Abstract
In the current higher education environment, providing high quality teaching and learning experiences to students has moved beyond desirable to essential. Quality improvement takes many forms, but one core aspect to ensure sustainable improvement is the development of a culture of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Developing such an institutional culture is surprisingly challenging yet essential to improving the status of teaching in higher education (HE), being successful in teaching and learning awards and grants, and, improving the student experience. The Australian Government’s Promoting Excellence Network initiative funds networks to foster collaboration between HE institutions to improve outcomes in national learning and teaching award and grant programs. Supported by this funding, the South Australian / Northern Territory Promoting Excellence Network (SANTPEN), a grouping of six institutions, formed. Bringing together a diverse network of institutions, similar only by virtue of geographic location is challenging. This paper describes the first three years of SANTPEN’s journey from the context of our own development with the concept of SoTL and how we applied this to build a culture of SoTL in and between our institutions. It also demonstrates how a modest budget can be put to effective use to benefit those immediately involved, institutional objectives and the aims of the national funding body. We provide evidence of this effectiveness and conclude with our collective aspirations for the future of SANTPEN and other likeminded and funded networks.
Highlights
The South Australia/Northern Territory Promoting Excellence Network (SANTPEN) was established as one of five national Promoting Excellence Networks in September 2011, under the umbrella of the funding body, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). This program provided a small amount of funding for two years with the aim of developing structures focussed on the recognition and promotion of “good practice in learning and teaching” (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2010, p. 4) and “to build and consolidate the capacity of higher education institutions to engage constructively with the programs of the ALTC” (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2011, p. 2)
In the first round of funding SANPTEN held six events: two in Darwin (NT) and four in Adelaide (SA). These included a variety of guest speakers and workshop activities related to the development of award and grant applications
Broad fields of education have been identified in accordance with the Australian Standard Classification of Education (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015a)
Summary
The South Australia/Northern Territory Promoting Excellence Network (SANTPEN) was established as one of five national Promoting Excellence Networks in September 2011, under the umbrella of the funding body, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). This program provided a small amount of funding for two years (approximately $25,000 per annum) with the aim of developing structures focussed on the recognition and promotion of “good practice in learning and teaching” These were pivotal considerations during the development of SANTPEN’s aims and deliverables
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