Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

3-6 July, 2002
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

A national educational development project to enhance teaching in large classes

Denise Chalmers, University of Queensland, Australia
Rachel Hannam, University of Queensland, Australia
Debra Herbert, University of Queensland, Australia
Doune Macdonald, University of Queensland, Australia
Ron Weber, University of Queensland, Australia

An organisational change approach to educational development was undertaken by one division in a large Hong Kong university with the aim of enhancing the quality of student learning through teaching students effective learning strategies. The impetus for the program was a major curriculum re-organisation which reduced the number of courses students needed to complete for their degree.

The head of the division was committed to achieve a change in current teaching practice and invited teaching staff to undertake the program. Over 60 teachers from a variety of different disciplines were involved in the program which was designed to provide them with tools and techniques to teach learning strategies to students in their own courses. The teachers, in three cohorts, participated in semester long educational development programs over 3 semesters in 2000 and 2001. They were provided with support and resources by the educational development unit throughout the program.

Previous research had found that many students leave university without acquiring effective learning strategies and skills that would facilitate their learning in the future. For example, they could complete their university courses without developing effective information and problem solving skills and with only a limited range of learning strategies. Research and educational development programs on teaching learning strategies had been conducted in Australia (eg. Chalmers & Fuller, 1996). Chalmers and Fuller found that university teachers can help prepare students for lifelong learning by teaching them learning strategies and that this is best done if the strategies are taught by university teachers in the context of their regular coursework. However, these programs were undertaken by interested individual teachers, not as part of an organisational change strategy.

This paper reports on the program in Hong Kong and its outcomes. It also looks at issues related to conducting a professional development program as an organisational strategic initiative.This paper describes a national project commissioned by the Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC) in 2001. The aim of the project was to enhance the quality of the teaching of large classes in Australian universities in an effective and sustainable manner.

The project was undertaken in 2 concurrent phases. The first phase involved a comprehensive review of literature and current practices to identify: research findings, national and international developments, practical teaching and management strategies, examples of good practice and emerging issues in large class teaching. The second phase involved the development and implementation of strategies to disseminate the findings of the review and to share good practices across disciplines and universities. The model of dissemination was based around the concept of identifying highly accomplished teachers of large classes and educational developers in each university as the primary agents of dissemination.

Over 80 highly accomplished teachers of large classes and educational developers from 23 Australian universities were involved in both phases of the project. Two national workshops were held for the participants involved in the project and each university was provided with support to develop an educational development project relevant for their university context. A web site has been developed to further disseminate the findings and outcomes and includes an extensive literature review, reports on surveys and workshops, case studies of effective practice and the dissemination projects carried out at each university.

This paper will provide a brief overview of the project with particular emphasis on the dissemination model and will conclude with examples of a number of university-based projects.

Key words:
Teaching large classes

Objectives, outcomes and activities:
This project employed an original model of educational development for a national project in Australia. Many national teaching projects fail to effectively disseminate their findings or effect ongoing change in either the university in which the project was carried out or in other universities that are informed of the findings (Alexander & McKensie, 1998). However, with the focus on this project on the dissemination and development of on-going change in the universities involved in the project, this failing was largely overcome. The participants were involved throughout the project in developing both their own understanding and practice of effective large class teaching and in disseminating these practices to others in their own universities. As a result, the participating universities have developed educational development programs within their own university for their colleagues and a significant number have expanded these into programs for 2002. An outcome of the seminar presentation will be the opportunity to examine issues related to large class teaching and a range of models of educational development to enhance the quality of this teaching. A further outcome will be the wider dissemination of an effective educational development model for a large scale innovation in teaching.

The intention for the presentation is to provide a brief overview of the project, focusing on the dissemination model and present a range of the educational development strategies that have been developed in a number of the participating universities. It is intended that the conference delegates would then be invited to comment and contribute their experiences or suggestions on the issues raised. This may also provide an opportunity to link the website to other sites and resources and identify further case studies from the international community.

Denise Chalmers is Director of the Teaching and Educational Development Institute (TEDI), with over 50 staff. TEDI has responsibility for academic staff development, learning resource and educational multimedia development, evaluation of teaching and learning and the overall coordination of the University's staff development programs. The University of Queensland employs approximately 5000 staff, of whom 2200 hold academic or research positions. Denise has researched and published in the areas of professional development, teaching and learning in higher education, learning resource development and flexible delivery.

Rachel Hannam is the project coordinator for the AUTC Teaching Large Classes project and is based in the Teaching and Educational Development Institute. Rachel was responsible for the day to day management of the project, carrying out the literature review, organising the workshops and facilitating the development of the web resources.

Debra Herbert is a member of the Academic Consultancy and Evaluation group at the Teaching and Educational Development Institute, focusing on the evaluation of teaching and learning. Prior to joining TEDI, she was a research consultant and tutor at the School of Psychology.

Doune Macdonald is Associate Professor in Pedagogy in the School of Human Movement in the Faculty of Health. Doune teaches and researches in the areas of health and physical education curricula, physical education teacher education, teacher work and gender equity in physical activity and has published extensively in these areas. Doune was awarded a University Excellence in Teaching award in 1997 and an Australian University Teaching Award in Social Sciences in 1998.

Ron Weber is Professor of Information Systems in the School of Commerce and Research Director for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. Ron teaches and researches in the information systems and accounting areas, and he has published extensively in both Australian and international journals. Ron was awarded a UQ Excellence in Teaching award in 1999 and the Australian Prime Minister's University Teacher of the Year and Australian University Teaching Award in Business and Related Studies in 2000.

Contact: Denise Chalmers, email: d.chalmers@mailbox.uq.edu.au