‘An essential right’: reflections on evaluating a professional development program for tutors

Abstract

While there is a growing body of research on sessional staff experiences, there are few published accounts evaluating their professional development. This paper reflects on an evaluation of a university-wide professional development program for tutors at an Australian university. A combination of complementary approaches were used to inform the development of the evaluation, namely: Participatory Action Research, monitoring, evaluation, research and improvement, and Participatory Evaluation. Findings of the evaluation reveal valuable lessons for the academic development of sessional teaching staff.     

From speed dating to intimacy: methodological change in the evaluation of a writing group

This paper explores an innovative approach to evaluating the effectiveness of a writing group in an Australian research-intensive university. Traditional qualitative and quantitative methods typically applied in higher-education research may be effective in analysing the output of writing groups; however, they do not always address the affective domain of writing and giving and receiving feedback in a small-group context. The group had previously evaluated its practice with a speed-dating activity, itself an innovative approach designed for efficiency and to take advantage of the size and diversity of the group. The changing membership of the group, from eight to four participants, warranted a methodology appropriate to the intimacy of the group. In this paper, three theoretical frameworks are used to conceptualise the practice of the smaller group: communities of practice, peer mentoring and affect theory. The methodologies of critically reflective practice and memory work described here emerged from these theoretical frameworks.     

创新教学报告2016

本报告提出了现代社会中改变或创新教学、学习和评价的理论与实践的十种"创新教学法",包括基于社交媒体的学习、有效失败、回授法、设计思维、众包学习、电子游戏学习、形成性分析、为未来而学、超用语以及学习区块链,它们将在未来不同时期内,对教育教学变革产生不同程度的影响.