What constitutes learning at tertiary level? How do university teachers facilitate and measure such learning? What kinds of approach to teaching make learning more likely?

This course aims to help participants, especially those currently teaching:

• to clarify their own frameworks for high quality teaching and learning in the context of their discipline;
• to define their own goals for student learning; and
• to align these goals more effectively with their teaching practices.

Participants will be expected to become familiar with key readings from the educational literature sources that explain our current understanding of how students learn, to engage with practical case studies, and to consider their own and their peers’ experiences as teachers and learners. Participants will thus be encouraged to explore ideas on how teaching and learning may differ in different settings, including online, with a specific focus on the benefits of interactive approaches to teaching that are directed at the facilitation and support of students’ learning.

On satisfying the requirements of this course, participants will have the knowledge and skills to:

• discuss the diversity of experiences and approaches to both learning and teaching in higher education, in the context of current thinking in the field of tertiary education;
• examine and review their own and their peers’ experiences and practices as teachers, as well as their students' experiences and practices as learners;
• engage in professional reflective practice that includes clarifying their own goals for teaching and for their students' learning, and how these goals impact on approaches to teaching activities and assessment;
• discuss the opportunities and challenges for learning and teaching in the modern university, including the impact of educational and communication technologies and more rigorous external quality assurance processes and measures

The primary assessment task is for participants to develop a Teaching Portfolio during the course, that allows participants to demonstrate their explorations of, and personal reflective responses to, a diverse range of ideas, concepts, readings, technologies and experiences relevant to their teaching and their students’ learning.

The Teaching Portfolio is expected to include, inter alia:

• evidence of critical engagement with the key literature in the field;
• evidence of a capacity to engage in peer discussion related to issues in teaching and learning;
• a description of a participant’s goals for teaching, and for students' learning, in a relevant course, and a rationale for these goals;
• case study illustrations of how the participant’s teaching practice reflects these goals;
• an exploration of possible changes to teaching practice that would make these goals more achievable, including the use of educational technologies where appropriate; and
• a reflective narrative on diverse approaches to teaching and learning based on observations/interviews with students and teaching colleagues.

Participants will be encouraged to produce drafts of portfolio entries to allow for discussion and review with the course convenor throughout the semester. This will ensure that participants without much background in the field of education can be given effective feedback as they develop new skills and ways of thinking related to their teaching.

The Teaching Portfolio will be assessed on a ‘Satisfied Requirements’ basis only.

During the semester: 24 hours face to face (dates available here), approx. 26 hours in set online activities, and approx. 80 hours in private study.

Paul Ramsden (2003), Learning to Teach in Higher Education, 2nd Ed., London and New York: Routledge and Falmer 

Michael Prosser and Keith Trigwell (1999) Understanding Learning and Teaching. The Experience in Higher Education, Buckingham, UK; Philadelphia, PA: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press

Staff Development Scholarship Scheme

The Vice Chancellor is encouraging eligible staff to undertake the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education or the Master of Higher Education, by waiving the tuition fees for this course (and the total program) available at no cost to eligible applicants through the Staff Development Scholarship Scheme. See the ANU Staff Development Scholarship Program