Faculty of Arts

TLC Library

The TLC Library is a depository of relevant and topical academic literature on teaching and learning. It is designed to provide a robust pedagogical background and a wealth of information to enrich the Arts community’s thinking about teaching and learning.

Practice-Based Learning Exchange

Integrating Practice in the Curriculum: The Practice-Based Learning Exchange Project (2009)

Are you already involved in coordinating student internships or placements, or are you thinking about doing so?
Are you interested in integrating links to professional practice into the curriculum?

Below you will find links to resources developed during an Australian Learning and Teaching Institute funded research project entitled 'Engaging with learning: Understanding the Impacts of Practice-Based Learning Exchange'. There are four separate short reports available, all of which you may find useful. One for teaching staff, one for students, one for partner organisations who host students during their practice and one for university leaders. Each report ends with a checklist of essential considerations. You can also read the full project report which details the research objectives, methodology and complete findings.


Discussion Papers from the Arts Teaching and Learning Committee

Online Learning Materials: Lectopia and Readings Online

This paper will present new, exciting and innovative online learning materials that facilitate the engaging delivery of course materials and content, foster the development of foundational learning skills through this engagement, and augment an overall positive student experience. This is not an exhaustive review of online learning tools, instead it provides an analysis of two key online resources already available at the University of Melbourne.

Arts Teaching and Learning Committee, August 2007.
Online Learning Materials: Lectopia and Readings Online


Teaching and Learning at the University of Melbourne

Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning in the University of Melbourne

Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning in the University of Melbourne is a statement on the scholarship of teaching and learning in a research-led University and a reference guide to good practice and University resources. It was developed on behalf of the Academic Board by Richard James and Gabrielle Baldwin of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education and adopted by the Academic Board on 18 April 2002.

James, Richard, and Gabrielle Baldwin. (2002) Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning in the University of Melbourne.
Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne.
www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/9principles.pdf


Online Learning

Audio Recordings of Lectures as an E-Learning Resource

This paper is concerned with how technological and other changes have affected the advantages and disadvantages of making audio recordings of lectures available as a learning resource. Factors considered include the cost of producing such a resource and how it can be published to a web enabled, e-learning environment. Also discussed are possible changes to lecture delivery to maximise the usability of the audio recordings. Student reaction to the audio files is investigated using student questionnaires. The questionnaires indicate that many students make significant use of audio resources and that this activity can play a valuable role in the learning process. However, an analysis of end-of module examination performance showed no consistent relationship between audio file usage and examination performance. In conclusion it is argued that publishing audio recordings of traditional lectures via a web-enabled, e-learning system offers a cost-effective way to enhance the educational experience of the learner.

Balfour, James A.D. (2006) Audio Recordings of Lectures as an E-Learning Resource.
Discussion paper presented to the Built Environment Education Annual Conference (BEECON 2006), Higher Education Academy, Edinburgh.
www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/news/events/beecon2006/pdf/P24_Jim_Balfour.pdf


On-Demand Internet Transmitted Lecture Recordings: Attempting to Enhance and Support the Lecture Experience

This paper investigates the development, role and effectiveness of an on-demand internettransmitted lecture recording system. This system, and others like it, can be considered to offer an institution-wide opportunity to enhance and support the traditional lecture in an online environment; to offer some improvements to the acknowledged limitations of the lecture method. This paper considers the impacts on students, particularly in relation to the quality of their learning experience. As an expanding e-learning area, the effectiveness of on-demand internet-transmitted lecture recordings require further exploration and offer a challenge to educational technology researchers. This paper attempts to consider these questions, within a framework of existing research into the lecture method and student learning styles.

Williams, Jocasta and Michael Fardon. (2005) On-Demand Internet Transmitted Lecture Recordings: Attempting to Enhance and Support the Lecture Experience.
Conference Proceedings at the 12th Association of Learning Technology International Conference, University of Manchester.
www.lectopia.uwa.edu.au/misc/WilliamsFardon_ALT-C_2005.pdf


Does Attendance Matter? An Examination of Student Attitudes, Participation, Performance and Attendance

Non attendance of lectures and tutorials appears to be a growing trend. The literature suggests many possible reasons including students’ changing lifestyle, attitudes, teaching and technology. This paper looks at the reasons for non attendance of students in the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Wollongong and identifies relationships between attendance, participation and performance. The results indicate that there are valid reasons for non attendance that are both in the control of learners and teachers. There are also clear benefits for students to be gained in attendance; however, changes in the way we learn, teach, assess and use technology are recommended if we wish to reverse the trend.

Massingham, Peter and Tony Herrington. (2006) 'Does Attendance Matter? An Examination of Student Attitudes, Participation, Performance and Attendance', Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Vol 3/2.
jutlp.uow.edu.au/2006_v03_i02/pdf/massingham_008.pdf


Digital Lectures: If You Make Them, Will Students Use Them? Constraints on Effective Delivery of Flexible Learning Systems

Preparing courses for flexible delivery and distance education is normally a time-consuming and expensive process. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a system that automatically captures and indexes audio and video streams of traditional university lectures without demanding any changes in the style or tools used by teachers. Using a wizard-of-oz technique to simulate the automatic indexing, we ran a four-month trial of the system in a large (746 students) first year Computer Studies course. The results reveal some surprising social implications about making flexible delivery available to students at a residential university. Early in the trial, many students expressed an intention to use the system, but few did. Late in the course, many students stated that they urgently needed the system for revision, but even fewer used it. At the same time, lecture attendance appeared to be lower than normal. We hypothesise that the availability of a flexible alternative to lectures removed the necessity of attending lectures, and that students deceived themselves about their intentions to catch up using the digital medium. A survey of students was conducted to discover the reasons for non-use. Results of that survey showed that other time pressures and logistics problems hampered usage. Recommendations for addressing such challenges are included.

Bell, Tim, Andy Cockburn, Bruce McKenzie, et.al., 'Digital Lectures: If You Make Them, Will Students Use Them? Constraints on Effective Delivery of Flexible Learning Systems', Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning, Wake Forest University, USA.
imej.wfu.edu/articles/2001/2/06/index.asp


Student Engagement

Organising First Year Engagement around Learning: Formal and Informal Curriculum Intervention

Institutions are extremely sensitive about the imperative to ‘deal with’ student diversity in all of its diversity, whether that presents as student culture, background, preparedness for study, ability or expectations. In the first university year, students say their transition is difficult and lonely; while reduced public funding and massification of the sector have exacerbated student disengagement through impersonal large classes and growing rates of academic casualisation. This paper discusses a “whole-of-course” response to the dynamics of the first year experience. A two-pronged approach will be suggested that embeds the basic skills-set necessary for tertiary success into core curriculum and then supports this in-class learning with a range of out-of-class strategies that emphasise retention and learning engagement. An analysis of student feedback on the transitional strategies is also presented.

Kift, S. (2004) Organising First Year Engagement Around Leaning: Formal and Informal Curriculum intervention
Keynote Address presented the 8th the International First Year in Higher Education Conference, Melbourne, 14-16 July 2004.
www.fyhe.qut.edu.au/past_papers/Papers04/Sally%20Kift_paper.doc


Understanding and promoting student engagement in university learning communities

The word ‘engagement’ has been used to describe a myriad of student behaviours and attitudes which are deemed essential to a high quality undergraduate learning experience. But have we stretched 'engagement' as far as it should go, or are we simply using old paradigms to interpret changing student experiences in a new millennium? This paper uses national student experience data to challenge some of the current thinking about engagement - what it is and how we best foster it. Drawing on empirical evidence, the paper concludes by identifying strategies for understanding, monitoring and promoting learning community engagement within and beyond the classroom.

Krause, K. (2005) Understanding and promoting student engagement in university learning communities.
Keynote Address presented at Sharing Scholarship in Learning and Teaching: Engaging Students Symposium, James Cook University Townsville/Cairns, Queensland, 21-22 September 2005.
www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/Stud_eng.pdf


Student Perceptions of active learning in a large cross-disciplinary classroom

This investigation reports on a study that assesses how students value active, cooperative, and traditional learning activities within a single large cross-disciplinary class. The study surveyed students' perceived value of a range of teaching techniques (from traditional to cooperative) utilized within a general education class. Students rated the various techniques on an ordinal scale and the values were statistically compared using a mean difference (paired sample) test. The study was replicated four times over four semesters, where class size ranged from 125 to 180.The study found that students valued lectures and being active. From the students' perspective, however, working with others (cooperative learning) diminishes the value significantly. Any activity, be it active, cooperative or traditional, that directly relates to improving exam performance was the most valued of all.

Machemer, P.L. and Crawford, P. (2007) 'Student Perceptions of active learning in a large cross-disciplinary classroom'. Active Learning in Higher Education, 8(1): 9-30.
Source this article through the Library’s online Supasearch: tinyurl.com/yub6bh


Teaching Large Classes

Teaching Large Classes: The AUTC Project (2001)

The Teaching Large Classes project was funded by the Australian Universities Teaching Committee (AUTC), a national body aimed at improving teaching and learning in Australian universities, through the identification of emerging issues in teaching and learning, supporting the identification of effective strategies for enhancing learning, and encouraging the dissemination and adoption of these methods across the Australian university sector.


The project provides a review of literature relating to:

The project also provides a broad set of guidelines for teaching large classes that are contextualised by several case studies.

See Teaching Large Classes, AUTC project
www.tedi.uq.edu.au/largeclasses/


Assessing Learning in Australian Universities: Ideas, strategies and resources for quality in student assessment

After a decade of rapid expansion in Australian higher education, student numbers have grown considerably in many courses and subjects, especially at the undergraduate level. Larger class sizes pose significant teaching challenges, not least in the assessment of student learning. Perhaps most troubling, large classes may limit the amount of feedback provided to students.

Devlin, Marcia (2002) Assessing Learning in Australian Universities: Ideas, strategies and resources for quality in student assessment, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne.
www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/docs/Large.pdf


Less Lecturing, More Learning

In this paper we describe the results of a three-year study of the introduction of small group teaching and learning techniques into a large, first-year course. Such techniques have had many advocates in the literature, but there are few reports of implementation and evaluation. Many teachers are reluctant to embrace these techniques because they do not know where and how to start. A report of implementation, like this one, can provide a model (first draft) for other teachers to revise. It may also encourage some to take the plunge. The most common reason given for the reluctance to introduce small group teaching is the lack of resources. We show how these techniques can be introduced in large classes with no increase in resources.

Jackson, M.W. and Prosser, M.T. (1989) Less Lecturing, More Learning. Studies in Higher Education, 14 (1): 55-68.
Source this article through the Library’s online Supasearch: tinyurl.com/2eu3j8 (select MetaPress)


Intensive Teaching

Intensive teaching formats: A review

This paper reviews the literature on the use of intensive teaching formats in the tertiary sector. The paper begins with a summary of recent changes in higher education which have led to the consideration of intensive teaching as a mode of learning. The paper then addresses two principal issues: the advantages and disadvantages of intensive teaching formats and the main learning issues involved. The paper will identify some of the main themes in this literature concentrating on the literature in the tertiary sector. It then draws some tentative conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of intensive teaching formats.

Davies, W.M. (2006) 'Intensive teaching formats: A review'. Issues in Educational Research, 16(1): 1-21.
Intensive teaching formats: A review


Intensive teaching formats: Report of the Working Group

The Working Group was set up by Associate Dean Greg Whitwell (Melbourne Graduate School of Management) to provide the following in regard to postgraduate students:

Report of the Working Group


The Organisation of the Academic Year: Trends, implications and issues

This paper describes the changing structure of the academic year in Australian universities towards enrolments in 'non-standard' teaching periods outside the two main semesters. The paper also provides a detailed analysis of how proposed structural changes may impact on the core activities of the university - teaching, learning and research. The main issues to be considered are the possible effects on sequential learning, student intellectual development and maturation, the student on-campus experience, and the nature of academic work.

The Organisation of the Academic Year


See also:

Centre for the Study of Higher Education:
http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au

Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning:
http://bokcenter.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do

 

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