June 16, 2015
National collaborative program helps promote recognition of excellence in learning and teaching
A University of Wollongong academic has recently successfully led ground-breaking work facilitating national collaboration in supporting higher education (HE) institutions to enhance their processes, policies, strategies and infrastructure for the reward, recognition and promotion of teaching.
Pictured at the Showcase Day held at UOW’s Circular Quay Sydney Business School are (from left) Professor Patrick Crookes; Director of the OLT, Di Weddell; Associate Professor Christine Brown; and Dr Marcus O’Donnell.
Representatives from 12 Australian HE institutions presented the outcomes of their work at a national showcase event hosted by Professor Patrick Crookes at the University of Wollongong’s Sydney Business School in Circular Quay.
“This is a significant initiative which has seen the development and evaluation of an effective system to promote collaborative innovation in learning and teaching across the nation,” according to Professor Crookes.
Professor Crookes was seconded to the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) in 2013 charged with the responsibility of setting up and piloting such a system as a means of facilitating innovation and collaboration in the Australian higher education sector. He developed and coordinated the Transforming Practice Program (TPP) within the OLT in conjunction with the Higher Education Academy in the UK. The program involved a number of academic transfers between the two countries.
“Having an external entity such as the OLT drive this program provided a critical level of credibility, both for me and for the teams involved,” said Professor Crookes who is also the Director of the Wollongong Academy for Tertiary Teaching and Learning Experience (WATTLE).
Participating universities, under the direction of the TPP, assembled small teams (usually five people) from diverse areas across each institution to develop initiatives to promote, recognise and/or reward excellence in learning and teaching internally. The participants all reported that over the time since the inception of the program they had achieved meaningful change in this area.
UOW’s team led by Associate Professor Christine Brown from Learning, Teaching and Curriculum; also consisted of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Eeva Leinonen; Dr Marcus O’Donnell from the School of Arts, English and Media; Ms Lorraine Denny, the Manager of Professional and Organisational Development Services; and student Bradley Parkinson.
Professor Crookes said another key component of the program was the sharing of ideas, expertise and experiences between Australian and UK higher education institutions, facilitated by the TPP program. It is hoped such work will lead to academics being confident to focus on teaching as a valued career path in academia.
Professor Crookes said it was also hoped that other TPP programs will run focusing on other important issues for the sector, given that the pilot has shown what can be achieved via collaboration.
Before taking up his OLT secondment, Professor Crookes was Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Wollongong, as well as Chair of the Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (CDNM) ANZ. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and texts focused on evidence-based practice and change management. Professor Crookes is currently preparing a report and recommendations for the OLT based on the evaluation of the pilot TPP program.