Digital Commons Network^™

Experiences Of Sessional Educators Within An Australian Undergraduate Paramedic Program, Brett Williams, Bronwyn Beovich

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Background: The use of casual staff within the university undergraduate educational setting is a widespread phenomenon worldwide. However a lack of understanding exists regarding experiences of recruitment, support, professional development and other perceived professional needs in this area. Although previous studies of the experience of sessional educators have been reported in the literature, this is the first to describe experiences within the paramedic discipline.

Objectives: To explore the experiences of sessional educators in an undergraduate program within the paramedic department of a university in Melbourne, Australia.

Methods: A qualitative methodology was used that involved 10 semi-structured interviews with a purposive …

Introducing Mobile Technologies: Preparatory Staff Development Issues, Ian Olney, Geraldine E. Lefoe

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper explores some of the staff development issues relating to the implementation of a mobile technology project involving academics and students in a Faculty of Education at a regional university. This project has been established to explore new pedagogies that may be associated with the use of mobile learning technologies in teaching and learning activities. The staff development process was approached through the provision of opportunity for staff to own and use mobile technology in their professional and personal contexts prior to their engagement with students. These provided a lead-up time for staff to think differently about how they …

Modelling Blended Learning Environments: Designing An Academic Development Blog, Geraldine E. Lefoe, Wendy Meyers

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

A major challenge facing academic developers is meeting the development needs of both time poor academics and those staff in multi-location campuses, especially sessional tutors, who may start teaching several weeks before electronic access is enabled. Necessary restrictions placed on access to local intranet and Learning Management Systems meant rethinking how to meet the needs of all staff and in the process model good practice through the use of blended learning environments. One regional university, with seven national and one international campus, is currently redesigning their staff development program to incorporate the use of blogs and wikis to provide access …

Learning Design At The University Of Wollongong, S. R. Lambert

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper describes the work done by the author to develop and document a Learning Design process at CEDIR, a centrally funded and located educational development support unit at the University of Wollongong. CEDIR works with educational technology as an intrinsic part of educational design. The Learning Design unit was set up in January 2002 with the aim of ensuring sound pedagogical design of CEDIR educational products and to maximise staff development opportunities during their development The new service processes and tools developed to facilitate these aims have been further refined and evaluated in 2003. This paper reports on the …

Managing Technological Change And University Teaching, Sandra Wills, S. Alexander

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Current economic and political climates, together with the need to provide more flexible learning opportunities for students, has resulted in unprecedented pressure on education to use information and communications technologies (CIT) as a way of coping with these pressures, without decreasing the quality of offerings.

This chapter reviews the introduction of technology in teaching and learning in higher education from the theoretical perspective of the MIT90s framework developed in Yetton et al (1997), drawing upon case studies of the introduction of technology in teaching and learning in two institutions, and a study of the outcomes of a national initiative to …