Course Information

Please make sure you have read the Welcome page and watched the welcome video before reading this section.

Course learning outcomes

If you study the modules in this course you can expect to:

be able to introduce a range of teaching and learning strategies to your teaching by which you can demonstrate student-centred teaching;
be familiar with university teaching and learning concepts; and
have located teaching and learning resources within your own university.

As you will see from the schematic of the course in the Welcome page, we suggest that you start the first module Teaching your first class in Orientation Week, before classes start. Given that the first week of teaching is always so busy, we have scheduled the next module, Planning for learning in week 2 of the semester. The subsequent modules have been located at a time when you are likely to need them. For example, most of us start to mark and provide assessment in the fourth week of the semester, so the Feedback for learning module is located in week 3.

Assessment

There is no required assessment for those enrolling in this course. There are quizzes associated with some of the modules, and you are welcome to complete those if you would find it useful to consolidate your learning.

We have provided information in the Optional Assessment section (which can be found after the last of the resources) on how to use the modules in the course to assist you in writing an application for a UK Higher Education Academy Associate Fellowship. Many institutions support their staff to apply for these Fellowships, and colleagues may also apply independently of their institution. It's a very useful piece of evidence to have when applying for jobs, promotion and awards.

To successfully complete the course

Successful completion of this course will be different for different colleagues. Some will study all of the modules and resources. Others will pick and choose modules taking a just in time and just for me approach.

For this course there are:

no fees;
no assessment requirements (the Optional Assessment page does provide support for those who wish to apply independently for the UK Higher Education Academy Associate Teaching Fellowship); and
no pre-requisites (although it may help your study if you are already teaching).

Below are some suggested pathways through which you might study this course.

Pathways

While you can take any module whenever you want and in whatever order you want, the course has been designed to be taken across a semester, taking about two hours a week.

We recognise that different colleagues will have different requirements of this course and below are three different pathways that different people might choose when studying the course.

Example pathway 1 – Sue is a sessional teacher who is new to teaching and she has decided to do each of the modules in the order that they are presented. In Orientation Week she also checks out the Sessional staff resource. Sue is also a maths teacher, so in week 1 she chooses to do the Teaching mathematics specialty module.

Example pathway 2 – Xing has been teaching other people’s units for several years and next semester will design a new unit for the first time. He chooses to explore the modules Curriculum design, Assessment, Quality assurance and our responsibilities: Helping guide your development and Teaching today's diverse learners, to help him as he begins to think about designing his first unit.

Example pathway 3 – Albie is a program director and wants to introduce a significant work integrated learning component to the program. He explores the Work Integrated Learning specialty module, and he also explores the Scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching module as he wants to use the work that he is doing to build his case for promotion.

What can you expect from the module/resource developers and what if I have a question?

Each module has been developed by two experts in the field. At the beginning of their module they have recorded an introduction to themselves and their module. Because colleagues can study a module at anytime during the year, it is unlikely that the module developers will be active in the module when you are studying it. The modules are self contained and many include discussion activities where you can interact with other colleagues doing the course. The discussion board is the place to ask your questions.

End of module/resource surveys

At the end of each module and resource in the course there are some questions asking you for feedback on the module/resource. We plan to revise the modules/resources so please do provide us with advice on what we can do to improve them.

Welcome and User experience surveys

Before you start the modules there is a five minute Welcome survey that we ask you to complete. This information will help us to understand the motivations of different colleagues enrolling and we can adjust the course in light of this information.

At the end of the modules and resources there is a User experience survey. Please do complete this when you have finished working in the course. Again, your experiences will help us to make useful changes when we review the course.

Canvas Help

If you have questions about how to use Canvas, please go to the Learner support Help Forum which provides an orientation to Canvas, guides and answers to frequently asked questions.