Strategies for enhancing teaching and learning: Reflections from Australia

1. Strategies for enhancing teaching and learning:Reflections from Australia Merrilyn Goos Director Teaching and Educational Development Institute

2. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Learning and Teaching Performance Fund (LTPF): used a small set of performance indicators to allocate funding Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA):conducts quality audits of higher education institutions Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA):new national body for accreditation, regulation, quality assurance

3. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Promote and support strategic change in higher education institutions for the enhancement of learning and teaching, including curriculum development and assessment

4. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Raise the profile and encourage recognition of the fundamental importance of teaching in higher education institutions and in the general community

5. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Foster and acknowledge excellence in teaching in higher education

6. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Develop effective mechanisms for the identification, development, dissemination and embedding of good individual and institutional practice

7. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Develop and support reciprocal national and international arrangements for the purpose of sharing and benchmarking learning and teaching processes

8. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Identify learning and teaching issues that impact on the Australian higher education system and facilitate national approaches to address these and other emerging issues

9. HYPOTHETICAL Enhancing teaching and learning at the University of Utopia

10. ENHANCING TEACHING AND LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND http://www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/

11. UQ TEACHING AND LEARNING PROFILE

12. UQ TEACHING AND LEARNING ENHANCEMENT PLAN GOAL 2 Support and reward teaching excellence, and raise the professionalism, visibility, and status of teaching and learning at UQ.

13. GOAL 2 Enhance T&L Build institutional commitmentto teaching scholarship

14. GOAL 2 Enhance T&L Build institutional commitmentto teaching scholarship Ensure optimal arrangements for management of T&L issues

15. Recognise & reward teaching excellence,recruit & promote high quality teachers GOAL 2 Enhance T&L Build institutional commitmentto teaching scholarship Ensure optimal arrangements for management of T&L issues

16. Recognise & reward teaching excellence,recruit & promote high quality teachers Enhance staff development opportunities & ensure fit with T&L priorities GOAL 2 Enhance T&L Build institutional commitmentto teaching scholarship Ensure optimal arrangements for management of T&L issues

17. Improve T&L quality assurance & enhancement processes Recognise & reward teaching excellence,recruit & promote high quality teachers Enhance staff development opportunities & ensure fit with T&L priorities GOAL 2 Enhance T&L Build institutional commitmentto teaching scholarship Ensure optimal arrangements for management of T&L issues

18. INTRODUCTION OF TEACHING FOCUSED POSITIONS http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/?page=69611&pid=25173

19. Build an institutional understanding of and commitment to teaching scholarship. • Educational research: enhances theoretical understanding of teaching and learning • Scholarly teaching: evaluation of and reflection on one’s own teaching to enhance one’s understanding of a local problem or issue • Teaching scholarship: evidence based critical reflection on practice that is communicated within the discipline and aimed at improving practice

20. SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING IS CHARACTERISED BY … • Concern for students and their learning • Deliberate, research led design for teaching and learning • Systematic implementation, analysis and evaluation of the design (evidence based inquiry): Is it improving student learning? • Communicating the findings within the discipline so as to improve teaching practice http://www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.html?page=65733

21. Recruit and promote high quality teachers. Promotion outcomes 2008 for Teaching Focused staff (n=88 across all academic levels and Faculties): http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/index.html?page=68324&pid=0

22. Enhance staff development opportunities. TEDI supports Teaching Focused academics and promotes research and scholarship in teaching and learning via the CESoTL initiative (Creating Excellence in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning). CESoTL comprises the following activities …

23. CESoTL ACTIVITIES 1. Build staff capability within SoTL methods and practice: • University Staff Development Program – designated courses on SoTL; SoTL embedded within existing teaching and learning courses on assessment, eLearning and mobile technologies, RHD supervision, lecturing, curriculum design and renewal, leadership, evaluation; • Situated workshops tailored for school/faculty staff or curriculum teams; • Graduate Certificate in Higher Education - Embedding of SoTL orientation, methods, practice within courses.

24. CESoTL ACTIVITIES 2. Engage and support staff in SoTL activities: • Information sessions, mentoring and support for staff engagement in local, institutional, and national funded teaching and learning grant schemes (Faculty T&L Grants; UQ T&L Strategic Grants; ALTC Schemes; see http://www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.html?page=56478); • Readership and feedback for teaching excellence award submissions.

25. CESoTL ACTIVITIES 3. Create and facilitate SoTL communities of practice: • UQ Teaching & Learning Network – facilitated by TEDI academics: • Support for disciplinary networks and communities of practice.

26. CESoTL ACTIVITIES 4. Advocate for SoTL policies and practices: • Support Faculty Associate Deans (Academic) to identify local SoTL priorities and practices: • Attend and contribute to School and Faculty Teaching and Learning Committees, advocate for development of policies, initiatives and practices to support teaching focused staff.

27. CESoTL ACTIVITIES 5. Develop a national and international profile for UQ as SoTL institution: • Conduct institutional research on UQ SoTL initiatives and activities; • Contribute to UQ Teaching & Learning Week (e.g., http://www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/week/2008/index.html); • Potential host of 2012 International Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference.

28. Improve T&L quality assurance and enhancement. In January 2009 TEDI conducted on online survey of Teaching Focused academics (108 responses) and interviewed a sample of respondents. Demographics: 57% female 62% full-time 48% Lecturers (Level B) 43% in Health Sciences Faculty 62% on fixed term contract

29. KEY FINDINGS • Participants were aware of the intrinsic rewards of appointment to a Teaching Focused position (satisfaction from teaching; support from TEDI; validation of role within the School; extend conceptual understanding of teaching and learning). • Prospects of extrinsic rewards (promotion) are unknown and ambiguous. • There are diverse perceptions of the role of Teaching Focused academics.

30. KEY FINDINGS • The majority of Teaching Focused academics perceived that their workload had increased. • There is a need to promote better understanding of the scholarship of teaching and learning amongst Teaching Focused academics. • Teaching Focused academics have diverse support needs in terms of learning about and improving their teaching.

31. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM YOU? • What challenges does your university face in enhancing teaching and learning? • What support does your university offer academic staff for enhancing teaching and learning?