About the project

This project was funded by the Australian Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) and is a joint initiative by Australian universities involving; the University of Western Australia, Murdoch, Curtin, Edith Cowan and Notre Dame.

The project was designed to respond to significant changes in the higher education sector. The growth in demand for higher education, the increase in global competition, the broadening of student demographics and the availability of technology have heralded a need for diversified pedagogical approaches to ensure quality learning outcomes.

Development and trial of the quality teaching framework

The strategic goals of the project were to promote a shift in university culture through the development of a tool to support quality teaching practices, and to lift the profile of teaching and learning through implementation of the project deliverables in collaboration with academic networks in Australia and overseas. These strategic aims were met through a two-stage project that produced a fully trialled and functional quality teaching framework. For more information download the project report.

Embedding the framework in Australian universities

The project team designed an implementation program to support institutions across Australia to use the framework as a guide to developing their own teaching criteria and standards, and to embed them into their institutional processes (recruitment, probation, staff review, staff development and promotion).

Participating universities were invited to attend a series of two workshops in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. The first workshop focused on each institutions context and the development of their own teaching criteria and implementation strategy. The second workshop focused on identifying successful strategies for embedding those teaching criteria and standards into institutional policy and processes. In addition to the workshops, the project team supported and communicated with teams to support sustained progress. Twenty one universities participated in the workshops. Participating universities were asked to share their implementation experience and lessons learnt with the sector at the end of the project. More information about the implementation process, case studies and good practice recommendations for use and implementation of the framework can be found here.

Team Members

Denise Chalmers (Project Co-leader), The University of Western Australia
Rick Cummings (Project Co-leader), Murdoch University
Sofia Elliott, The University of Notre Dame
Sue Stoney, Edith Cowen University
Beatrice Tucker, Curtin University
Rachel Wicking, The University of Western Australia
Trina Jorre de St Jorre, The University of Western Australia

Reference Group

Ann Capling, Murdoch University
Mark Israel, The University of Western Australia
Siobhan Lenihan, Office of Learning and Teaching
Ron Oliver, Edith Cowan University
Sandra Wills, University of Wollongong

Evaluator

Paul Chesterton