UNHE503 - Scholarship in Higher Education

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

UNHE505 Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education or HLSC663 Simulation Design and Delivery in Higher Education or UNMC560 Designing and Implementing Technology-enabled Learning Activities in Higher Education

Unit rationale, description and aim

To be professionally capable as a tertiary educator you need to inform your practice through skills of scholarship in learning and teaching. Thus, this unit is designed as a capstone to build on the preceding three by developing your skills in scholarship of teaching and/or research in higher education including Indigenous Higher Education. By its nature there is flexibility offered to you, but the common element is that you will complete a learning and teaching development 'project' of some kind that is informed by the application of scholarship including Indigenous research methodologies if appropriate. You may choose to pursue a strategically important Learning and Teaching development project in your school or faculty. This may take the form of (for example) policy analysis and development or the evaluation of existing practices. Alternately, you may: prepare a learning and teaching grant application; extend your work from the previous unit by developing learning and teaching innovations involving the use of eLearning technology; prepare a Learning and Teaching excellence award application; seek to author a Learning and Teaching scholarship paper as a foundation step to developing a refereed journal article; or seek to obtain, select and present evidence (often involving some personal transformation) that illustrates your teaching excellence in the form of an ePortfolio structured in accordance with the ACU Learning and Teaching Standards Criteria Framework.

Therefore, the aim of this unit is to develop your skills of scholarship in teaching and learning.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Communicate knowledge of research ethics in the scholarship of learning and teaching context. (GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Apply sophisticated knowledge and deep understanding of adult learning and teaching theory and practice (including the use of quality assurance practices and eLearning technologies as applicable) to a learning and teaching 'project'. (GA3, GA4, GA5, GA6)

LO3 - Demonstrate basic skills in scholarship by critically and reflectively reviewing the processes to date of undertaking one or more of the following: learning and teaching research; a selection of academic leadership activities such as policy review; the development of a portfolio of evidence of excellence in teaching; the preparation of an application for an award for excellence in teaching; or, the development of a learning and teaching research and developmental proposal. (GA2,GA3, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA8)

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

Topics will include: 

Module 1 - Ethics

• Research ethics, including research ethics in Indigenous contexts, in the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching context

Module 2 - Design

• Scholarship in Learning and teaching research including Indigenous research methodologies and the ACU mission
• Teaching and professional practice as a scholarly activity

Module 3 - Reflection

• Inquiry-based reflection as a means of improving professional practice
• Application of research findings to professional practice

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

To maximise flexibility and engagement for all students and therefore foster learning opportunity student centred, self-paced learning is an underpinning strategy adopted within this unit. It follows that you will be expected to interact with your peers, contribute to online discussions and contribute to a pool of shared resources. You will also be expected to keep a reflective journal supporting your ability to engage in critical self-reflection. Engagement with teaching staff in this fully online unit will be facilitated through primarily through online forums. This online engagement will be supplemented by phone and email communication as required by individual students.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for you to demonstrate your achievement of each learning outcome. These tasks follow the logical narrative sequence of adult learning theories related to constructive alignment. The first two unit learning outcomes have assessment tasks related to them that allow you to demonstrate knowledge acquisition and comprehension. This is done in two ways. First, you will create a presentation of your knowledge of ethics in learning and teaching research practice. Second, you will design the foundation for a potential learning and teaching research project, grant application, journal article or other appropriate project. The final learning outcome is more focussed on the application of knowledge and understanding. To assess this you will write a narrative that critically reflects upon the development of your learning and teaching project over the course of the semester and the course.

Overview of assessments

* or an equivalent task which tests the achievement of the relevant learning outcomes

Representative texts and references

Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university (4th ed.). New York: Open University Press.

Bell, J. (2014). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers (UK Higher Education OUP Humanities & Social Sciences Study). Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.

Campbell, A., McNamara, O., & Gilroy, P. (2004). Practitioner research and professional development in education. London: Paul Chapman.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research methods in education (8th ed.). London: Routledge.

Creswell, J. (2013) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

 Creswell, J. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Creswell, J. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Creswell, J. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Mackinlay, E., & Nakata, M. (2016). Editorial. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 46(2), iii-iii. doi 10.1017/jie.2017.26

Trigwell, K., Martin, E., Benjamin, J., & Prosser, M. (c. 2011). Scholarship of teaching: A model. Retrieved from http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/projects/scholarshipproject/model.htm