Valuing teaching

Is teaching the poor cousin in a research-intensive university?

At our recent inaugural Alumni Forum I was asked to outline where the University of Adelaide sees itself in the future. Naturally, the University has already made much of our strategic aim to become one of the world's great research universities. However, I also said that we aim to have a much more student-centred university, where there is equal recognition of the value and importance of excellence in learning and teaching, and where the distinctiveness and rigour that our strong research culture gives our educational offering is recognised and valued.

I added that I expect to see more flexible options for the delivery of courses, including teaching in more blended modes with more online resources. We will be a university where the student experience is paramount.

This is not just rhetoric. These are real objectives with many examples of innovative initiatives already underway, and many examples of excellence. But what we need now is to take a 'whole of university' approach.

Late last month we officially launched a University-wide project, 'Excellence in Education', which brings together and gives new focus to a whole range of projects seeking to enhance learning and teaching. The overarching aim is to improve the student experience.

This five-year project encompasses initiatives in teaching quality, curriculum development, the quality of our offerings, facilities, IT services and policy development. An important part of this project is recognising and propagating best practice, and each year we will be awarding prizes to an academic from each faculty as recognition for their contribution. By the time you read this column our inaugural winners will have been announced.

Some of our innovation in this area has already won national recognition. The August issue of Adelaidean reported citations for outstanding contributions to student learning awarded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). Further to that, University of Adelaide staff this year have been awarded more than $1 million for projects to research learning and teaching issues that affect the whole of the tertiary sector.

Five projects were granted more than $200,000 each under the ALTC's competitive grants program. All have the potential to make significant differences to the student experience.

For instance, ARC Research Fellow Dr Russell Brinkworth from our School of Molecular and Biomedical Science is leading a large collaborative project involving the state's three universities to investigate and address the gaps between student expectation and their actual experience at university. This has significant impact on student satisfaction, performance and retention.

Another team led by the Head of the School of History and Politics, Professor David Lemmings, is investigating the use of MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments, as used in online gaming) to enhance the higher education curriculum, specifically within the humanities.

Mr Edward Palmer, Centre for Learning and Professional Development, and Associate Professor Peter Devitt, Discipline of Surgery, and team are developing blended learning resources within medical education; Professor Diane Mather, Professorial Research Fellow in the Discipline of Plant and Food Science, is leading a project to create innovative new resources for plant breeding education; and Professor Nick Harvey, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, will lead a project on the employability of Bachelor of Arts graduates.

Congratulations to everyone involved in these projects. There is no doubt that the outcomes from these and other initiatives underway across the University will play an important role in improving the student experience, not just at our own university but across the sector. Far from being a poor cousin, research-led teaching is a strength and of great value to our students.

PROFESSOR JAMES A. McWHA
Vice-Chancellor and President