Abstract
<p class="JLDAbstract">This paper reports on the learning designs, teaching methods and activities most commonly employed within the disciplines in six universities in Australia. The study sought to establish if there were significant differences between the disciplines in learning designs, teaching methods and teaching activities in the current Australian context, as was reported in Scott’s Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) analysis (2006). Although it found a broad range of teaching approaches are used in all disciplines, it emerged that there was still some bias toward the traditional discipline stereotypes, which in some cases has been found to negatively affect student engagement.</p><p class="JLDAbstract">Additionally, while there was a general awareness amongst study participants about the importance of responding to student evaluations of teaching, improvements to teaching and learning practice were most commonly adopted without reference to current research or professional advice, and rarely was advice sought outside their discipline. Although a small-scale study such as this could not be said to be wholly representative of the higher education sector in Australia, these initial findings might indicate a need for administrators to acknowledge the role of quality teaching in maximising student engagement and its relationship to student retention by encouraging the study of learning and teaching as a routine part of lecturers’ practice.</p>
Highlights
The introduction of the Higher Education Standards Framework1 as part of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Act of 20112 has firmly established the importance of Learning Design in the higher education sector in Australia
As the literature refers to certain traditions of teaching methods within disciplines (Cameron, 2013; Kolb, 1981; Neumann, et al, 2002; Shulman, 2005), participants were asked to report on what learning designs, teaching methods and teaching activities have been used for a long time in their discipline
While a study of this scale cannot be wholly representative of the entire higher education sector, it has provided a variety of views from a range of disciplines in six universities in Australia
Summary
The introduction of the Higher Education Standards Framework as part of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Act of 20112 has firmly established the importance of Learning Design in the higher education sector in Australia. The Framework outlines that higher education institutions should be monitoring student attrition rates (TEQSA, 2013, Sec 5.4). With this clear focus on course coherence and pedagogical approaches, and how they relate to. See for more information on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Vol 10 No 2. Scott (2006) found a positive correlation between particular learning designs, teaching methods and activities and student engagement and noted differences between disciplines. The teaching approaches that were most favourably correlated were more “typically” used in some disciplines than others
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