Abstracts
Creating a Sustainable Culture of Learning and Teaching with Technology: Challenges and Strategies
Monday 4 May 2009, 1130 - 1200
Presenter: Gary Williams
The University of Tasmania, TAS
Presenter Biography
Dr Williams leads a team of educational developers at The University of Tasmania and is the coordinator of two units in the UTAS Graduate Certificate of University Learning and Teaching. These units are ‘Foundations of University Learning and Teaching’ and ‘Innovation and Leadership’. He also lectures in the fully online Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education offered by the Faculty of Education.
Abstract
Most Australian universities require commencing academic staff to complete a foundation learning and teaching unit that introduces the university’s regulations and guidelines, whilst refining their abilities to design engaging learning environments. Typically, staff completing such units are early career academics, and whilst there is great potential to encourage sustainable and innovative technology practices, staff face competing time demands associated with their roles as lecturers, researchers, administrators and community contributors.
This paper, with due consideration of the literature and the Australian context, reports upon challenges at The University of Tasmania in developing the curriculum for a ‘Foundations of University Learning and Teaching’ unit. This is completed by up to 60 staff each year and serves two purposes - a probation requirement for new staff and the first of four units in a Graduate Certificate.
Whilst the intention is to integrate consideration of, and practice in, learning and teaching technologies there are many factors that cause curriculum tension. There is a need to balance consideration of social networking environments, web services outside of the university network and open-source environments with the university’s course management system and the reality that online learning is only one environment in a university where on-campus lectures, tutorials and laboratories dominate.
This paper describes strategies for ensuring early career academics are exposed to, and are able to practice using, emerging learning and teaching technologies. These strategies have been formulated through the collection of sources of evidence from a variety of perspectives, using a variety of methods, over the past three years.
