ASB Vision:
ASB aspires to excellence in all its endeavours and aims to sustain its
position as a great, world class, 'local' Australian Business School based
in Sydney.
Mission and values:
1. ASB was formally established with the merger of the Faculty of
Commerce and Economics and the Australian graduate School of
Management in 2007.
2. ASB is a constituent faculty of the University of New South Wales
(UNSW).
3. ASB values are aligned with UNSW policy and promote the development
of vibrant scholarly communities which support and recognise
improvements to both the student learning experience and to the
staff teaching experience.
4. The learning and teaching goals in ASB embody and contextualise the
UNSW aims in a discipline-focused implementation policy framework.
5. ASB continually seeks to add value to schools' activities, through
the emphasis and support of creative autonomy, diversity and self-
review.
6. ASB will always seek to, maximise benefits to staff and value-added
in a responsible manner and exercise due diligence by adopting a
two-pronged approach; referring staff to other UNSW providers such
as LTU, where preferable or where a more sustainable or cost-
effective service can be delivered by this means.
7. ASB seeks to encourage reflective development in the light of the
emerging trends in academics role descriptions, related changes in
'psychological contracts' and the changes in the general academic
milieu.
Framework of ASB Faculty goals include:
Providing colleagues in all schools, multiple opportunities for
capability enhancement / professional development in learning and
teaching at all stages of their academic professional career.
Incorporating curriculum development, implementation, evaluation and
student learning improvement by providing quality face-to-face /
virtual learning and teaching experiences.
Assist and support staff in the appropriate use and evaluation of
educational technologies for online learning, design and development
as well as the use of other discipline relevant online applications to
enhance student learning
Identify, recognise and encourage the sharing and adaptation of
outstanding learning and teaching practices and technologies.
Provide leadership in strategic planning, policy development and
implementation of best practice learning and teaching processes in
schools.
Continue the research, innovation and development of the optimum
virtual and face-to-face learning and teaching environments in ASB.
Initiate, guide and promote research and development in learning and
teaching to ensure that our educational practices are at the forefront
of discipline-based learning and teaching.
Efficiently and effectively respond to staff needs by utilising the
range of current UNSW services as well as faculty-based resources in
learning and teaching.
Liaising with LTU staff and directing faculty staff to LTU programs
as necessary in order to avoid duplication or overlap and rationalise
delivery of programs to staff.
Gibbs and Coffey (2004) investigated the effectiveness of formal training
programmes for university teachers in twenty-two institutions (in eight
countries). This study is useful because it examined the impact of such
training on the participating academics' classes of students and especially
on whether or not the students adopted deep or surface learning styles.
They concluded that there was indeed some evidence that students were less
likely to adopt surface learning approaches in those classes and they
attributed this finding to staff having undertaken a year long training
program.
To operationalise the above goals we have designed a structured, systematic
and strategically-aligned program of continued academic professional
development as outlined below.
Continued Academic Professional Development (CAPD)
Continuing Academic Professional Development (CAPD) is defined by the UK
Higher Education Academy as:
'...any process or activity, planned or otherwise, that contributes to an
increase in or the maintenance of knowledge, skills and personal qualities
related to learning and teaching and broader academic practice. This
includes appropriate research and scholarly activity and the leadership,
management and administration of academic provision and support.'
Higher Education Academy's Scheme for the Recording and Accreditation of
Continuing Professional Development (Revised December 2005)
Professional development most likely already forms an essential and
implicitly integrated part of everyday academic work for most staff. No
doubt too, most are continuously seeking ways to refine and enhance their
teaching, research and all the other contributions they make to the
overlapping and discrete communities of practice in school, faculty and
University.
Given the changing nature of academic life and activities and increasing
demands, staff needs might on occasion be better satisfied by reinforcing
the often implicit and informal processes with more explicit and formally
articulated activities designed to help them reflect on existing practices
and plan any necessary changes. And that is where CAPD may be able to help.
CAPD will focus on continuing professional development for experienced
academic staff as well as new staff in all areas of academic practice:
teaching, research, administration, personal and career development. CAPD
for ASB staff will tailor delivery and content to specific needs as well as
referring staff to appropriate others in LTU or university websites.
How can CAPD support academic staff?
Professional development ideas and practices need to be sensitive to the
variety of academic cultures within the different Schools in the faculty.
There is also no use denying that building a strong research profile is
still of central importance in an academic staff member's career plan in
most universities and the positioning of teaching vis-à-vis research is
still problematic, despite the widespread adoption of teacher-training
courses and teaching portfolios. There is considerable opportunity for
seeking synergy between the two roles of researcher and teacher, not just
in following Boyer's scholarship approach, but also in directly linking the
two roles as central, defining attributes of a modern academic.
Scoping studies of the school and individual needs within schools will be
carried out early in 2008 to establish what sorts of follow up courses and
programs would complement and/or supplement the FULT program provided by
the central UNSW Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU) for all new academics.
The EDU currently intends to offer tailored provision to meet the needs of
both individuals and schools, which may include:
Skills development for Researchers
Leadership development
Writing skills workshops
Benchmarking ASB against international best practice standards
Teaching development activities
Peer mentoring for new staff
Peer mentoring for experienced academics
Peer observation of teaching
Teaching portfolio development workshops
Use of emerging ICT in teaching
Some of the above will be developed in collaboration with colleagues from
the LTU, who may deliver some of the courses within the faculty.
We also recognise the need for a systematic L&T support infrastructure
within the faculty. As part of the establishment of such a system we
recognise the resource constraints in EDU as well as academics' preferred
approaches to personal development as indicated by research. Whilst they
are information-rich, making academic staff skilled and well-informed as
well as quick learners they are also usually also 'time poor'. Thus their
development must logically take due account of the latter characteristics.
The next three sections of the document outline current offerings and
proposed offerings. The modes of delivery and underpinning learning models
are variable to suit differing requirements and preferences. In the section
immediately following, an action learning program is proposed.
Action learning and Action research
In relation to ways that are preferred by academics in their personal and
professional development, research indicates that mentoring and coaching by
respected colleagues in their discipline are most favoured. In that regard,
we are also interested in forming some 'action-learning sets' to promote
facilitated peer-learning groups for professional development.
Action learning was originally used with managers but has since become
relatively common in many other fields such as teaching and nursing. Action
learning has been defined as a process whereby a group of people meet to
help each other to learn from their experience. The people may come from
different organisations, schools or institutions and may have a range of
individual problems they want solved. More often now the process involves
setting up action learning program within one organisation. It is not
unusual for a team to consist of people with a common task or problem
although they may come from different parts of the organisation. There may
or may not be a facilitator for the learning groups which are formed but it
is usually a good idea to have one initially to act as a catalyst and to
support people new to this form of learning.
Some people argue that Action Research goes beyond action learning and it
is usually defined as a process by which organisational change and
individual or team understanding can be pursued simultaneously. It is
usually described as cyclic, with action and critical reflection taking
place in turn as in the Kolb learning model (Kolb, 1984). The reflection
is used to review the previous action and plan the next one. As with Action
learning, it is usually a collective process of reflection and planning but
individuals may also use the reflection process to improve their practice.
We tend to see action learning and action research processes as almost
synonymous in practical terms when discussing learning and teaching but
with the capacity to be adapted to other purposes such as Organisational
development and use as a research method which can empower individuals and
teams to tackle a range of problems and issues.
So please let us know if you are interested in taking part in an action
learning set. Further activities can be planned in response to enquiries -
so please contact the Academic learning and Teaching Fellow in the
Australian School of Business, Dr. Tom Cockburn (
[email protected] )
to discuss your particular requirements.
Other forms of support for Staff
A list of courses and session time (below) refers to time in class and not
time on preparation or later advanced or follow on sessions or meetings
e.g. use of educational technology. Most are intended as short
introductions, so some preliminary diagnostic pre-test work as well as
later reinforcement sessions may occur. Alternatively, a period of time to
practice new skills (possibly with a peer or colleague from EDU/LTU giving
feedback) may be required following the session listed.
The courses below deal with some generic problems in teaching and learning
such as those outlined) by Stiles (2002) about technology use but which are
applicable more widely:
failure to engage the learner
mistaking interactivity for engagement
focusing on content rather than outcomes
mirroring traditional approaches on the technology
failure to recognise the social nature of learning
seeing discourse as the prime collaborative form.
(Stiles
2002)
"Workshop summary description "Maximum duration "
"Assessment "Half day "
"Course design "Half day "
"Effective communications "Half day "
"Lesson planning for success "Half day "
"Peer mentoring and coaching staff "Half day "
"Launching your new course effectively "Half day "
"Teaching critical thinking skills in your "Half day "
"discipline " "
"Managing tutors "Half day "
"Teaching big classes "Half day "
"Using cases and scenarios "Half day "
"Problem-based learning and teaching "Half day "
"Equity and diversity in practice "Half day "
"Student engagement "Half day "
"Manage time-kill stress "Half day "
"Team teaching "Half day "
"Calibrated peer review and teaching "Half day "
"Voice "2 hours "
"Podcasting "2 hours "
"Teaching small groups "Half day "
"Writing course outlines "2 hours "
"Reviewing course outlines "2 hours "
"Developing program proposals "2 hours "
"Enhancing international students' learning "Half day "
"experience " "
"Educational technology—work smarter " Half Day "
"Using L&T services at UNSW "2 hours "
Although some of these overlap to a degree, most of the offerings fall into
a number of straightforward categories as follows:
Teaching methods:
Assessment
Effective communications
Learning styles
Managing tutors
Calibrated peer review and teaching
Student engagement
Problem-based learning and teaching
Using cases and scenarios
Voice skills training
Teaching small groups
Podcasting
Supervision/ Management methods:
Assessment
Managing tutors
Managing educational technology
Student workload and OSH
Organising methods:
Managing tutors
Goals, Work/life balance and career management
Manage time-kill stress
Educational technology—work smarter
Using L&T services at UNSW
Introduction to teaching for postgraduates
Curriculum/course design methods:
Developing program proposals
Assessment
Course design
Effective communications
Teaching big classes
Managing tutors
Calibrated peer review and teaching
Student engagement
Equity and diversity in practice
The academic staff members are all adults and so key adult learning theory
informs the implementation and processes of learning and teaching.
Goals, Work/life balance and career management
Manage time-kill stress
Boosting personal Return on Investment for Learning and teaching tasks
Educational technology—working smarter
Scholarship of Learning and teaching
Coaching staff and students
Identifying and exploring relevant disciplinary 'Threshold concepts'
Action learning and research
Using cases and scenarios
Appendix 1: some sample course details
Writing course outlines:
(Insert new blurb from CC/TC on workshops for 2007/8)
Writing references for students
The aim of this workshop is to assist academic staff who are or may be
involved in writing references for students, either for employment or for
further study. The objectives are:
to consider concerns that students have about expressed about
approaching academic staff for references;
to consider employer views of the importance of accurate references as
a validation or 'check' of information (especially relating to
academic performance) character and punctuality references in the
context of the annual graduate recruitment cycle;
to consider views from within higher education on the importance of
references for further professional, vocational and academic study.
to consider the importance of using appropriate terminology in
references which conforms to fair and effective recruitment practice
and to the law;
to deal with staff queries about other aspects of reference writing.
The workshop will be facilitated by XXX.
REVIEWING LARGE GROUP TEACHING
This workshop will consider ways in which teachers can encourage greater
engagement and increase 'active learning' in large teaching settings such
as the Lecture. Topics covered will include the key purposes of the
Lecture, session design and structure, integrating a variety of teaching
approaches for large numbers of students and experimenting with the use of
interactive handouts.
The facilitator will be Dr XXX.
PREPARING TO SUPERVISE
This workshop is for staff who are new to, or who have recently started
supervising research students. The aim and purpose of the session is to
help staff to prepare to supervise; the objectives are to look at the key
areas of standards and professional relationships and then to address
specific concerns raised by participants. These might include, for example,
means of assisting students to choose topics, encouraging them to write and
reflect in a structured way as they proceed, giving feedback, supporting
completion processes or preparation for examination.
The facilitator will be XXX.
VOICE (2 workshops)
Our voices are obviously crucial to our ability to communicate effectively,
whether in teaching students or presenting conference papers or research
reports. The aims of these two sessions are:
to promote good vocal technique and vocal awareness
to show the importance of posture on voice production
to understand relaxation and ways to release tension
to discover how to make an impact physically and deal with nerves
to learn how to project and to use the voice expressively
to examine clarity in speech through articulation.
Best results are obtained by attendance at both workshops. It is not
possible to attend the second without going to the first one.
The facilitator will be XXX.
SMALL GROUP TEACHING
This practical workshop will consider the attributes of an effective and
stimulating small group teaching session. Looking specifically at seminars
and tutorials, the topics covered will include; the goals of SGT; a variety
of teaching approaches to support discussion; analysis of common problems
and the skills needed by a tutor/ facilitator.
The facilitator will be XXX.
PODCASTING (note: follow up with EdTech)
The aim of this workshop is to look at the uses of podcasting for academic,
research or other purposes. The objectives are:
to define podcasting;
to review the uses of podcasting in higher education;
to consider possible pitfalls in using podcasting and how to avoid
them.
This session will be facilitated by XXX. Teaching Technology Team will
be running a series of associated hands-on workshops explaining how to
podcast, including one immediately after this workshop.
DEALING WITH THE MEDIA: INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA RELATIONS AT UNSW
Academics are increasingly being encouraged by Government, funding bodies,
and others to disseminate their work more widely and engage the public on
topical debates in areas such as climate change, alternative energy,
terrorism, healthcare, education and much more.
Mass media coverage for your work can bring many benefits, including offers
of research collaboration and funding, political influence, and a higher
regional, national and international profile for you, your department and
UNSW University.
The purpose of this workshop is to assist you to deal with the media. The
objectives for participants:
to enhance their understanding of how to work successfully with the
media relations office and journalists;
to be able to identify potential news stories in their research and to
work with the media relations office to develop appealing media
packages;
to enhance awareness of how to communicate the right messages about
work to journalists and the public.
The course will be led by ASB/UNSW University's media relations team.
COURSE DESIGN
This half day workshop will focus on key issues in course design. At the
end of the session, participants will have experience of writing clear
learning outcomes, practised aligning outcomes, teaching approaches and
assessment approaches and discussed issues of benchmarking and appropriate
'levels' and scaffolding of academic standards through the three years of
an undergraduate degree program.
The facilitator will be XXX.
ENHANCING THE EXPERIENCE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
It is proposed that these sessions will not address any culture in
particular though consideration will be taken of the cultures to which
large numbers of our international students belong.
The objectives for the workshops are:
to improve understanding of the learning cultures from which our
international students come and their expectations of the learning
experience at ASB;
to share best practice in teaching international students;
to consider ways in which the learning experience of international
students at ASB could be improved.
The workshop will include an open discussion with participants on the
issues presented led by a panel consisting of:
Dean and/or Deputy Dean/Postgraduate Dean;
member of academic staff with experience of teaching international
students;
international student(s) representatives;
Relevant International liaison person.
Academic Learning and Teaching Fellow.
The facilitators will be XXX.
SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH STUDENTS
One of the key objectives of the faculty is to increase the numbers of
international students taking research degrees at ASB. The purpose of this
workshop is to look at the implications of this for research supervision,
in particular at the needs of international students and the ways in which
supervisors and schools can offer effective support.
The facilitators will be XXX.
DEVELOPING PROGRAM PROPOSALS
The university has recently introduced a revised system for approving new
program proposals. The purpose of this workshop is to support colleagues in
producing Part 1 proposals; the objectives are to consider:
establishing the domestic market for the program;
establishing the international market;
preparing a business case;
preparing a proposal.
EVALUATING TEACHING
This workshop will consider the range of reasons why teachers are
encouraged to evaluate and review their teaching practices and approaches.
Kolb's learning cycle and Schon's ideas of reflection in, and on, action
are used to underpin the workshop. However the thrust of the session will
be very practical and applied with a strong emphasis being given to the
effective use of peer observation of teaching and capturing informal
evaluative evidence in addition to more formally collected student,
questionnaire-based, feedback.
The facilitator will be …XXX.
USING STUDENT EVALUATION DATA
This workshop will consider the range of data available and review the
potential for both quantitative and qualitative forms of analysis.
Interpretation of the results and subsequent application to reflection and
review of learning and teaching as well as student expectations will be
considered. Practical application to your courses ensures that everyone
will leave the workshop with immediately relevant and timely suggestions
that can be used to good effect on your own courses.
The facilitator will be …XXX.
Appendix 2: Other Courses that may be offered in future
Academic Practice: Teaching, Research and Administration
Tutoring: Support for New Appointees
Lecturing: An Introduction
Lecturing Performance
Lecturing: Practice and Feedback
Teaching, Assessing and Supporting Students with Specific Learning
Difficulties: Workshop
Research Project Management for Principal Researchers
Leadership and Management Development
Project Management: A Practical Workshop
Project Management: A Practical Model and some Effective Tools
Women into Management
Assertiveness in Management
Managing and Developing Effective Teams
Managing Relationships at Work
Managing Staff Performance
Leadership and Motivation
Stress: A Manager's Responsibility
Time Management for those with Responsibility for Others
Developing Others
Coaching your Team
Facilitating Action Learning
Facilitating Groups for Creative Performance
Refresher workshop on training Skills for Occasional Trainers
Staff Review and Development
Staff Review and Development: For those who will be Reviewed
Staff Review and Development: For those who will Review Others
Team Working: How to be Effective
Managing People
Communication and Presentation
Assertiveness in Action
Communication and Cultural Awareness
Communication Skills Introduction: Are you receiving me?
Communication Skills Advanced: Was it something I said?
Key Skills in Listening to, Communicating with and Supporting Individuals
Media Interviews: Making the Most of Them
Presentation Tools: PowerPoint and Data Projectors
Presentation Skills: An Introduction
Presentation Skills for Conferences
Voice and Presentation: One-to-One
Voice and Pronunciation for Non-native English Speakers
Professional Skills in the Workplace
Commercial Exploitation: How to Write a Business Plan
Handling Difficult People
Team Working: How to be Effective
Negotiation Skills: An Introduction
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
Time Management
Dealing with Emotional Distress
Personal Development
A Personal Development Program for Men
A Women's Development Program
Stress, Relaxation and Coping
Career Development
Career Planning for Researchers: Five Years on - Now What?
Career Review and Planning for Contract Research Staff
Early Career Review for Research and Teaching Staff
Develop your Career: Job Search and Application Skills for Academic and
Contract Research Staff
Develop your Career: Interview Techniques for Academic and Contract
Research Staff
Develop your Career: Job Search and Application Skills
Develop your Career: Interview Techniques
Policies, Procedures and Legislation
Data Protection: An Introduction
Freedom of Information: Getting to Grips
Religion and Belief: Equality in Practice
Your Contribution to Race Equality
Your role in avoiding ageism, sexism and other forms of unlawful
discrimination
Fostering Dignity at Work and Managing Bullying and Harassment Complaints
Recruitment and Selection Skills
Recruitment: Making it Fair
Risk Management
ASB teaching awards preparation
Preparing evidence
Presentation plans
Appendix 3: academic role description
"Teaching "Scholarship of "Research "Service and engagement "
" "learning and teaching " " "
"Demonstrates familiarity" "Activities that fulfil the "Contributing to activities that"
"with the developments "Practising, "DEST criteria for research."benefit the school "
"and current ideas in "evaluating, innovating" " "
"your discipline. "and communicating " "Providing leadership in any "
" "improvement in "Undertaking ancillary "area of university activity. "
"Teaching (and related "learning processes, "activities that support " "
"administration) in a "curricula and teaching"research including: "Providing effective links "
"discipline context. "materials used in "Staff management of those "between the University and the "
" "class. "directly engaged in "external stakeholder community."
"Supervision of " "research or those who " "
"students doing research."Understanding how "provide some professional, "Teaching that is informed by "
" "people learn and "technical or clerical "professional best practice and "
" "effective practices "support to researchers. "legitimate needs of government "
"Continuous Review and "in the context of the " "and industry. "
"improvement of "discipline relating "Postgraduate Research " "
"curricula, teaching "these practices to "student supervision "Providing students with "
"materials and methods. "relevant academic and " "opportunities for community "
" "professional "Research commercialisation "engagement. "
"Applying new ideas and "standards. "and technology-transfer " "
"innovations to teaching " "related activities. "Ensuring enhanced standing for "
"practice. "Applying the above " "the university, faculty and "
" "understanding to "Publishing SOLT research "school as well as the relevant "
" "Praxis, theory "and disseminating in "discipline or profession "
"Integrating Scholarship "development or "school/faculty "locally, nationally or "
"of learning and teaching"generation of teaching" "internationally. "
"research into practice "models. " " "
"reflexively " " " "
" " " " "
See also Cross-skilling policy
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