Focusing on university student engagement at the institutional level

In Australia, there has been a tendency to rely on quantitative indicators of university teaching quality. This has occurred partly because the indicators are perceived as objective and reliable and partly because they are relatively simple to gather and collate. A national project currently underway is based on the assumptions that teaching quality is multidimensional and that the identification and use of relevant indicators of teaching quality are dependent on the institutional environment. With a focus on student engagement, this paper outlines the research-based approach to developing indicators of teaching quality being taken by one Australian university participating in the national project.

Focusing on solutions : the evaluation and development of individual university teachers

This paper outlines the rationale for a current research project that focuses on teaching development in individual university lecturers. The ways in which student evaluation of university teaching (SET) results are best used to bring about positive changes in teaching are discussed. It is argued that providing individualised evaluation feedback coupled with consultation to teachers is potentially valuable in terms of achieving positive and measurable impacts on teaching and learning at several levels within higher education systems.

A pathway to enhancing professionalism: building a bridge between TAFE and university early childhood qualifications

It has been argued that a key strategy to improve developmental and educational outcomes for young children is to increase the number of childcare staff with early childhood university degrees (Saracho & Spodek, 2007). In order to upgrade the qualifications of staff, a number of Australian universities provide pathways that enable graduates of early childhood diploma programs to complete a degree. Several impediments, including institutional structures and individual contextual and personal factors, may affect these pathways. Although a range of organisations offer diploma programs, TAFE (Tertiary and Further Education) is a major provider. The aim of the present study was to investigate student transition between early childhood programs in TAFE and university. The research drew on several data sources, including a survey of the perceptions of students at various points of undertaking the transition. The current credit arrangement for TAFE Diploma graduates was found to be satisfactory; however, gaps were identified between the TAFE and university teaching and learning arrangements with regard to curriculum structures, teaching styles and assessment. Graduates of both programs considered that the completion of both awards would have a positive effect on their careers.

The research-teaching nexus : what do national teaching awards tells us?

This article addresses two questions that are part of a broader debate about the relationship between teaching and research: are outstanding university teachers engaged in research and are they disseminating their teaching expertise to other university teachers? We address these questions through an analysis of the research and publications of the 2005 winners of the competitive, national awards for university teaching in Australia. The analysis indicates that outstanding university teachers are active researchers, but are unlikely to publish about their teaching or improving teaching practice in universities. The findings have policy implications for the separation of teaching and research within and between universities, and raise questions about the contribution of teaching awards to the wider improvement of university teaching. As such, the article issues a caution to policy makers and university administrators against making pre‐emptive decisions about the relationship between teaching and research based on questionable assumptions.

Active content for preparation of teaching materials

Teaching materials such as study guides have implicit structure that can be exploited to explicitly assist in the learning and teaching process. Document technologies specific to the teaching context generate visible structures and linkages in a consistent manner across multiple course materials. We describe techniques that:

• Create, manage and validate links between the learning objectives, content related to each objective and corresponding assessment task.

• Explicitly present relationships between concepts, as a concept map, related to unit content and external study resources.

• Treat various study resources (study guide, presentation slides) as consistent views.

• Facilitate the use of external media to support multiple modalities.

The process creates teaching content as a single master document which is annotated to: identify learning outcomes associated with topics and exercises, relationships between concepts covered, references to external resources and media, as well as summary points and keywords. Different views of this master document produce the range of course documentation.

Examples of documents include: a study guide with learning outcomes linked to content, concept maps providing a graphical view of key relationships, and presentation slides that generate visual mnemonics for important topics.

While this structure simplifies formatting of learning materials it also offers additional benefits to the teacher. Reports are generated showing that all outcomes are covered and assessed.   Explicitly annotating and visualizing concepts allows the lecturer to ensure that all elements fall within a single scaffold. Simplified access to external media encourages alternative presentation modalities and produces presentations that are easily adapted to new themes.

Current issues and limitations in using the internet for teaching and learning

This paper acknowledges the new educational possibilities provided by the Internet, as well as identifying its current limitations as an educational medium. Issues of concern in using the Internet include equity and access, infrastructure considerations, intellectual property, development methodologies, implications for the delivery and administration of education, and the relationship between the Internet and other new media in education, including audio/video tapes, computer aided learning software, videoconferencing and CD-ROM. While the Internet offers valuable opportunities to enhance all modes of teaching and learning, and it is likely that most of the current limitations of the Internet in this regard will be overcome in time, those developers currently pursuing or investigating the Internet as a teaching resource should be aware of the potential difficulties. This paper draws on the experiences of the author in conventional and distance university teaching, and in using the Internet as an aid to teaching and learning in engineering and technology, but the issues addressed apply generally to those using the Internet in education.

The systematic influences on student evaluation of teaching in engineering education

BACKGROUND Student evaluation of teaching (SET) has a long history, has grown in prevalence and importance over a period of decades, and is now common-place in many universities internationally. SET data are collected for a range of purposes, including: as diagnostic feedback to improve the quality of teaching and learning; as an input to staff performance management processes and personnel decisions such as promotion for staff; to provide information to prospective students in their selection of courses and programs; and as a source of data for research on teaching. Rovai et al. (2006) report that while SET research provides mixed results, there is evidence that, for course-related factors, smaller classes are rated more favourably than large classes, upper-year-level classes are rated more favourably than lower-year classes, and that there are rating differences between discipline areas. While additional course-related factors are also noted, other reviews of the literature on SET also identify these three factors as commonly reported systematic influences on SET ratings. The School of Engineering at Deakin University in Australia offers undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programs, and these programs are delivered in both on-campus and off-campus modes.PURPOSEThe paper presents a quantitative investigation of SET data for the School of Engineering at Deakin University to identify whether the commonly reported systematic influences on SET ratings of class size and year level are also observed here. The influence of online mode of offer is also explored.DESIGN/METHOD Deakin University’s Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU) questionnaire is administered to students enrolled in every unit of study every time that unit is offered, unless it is specially exempted. Following data collation, summary results are reported via a public website. The publicly available SETU data for all School of Engineering units of study were collected for a two year period. The collected data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis to identify any significant systematic influences on mean student SETU ratings.RESULTS SETU data from 100 separate units of study over the two year period were collected, representing 3375 sets of SETU ratings, and covering unit enrolment sizes from 12 to 462 students. Although this was a modest sized investigation, significantly higher mean ratings for some SETU items were observed for units with small enrolments, for postgraduate level units compared to undergraduate level units, and for units offered in conventional mode compared to online mode of offer. The presence of the commonly observed systematic influences on SET ratings was confirmed.CONCLUSIONS While the use of SET data may have originally been primarily for formative purposes to improve teaching and learning, they are also increasingly used for summative judgements of teaching quality and teaching staff performance that have implications for personnel decision making. There may be an acceptance of the need for SET, however there remains no universal consensus as to what constitutes quality in university teaching and learning, and the increasing use of SET for high-stakes decision making puts pressure on institutions to ensure that their SET practices are sound, equitable and defensible.

Student perspectives on first year experience initiatives designed for preservice teachers in their first weeks of university study

All rights reserved.Universities throughout Australia are increasingly investing significant amounts of time and money in efforts to improve the quality of first year students’ experiences and, by extension, increase retention, performance and student satisfaction. This paper reports upon a pilot research project conducted at a Queensland university that investigates student understandings of, and reactions to, a range of initiatives put in place to enhance their "first year experience". The research showed that students had mixed reactions to the initiatives put in place to support them and that staff played a vital role in terms of how students responded to various forms of institutional support. In analysing the results the paper demonstrates the need for ongoing research into how a diverse cohort of students make sense of the first year experience they are offered.

Establishing school university partnerships to teach science – Does what worked for us work for you?

Concerns over the quality and amount of science teaching in Australian primary schools has led to a concentration of research on the methods of delivery of science education. There is a growing interest in both Australian and International contexts on building teacher knowledge and confidence to teach science, how science is taught at the primary school level and also how pre-service teachers are prepared to teach science. The Science Teacher Education Partnerships with Schools (STEPS) project is one response to these concerns. The STEPS project is a collaboration of five Australian universities that each independently set-up their own school-based partnership approaches with schools to deliver their science education programs. Each university aimed to provide pre-service teachers with the genuine experience of teaching science while being supported by university teaching staff. The project has drawn on feedback from pre-service teachers, teachers, principals and teacher educators involved at the five universities to examine the prevailing practices and led to the development of a set of tools and process, referred to as the Interpretive Framework (IF)(Hobbs et al. 2015). The IF describes how to create and maintain effective partnerships with schools, based on this research. This current paper reports on a survey conducted in 2014 which aimed to feedback from teacher educators across Australia to explore the extent to which school-based teaching opportunities in science for PSTs were in use across the country and to identify the range of approaches and theories driving their practices. Some respondents were followed up for interview and key factors were analysed and reported here. These data will be used to further refine the IF.

Some unusual applications of the `Error-bar` feature in Excel spreadsheets

This paper demonstrates how the "error-bar" feature can be used to extend the utility of "worldware" spreadsheet packages in producing high-quality graphs for university teaching and learning, and for research. To further utilize the advantages of spreadsheets in university education, this paper seeks to overcome some of the earlier reservations about the lack of scientific plotting capabilities of spreadsheet applications. Specific examples of educational material in the areas of enzyme kinetics, vibrational spectroscopy, vibronic spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry are discussed. It is argued that, where practical, university educators should use "worldware" packages to prepare teaching aids, since these would better prepare their students for future employment. The use of software features for purposes that were not envisioned by the programmers has additional educational benefits in fostering flexibility and innovation. Other graphing packages can also use the "error-bar" feature in a manner similar to that described here for Excel.

Medication knowledge and self-management by people with type 2 diabetes

Objective: To explore medication knowledge and self management practices of people with type 2 diabetes.

Design: A one-shot cross sectional study using in-depth interviews and participant observation.

Setting: Diabetes outpatient education centre of a university teaching hospital.

Subjects: People with type 2 diabetes, n=30, 17 males and 13 females, age range 33-84, from a range of ethnic groups.

Outcome measures: Ability to state name, main actions and when to take medicines. Performance of specific medication-related tasks; opening bottles and packs, breaking tablets in half, administering insulin, and testing blood glucose.

Results: Average medication use > or = 10 years. Respondents were taking 86 different medicines, mean 7 +/- 2.97 SD. Dose frequency included two, three and four times per day. All respondents had > or = 2 diabetic complications +/- other comorbidities. The majority (93%) were informed about how and when to take their medicines, but only 37% were given information about side effects and 17% were given all possible seven items of information. Younger respondents received more information than older respondents. Older respondents had difficulty opening bottles and breaking tablets in half. Twenty per cent regularly forgot to take their medicines. Increasing medication costs was one reason for stopping medicines or reducing the dose or dose interval. The majority tested their blood glucose but did not control test their meters and 33% placed used sharps directly into the rubbish.

Conclusion: Polypharmacy was common. Medication knowledge and self management were inadequate and could lead to adverse events.

Integrating the conceptual and practice worlds : a case study from Architecture

A compelling challenge for tertiary educators is to respond meaningfully to pressures to provide curricula that translate readily into realworld professional experience. To explore the synergies of an integration of the conceptual and practice worlds, this paper draws on a program, which the author evaluated, that was part of a Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development funded project for students of architecture and construction. The aspect discussed here, Composing Architecture—The Music Room, involved 74 second year students at Deakin University in semester 2, 2001. The case study is used as an illustration of curriculum design, including assessment, to explore how it met the aims of creating learning experiences that were purposeful, rich in their complexity, and mirrored the demands of the profession in a supportive environment that fostered development. One of the major aims was to model professional practice within the academy—in a sense, to enter into a dialogue between the academy and the profession—with the quality of that dialogue being determined by the accuracy or authenticity of the modelling. With this focus, having articulated and discussed the stated educational challenge that this project was intended to meet, the paper tests this against the attributes of authenticity in the environment of education as delineated by Martin-Kniep (2000) and, in so doing, questions some of her claims. Although some theorists (eg, Petraglia, 1998) contend that to prescribe what counts for authenticity is impossible, it is hoped that some insights into linking the academy and the profession will be gained.

Taking responsibility for learning isn't everything : a case for developing tertiary students' conceptions of learning

This study examines first year university student perceptions of responsibility for their learning, within the context of their conceptions of learning, with a view to meeting two of the objectives of higher education in Australia: teaching students to think and to learn. A questionnaire was distributed to 100 students undertaking at least one first year subject at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in 1998. Their written responses provided information about their conceptions of learning, as well as both direct and indirect indications of their perceptions of responsibility. Results indicated that students held perceptions of personal responsibility for their learning, but that their conceptions of learning were essentially quantitative in nature and were at the lower levels of complexity. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of university teaching and learning, and of meeting the ultimate objectives of higher education.

Introducing a learning repository using a blended professional development approach

This paper outlines the professional development program used to introduce a learning repository at Deakin University. Providing appropriate, timely and effective professional development programs to support academic and other staff is one of the objectives of the Deakin University Teaching and Learning Functional Plan 2008. Our blended program combines web-based and face-to-face training with a wide variety of resources to support staff. Issues noted in the literature relating to the introduction and use of learning repositories informed the planning and development of our program. Challenges and issues we experienced at Deakin are also outlined.