This guide was developed cooperatively by staff of the Teaching and Learning Centre. ForewordPathways to good practice: A guide to flexible teaching for quality learning is a resource which compiles in the convenience of one document a wide range of good practices already in place at this University. It assists newer staff to strive for best practice and helps all of us involved in higher education to improve our standards of learning and teaching. The Guide is available as a book and as a searchable web-based resource linked from the Teaching and Learning Centre’s website. TheGuide covers all aspects of unit design, curriculum development, teaching, resource provision, student assessment, evaluation and redevelopment for continuous improvement. The process of curriculum development and review are constant and essential to the work of the University but at the heart of teaching and learning is that special interaction between student, teacher and learning resources. The Guide has been written specifically for the staff of Southern Cross University. It draws upon extensive scholarship and research in relation to learning. It is also the product of widespread consultation among University staff and incorporates the benefits of their expertise and experiences. It emphasizes collaboration and teamwork and addresses the diversity of the many different learning contexts of our students. Like learning itself, a document such as this can never be static. The commitment to keep on improving what we do is continuous in a learning community like Southern Cross University. The Guideis an ongoing project. The next iteration is currently under way and will include a new section on Course Design and Review including practical guidance for those who are involved in embedding the University’s Graduate Attributes within courses. The existing sections are being revised and will include in particular up-to-date scholarship and University guidelines regarding teaching with new technologies. Additional appendices will provide more case studies on how staff of this University are successfully teaching with new technologies.
IntroductionThe Pathways to Good Practice project arose from the need for our University to provide staff (teaching, materials production and administration) with a ‘first principles’ framework upon which they can rely to inform the design, development, delivery and evaluation of their curricula in a highly flexible teaching and learning environment. After broad consultation with a range of stakeholders in the University, and drawing on best practice from other universities and upon the empirical literature, the Teaching and Learning Centre has developed the framework outlined in this Guide. It is predicated on a model of quality teaching and learning in which the alignment of the curriculum is central and relevant, and realistic assessment is assured. The model is broad, incorporating not only curriculum, teaching, assessment and evaluation, but a range of program and administrative initiatives and a philosophy of student choice. It articulates a shared concept of flexibility in teaching and learning that takes into account the various forms of flexibility opportunities required by this University’s student profile. It can assist the academic community to develop their teaching and learning across a range of delivery modes to diverse groups of students in diverse locations. It embodies a holistic integrated cycle of continuous improvement in teaching and learning at SCU. 
How to use this siteThis site can be accessed in a number of ways. Feel free to dip in and out as needs dictate. You have a number of options:
You can also download the Pathways 2006 PDFs The site will be updated annually - please notify us if you have any suggestions or recommendations for the site. A production of the Teaching and Learning Centre Southern Cross University No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Copyrighted materials reproduced herein are used under the provisions of the Copyright Amendment Act (1989). |
