Quality Enhancement
in Teaching and Learning Strategy
Associate Professor Mark Brown
Director, Teaching, Learning and Distance Education
Tertiary Education Summit
29th November 2011
Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Strategy
Quality Assurance
or
Quality Enhancement?
Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Strategy
Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Strategy
QA QE
Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Strategy
QA QE
Teaching Evaluations
Academic Development
Grants & Awards
Academic Fellows
Learning Design Tools
Peer Review
Key questions…
1. What do we mean by quality in learning and
teaching?
2. How do we design for quality learning
experiences?
3. What are the implications for institutions and
educators?
Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Strategy
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
• Three stories…
Twitter @mbrownz
A personal quality…
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
All the same or
unique, creative and distinctive?
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
An institutional quality…
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
Teachers Matter!
LMS VLE
“To provide an exceptional and distinctive experience for
all students through a rich digital learning culture.”
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
Wanted to avoid the dominant ‘pump,
pump, dump model’ of online (blended)
learning…
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
institution individual
clear standards creative flair
externally imposed requirements internally owned commitments
central quality police local professional responsibility
quality compliance quality culture
Key Tensions…
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
• Value laden
• Contestable
• Context bound
• Discipline specific
• A moving target
• But quality does exist
Definitions of quality are…
1. What Do We Mean by Quality in Teaching and Learning?
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
Teaching
Evaluation Data
Course Planning & Development Tools
Guidelines for Effective Practice
Accessibility
Guidelines
Course
Self-review ChecklistDesigns for
Learning
Resources forLearning
FacilitatingLearning
Assessment forLearning
EvaluatingTeaching
ProfessionalLearning
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
Quality Enhancement Framework…
ScholarlyPeer
Review
Effective PracticeGuidelines
AcademicDevelopment
Learning
Analytics
Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
Grantsand Awards
Designs forLearning
Resources forLearning
FacilitatingLearning
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
Quality Enhancement Framework…
Assessment forLearning
EvaluatingTeaching
ProfessionalLearning
Learning
Design Tools
• Why peer review
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
• Why peer review
• Principles of peer review
- owned by academics
- focus on paper design
- emphasis on formative feedback
- promote pedagogical conversations
- confidential to participants
- must have institutional alignment
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
http://peerreview.massey.ac.nz
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
Peer Review Framework
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
… an all encompassing term to cover the process, representation, sharing and evaluation of designs from
lower level activities right up to whole curriculum level designs.
Learning design is…
- macro designs- meso designs- micro designs
(Conole, 2010).
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
‘A key principle of learning design is to help
make the design process more explicit and shareable’
(Conole, 2010, p.482).
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
‘There is a gap between the potential of
technologies for learning and their actual use in practice’
(Conole, 2010, p.483).
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
‘Teachers lack the necessary skills to make
informed judgements about how to use
technologies and are bewildered by the possibilities’
(Conole, 2010, p.483).
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
http://compendiumld.open.ac.uk
http://www.phoebe.ox.ac.uk/
Emergence of design tools…
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
Learning Design Supporthttps://sites.google.com/a/lkl.ac.uk/ldse/Home
Conversational framework…
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
2. Where is eLearning heading?
Masterman, E., & Manton, M. (2011). Teachers’ perspectives on digital tools for pedagogic planning and design. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20 (2), 227-246.
Calculating the costs of pedagogy…
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
2. Where is eLearning heading?
Student Workload Calculatorhttp://www.massey.ac.nz/~arowatt/Mockup01.html
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
2. How Do You Design for Quality Learning Experiences?
• Consolidating data
• Sharing the evidence
• Implementing action plans
3. What are the Implications for Institutions and Educators?
• Promoting a high level of professional trust
• Giving responsibility for quality back to academics
• Building distributed leadership for teaching and
learning
Quality enhancement is about…
3. What are the Implications for Institutions and Educators?
“Not everything that can be counted counts, not
everything that counts can be counted”
Albert Einstein
Final Comment
http://tinyurl.com/solt-mbrown
Further Comments
• Walk the talk
• Digital scholarship
• Knowledge harvesting and
brokering
• Scratch pad for critical
thinking and reflection
• Wider impact with a
worldwide audience
Why I blog…
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
Questions
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/