teaching and Learning and the Student Experience STUDENTS CURRICULA Courses that are relevant and future oriented Courses that are flexible • Focus on learning outcomes • Recognise and celebrate student diversity

11. Deakin’s Principles of Teaching and Learning and the Student Experience TEACHERS • Teachers who are innovative and motivate students to learn • Teachers who are scholarly and professional LEARNING ENVIRONMENT • A learning environment that is flexible and responsive to student needs • A learning environment which provides engagement with the university community

12. Tensions in Higher EducationWho will you be teaching and how? FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT RESEARCH LEARNING QUALITY MASS DIVERSE APPLIED INNOVATION ENGAGEMENT ELITE HOMOGENOUS TRADITIONAL LECTURES INDUCTION ACCOUNTABILITY EVALUATION SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT TEACHING

13. Why are lectures still used so frequently in higher education (best answer) • So that lecturers can demonstrate how expert they are in their subject • Because they are a very efficient means of transmitting information to large numbers of students • To provide a common space where students can be enthused by a lecturer exploring key concepts of their subject • Students expect them as part of university education and prefer listening to actively contributing • Lectures are easier to prepare than more interactive resource-based techniques

14. Model of Flexible Delivery of Learning(Adapted from Buckingham, 2004) F2F cohort DSO distance learning DSO blended learning

15. “Without all these (UG) students how could I do any research” Tension between Research and Teaching “If it wasn’t for all these (UG) students I could do more research”

16. Research-Teaching Linkages • Boyer Commission • Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America’s Research Universities (1998) • 10 ways to change undergraduate curriculum • http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/

17. Boyer’s Ten ways to ….. • Make research-based learning (“mini-projects”) the standard (involve UGs in research process; mentor for every student; internships) • Inquiry-based first year (“curiosity, problem-based learning; including group projects”) • Building in the second year (including integration of direct entry) • Remove barriers to inter-disciplinarity (flexible course and/or unit ‘swaps’)

18. Boyer’s Ten ways to ….. • Link communication skills and course work (“Presentations and writing – ‘down’ as well as ‘up’”) • Use Information Technology creatively eg electronic classrooms (“exploit digital technology and media”) • Culminate with a capstone experience – (“compulsory project or dissertation”)

19. Boyer’s Ten ways to ….. • Graduate students as apprentice teachers (“Postgraduate tutors” or sessional staff) • Change faculty reward systems – highest standards in teaching and research (“and reward systems to match”; evaluate teaching – look for integration of research with teaching) • Cultivate a Sense of Community (“strong social as well as academic opportunities”; see diversity as an asset)

20. Teacher Focus Research Process Research Content Student Focus A model of Research-Teaching linkage in curriculum design Griffiths, Brew, Healy: 2004-2005

21. Some practical ways forward • Jenkins and Healey (2005) • Develop research policies and strategies to strengthen the link • “Schools (Departments) are expected to identify research policies that support the curriculum and underpin teaching (Gibbs, 2003)” • Mason, C, Laidlaw, A, Humphris, G and Bamber, V (2009). • "Chapter 11, Theme 2: Carrots but no Sticks: Resource-led Enhancement", in Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Theory, Cases, Practices. Open University Press and McGraw-hill Education. (In press: April 2009 publishing date).

22. Engagement • Engagement as a right (but with responsibilities) • Engagement through assessment and interactivity • Engagement through transdisciplinary skills and attitude development • Evaluating the extent to which teaching engages students – the coming of the AUSSE

23. Deakin’s Student Charter • Preamble • Student life should be memorable and rich in a range of experiences: academic and vocational development, personal growth and making new local and international connections – an experience that lasts a lifetime • Expectations • Treated as an individual; rights respected • Be well prepared for employment and continuous learning • Be engaged as a member of the University community • Responsibilities • Positively shape their educational experience • Engage actively in the University environment • Show and earn respect in relating with others in the University and wider community

24. Q. Write down the names of 10 colours 8.5 A. 1 Black 2 White 3 Yellow 4 Blew 5 Green 6 Red 7 Orrange 8 Indigo 9 Broon 10 Violet 7 10 5 Almost any number (0-10) Score this answer out of 10

25. Assessment – improving reliability

26. Myths about assessment • Assessment ≠ measurement • Problems with summative assessment (Knight 2002) • Limits of number • High-precision, high reliability • Threats to validity • Representing all aspects of student achievement • So ……

27. Complex outcomes of learning • ‘Complex’ learning outcomes including: • higher order academic abilities (analysis, synthesis, evaluation) and • ‘soft skills’ or graduate attributes (eg teamwork, communication, time management) are rarely, and often poorly and inconsistently defined. • Such learning is: • Advanced and difficult to ‘measure’ • Slow to develop (100s or 1000s of hours?) • Fuzzy (precision & reliability often only possible at the expense of validity).

28. DIAGNOSTIC DIAGNOSTIC FORMATIVE FORMATIVE SUMMATIVE SUMMATIVE Forms (Modes) of Assessment ‘Reality’ ‘Theory’

29. Shift to Formative Assessment Feedback (Formative) Student disclosure Feedout (Summative) Student deception • Knight, PT (2002). “Summative Assessment in Higher Education: practices in disarray”. Studies in Higher Education, 27, No.3, 275-286. Assessment

30. A shift in the balance of modes of assessment? • Low-stakes for formative purposes • Create informed feedback on achievement in order to improve future achievement: • SENLEF Higher Education Academy and Scottish Higher Education Developers • http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/assessment/senlef • REAP, Scottish Funding Council 2005-07 (D Nicol, Strathclyde) • http://www.reap.ac.uk/ • Specifically think about ‘Feed-forward’ as well as feed-back

31. How to increase ‘feed-forward’? • Encourage students to submit drafts – provide feedback and then they re-submit • First years are particularly vulnerable • What about having no summative assessments in the first Semester (or Trimester)? • For coursework: • Apply progressive weighting to assignments to minimise impact of adjusting to a new environment

32. A model for assignment weightings to improve ‘feed-forward’ Coursework Examination Assignment 2 Assignment 3 Assignment 1 40% 10% 20% 30%

33. Summary • High-stakes, summative assessment has limitations for ‘complex’ learning • Reliability & precision is expensive • Low-stakes, formative assessment is good for learning • Low stakes can reach achievements that elude high-stakes approaches (eg teamwork) • Blended assessment: preferably planned at course or programme level.

34. So, what about the first year? • Induction is a problem for anyone new to an institution • Cultural differences may exacerbate the problem • What is happening in Australia as well as USA and the UK (Scotland)?

35. When you are in deep shit, say nothing, and try to look like you know what you are doing

36. Prof Sally Kift – First Year and Foremost -ALTC project "The first year of university study is the most crucial time for engaging students in their learning community and equipping them with the skills to persist and be successful throughout their degree and for a lifetime of professional practice.” "It's critical that students receive regular, formative evaluations (assessment) of their work early in their studies to aid their learning patterns," she said.”

37. Australian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) • The Student Experience Questionnaire (SEQ) – 6 scales or dimensions on engagement • Academic Challenge (AC) • Active Learning (AL) • Staff and Student Interactions (SSI) • Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE) • Supportive Learning Environment (SLE) • Work Integrated Learning (WIL) • Also: • 6 Student Outcome scales (eg Overall satisfaction, higher order thinking) • 100 specific learning activities and conditions

38. AUSSE 2008 – First Year students 1 Curtin, Griffith, Maquarie, Newcastle, South Australia, Wollongong

39. Teaching that is Research-informed and aligned with learning outcomes • Emphasis on Learning experiences: • inquiry-based (develops research skills) • problem-based (develops critical and creative thinking) • team-based (develops collaboration and co-operation) • project-based (individual and team – develops self/peer assessment skills) • work-based (‘work-integrated learning’ or authentic or real learning tasks) • Alignment of assessment, learning and teaching (Biggs, 1999)

40. On becoming a University Teacher

41. Questions and/or comments

42. Evaluation

43. Entering the university: the differentiated experience of two Chinese international students …. • Longitudinal study on a single unit and their personal experiences to establish an identity • B. Business Studies, 12 students enrolled, 2004 • 3x semi-structured interviews – Semester 1 (& follow up) • 2 groups emerged: • Negotiated a pathway for survival • No obvious headway in new setting

44. A reality check – the first test .. Actually, I have no point about what is the lecturer want us to catch … I don’t know which part I should focus on, should concentrate. .. The first few weeks of study I have no idea. I haven’t read the book and I just attend the lecture and then listen and no [no comprehension]. At home I have read no books ‘Saul’ ‘Mike’

45. Mike finds a strategy (how to learn) .. After the test I thought, oh, the lecturer just ask us to focus on this .. That is teacher’s way to test us which part is important and which is unimportant.’ .. I borrow my friend’s last year’s test, I saw that and, oh, this question relates to the textbook and my notes and I should read my notes and text carefully with the lecture notes! ‘Saul’ ‘Mike’

46. Both fail the exam but … Mike reflects on why; Saul is bewildered .. ‘You know, I go to every workshop and I go to every lecture and I take marvellous notes, and before the tests I used one week to review.’ ‘I think whole semester is quite bad’ .. ‘I realise when I read the text or books I think [if] I understand, I can remember, so I just general read the books and then actually I can’t remember.’ ‘Saul’ ‘Mike’

47. Author’s interpretations • Both students tried to meet course demands • Both used methods based on previous experience • Both were confused • Both were able to reflect but … • Mike was able to develop new insights and developed a sense of self-efficacy

48. Author’s interpretations • Large first year classes were not conducive to approaches in previous language learning classes • So … • Mike recognised the value of reading before lectures (and he recognised he needed to work harder) • Saul was pre-occupied with discovering what was important or necessary and less with how necessary it was to understand (deeply)

49. Author’s conclusions • The institution and staff did not have good systems in place to support these students. • Even for Mike, smaller groups would be necessary, with early opportunities to engage with teaching staff Gillian Skyrme Studies in Higher Education, 32, 3, pp357-372, 2007.