Criterion 1

Good practice guides and other resources

 

Criterion 1 | Design and planning of learning activities

Narayan, B., & Edwards, S. (2011). Good practice report; curriculum renewal: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
This report provides a useful directory of good practice in curriculum renewal across a broad range of teaching disciplines and a review of the elements needed to make curriculum renewal relevant and successful. Key themes that emerge from the literature review are that best practice in curriculum renewal should; be directed at developing graduate attributes and authentic learning experiences, involve a continuous evidence based process, utilise collaboration with key stakeholders, reflect global change, address internationalism, diversity and equity of access, and utilise the development of online and digital tools.

Keppell, M., Suddaby, G., & Hard, N. (2011). Good practice report; technology-enhanced learning and technology: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
This report addresses the role, value and best practice use of technology in learning. Ten outcomes representing best practice in technology-enhanced learning were developed through the analysis of 33 projects. The authors describe a range of exemplar projects, highlighting the ways in which each project demonstrates the outcomes of good practice.

Partridge, H., Ponting, D., & McCay, M. Good practice report; blended learning: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
This report provides a good practice directory of exemplar projects in which varied teaching activities and technologies have been implemented to improve student engagement and learning outcomes.

Tewksbury, B.J. & MacDonald, R.H. (2005). On-line course design tutorial. From On the cutting edge.
This detailed online tutorial guides users through the process of articulating course goals/objectives and building a course or part of a course that meets those goals and assesses student learning. The tutorial explores a variety of student centred teaching techniques and emphasises the importance of rigorous, effective, and innovative course design. Links are provided to hundreds of activities and examples of ’goals’ and syllabi.The tutorial was originally developed for geoscience teachers, however, the processes and materials provided are transferable to the design of any field of study.

The University of Melbourne. (2008). Educating the Net Generation.
This project investigated how first year students and their teachers use traditional and emerging technology-based tools in their everyday lives and to support student learning. The results were then used to develop technology-based activities to enhance student learning including; student reflective journals through blogs, teacher provocateur and collaborative publishing through wiki, student-generated digital photo archives, student-generated podcasts and student sharing of online resources through social bookmarking. The activities were implemented within eight teaching and learning contexts across three partner universities. Details of the activities implemented, context, learning objectives, design of curriculum and assessment, set-up, staff and student support, and evaluation of the learning activities are documented in the handbook. General guidelines and recommendations for the use of emerging technologies in teaching are also provided.

Kinash, S., Kordyban, R., & Hives, L. (2012). What mobile learning looks like. Education technology solutions, 49, 55-56.
This brief article illustrates how mobile devices can be used to enhance learning. Good inspiration for teachers who are excited about the idea of mobile learning but do not really know what it means or how to use it.

Griffith University. Good practice guides.
These short guides offer practical advice on a range of teaching topics related to the design and planning of learning activities.

University of New South Wales. (2009). COFA.online; Learning to teach online.
This initiative was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council to support teachers in the effective use of online teaching tools. The database provides numerous ‘episodes’ focussing on different pedagogical issues. Each episode consists of a video and supporting pdf document. Contextualising episodes look at different pedagogical issues in detail, case studies demonstrate examples of best practise from teachers across universities and disciplines, and technical support episodes demonstrate how to start using the online technologies shown in the case studies and other episodes.

 

Videos

 Buckland, R. (2011). Gamification, assessment, and the joy of learning: University of New South Wales.
Richard Buckland discusses the innovative way in which he has restructured a first year computing course to inspire learning instead of enforcing it. He discusses the value and challenges associated with designing assessment for learning vs. using assessment as a motivational tool. He describes motivational strategies beyond assessment, such as the use of games and elearning technology to create a ‘learning community’. Through his presentation he also illustrates how enthusiasm, humor and narrative can be used to delineate concepts and engage an audience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elhdZyZzJTg&list=FLeVnXHV6mywfrbRH3UhZXtw[/youtube]

 

Buckland, R. (2009). Wikis in University Teaching and Learning: University of New South Wales. 
In this Seminar Richard Buckland describes how he has used wiki’s to promote student centered and collaborative learning. For example, he writes minimalistic lecture notes on a wiki and encourages students to alter and add to his notes over the semester so that by the end of the course they have excellent notes for revision. He prints the completed notes as a ‘course textbook’ that is given to the students at the final exam providing an incentive for the contributution of quality notes. The use of a wiki enables two-way flow of ideas, promotes collaborative learning and empowers students by giving them ownership over the notes/course content. He also talks about using wikis for student assignment submissions and reflective diaries. He discusses the benefits and challenges of using wiki’s and gives tips on what does and does not work from his experience. Richard’s case study demonstrates how technology can be used to facilitate student centered and collaborative learning, and how personal reflection and evaluation of practice can be used to inform change and improve student learning.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1-8OOrBi0o[/youtube]

 

University of New South Wales. (2008). UNSWelearning, Innovative Teaching: 3 case studies.
In this video three teachers reflect on their teaching strategies, what does and does not work for them and how they engage students. Some innovative teaching techniques are demonstrated, such as the use of games to engage students in lectures, blogging, optional assignments, and the use of podcasts to explain assignments instead of a traditional assignment outline. Featuring; Rebecca Lebard, James Arvanitakis and Tam Nguyen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU_o1DqDo0E[/youtube]