UNSW Network in Learning and Teaching (UNILT)
The UNSW Network in Learning and Teaching (UNILT) provides a framework within which communities of practice in learning and teaching can both develop and flourish through the sharing of experiences, ideas, and strategies among colleagues. UNILT workshops are designed to involve participants in an active way, modelling current ideas of good practice in higher education.
The Network is essentially connected through participation in workshops on issues that are of immediate concern to both students and staff to develop and support the needs of the members of the Network.
A major appeal of UNILT workshops is that they are typically facilitated by cross-disciplinary teams. The facilitators are your peers who share their experiences and encourage participants in their own explorations.
UNILT complements other programs, such as Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT), in providing staff with opportunities for ongoing reflection, exploration, and development of learning and teaching. The program of workshops addresses issues that are of immediate concern to both students and staff.
Facilitators are also rewarded for their time through the Deputy Vice-Chacellor's UNILT Credit Scheme. Under the scheme credits can be earned by facilitating UNILT workshops and redeemed via reimbursement of expenses related to learning adn teaching focussed research. Details of the scheme and the credit claim form are in the Guidelines.
Workshops may vary in length but are usually 3 hours long (and generally scheduled on a Friday from 10am - 1pm).
We would like to provide topics that are relevant and useful for you, so if you have suggestions for UNILT topics, please let us know - contact Jacqui McManus.
Some of the topics covered in past workshops include:
Presentations from academics teaching large first-year classes in Social Science and Materials Engineering showed how they have taken a creative approach to structuring their courses and lectures with the aim of improving student engagement.
The workshop focused on ideas and strategies that help to achieve better student engagement and deeper learning through integrating on-line learning approaches in a large class context. The facilitators demonstrated how their creative use of online environments and assessment tools enhanced their student's learning experience and transformed students' attitudes towards large and difficult courses (in these cases, a faculty-wide first year engineering design and first year business mathematics course) from disengaged to more enthusiastic and interested.
Recognition of UNILT in promotions
As outstanding teaching becomes more important to academic promotion, and as federal government funding becomes more dependent on learning and teaching performance, ongoing development of the kind offered by UNILT will become central to everyday university life.
Those who attend adn/or facilitate UNILT workshops can claim that they have undertaken continuing professional development through UNILT workshops in applications for promotion.
Past participants' feedback...
Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the two workshops on Improving Lectures. I thought that they were two of the best workshops that I've been to. I went away revitalised, stimulated to do better, and armed with a few ideas on how to do it.
I am one of those just starting out and gained a lot of insights from the [UNILT] workshops I attended this year on assessment, writing course outlines, and group learning. I have had great feedback from others in my school who have been impressed by the transformation of my approach to designing my course (now much more student-centred, focused on learning outcomes, and aware of the importance of clear communication via outlines etc).
I have found [UNILT workshops] incredibly valuable, and I would like to see them keep going. I find that the three hours I spend in the workshop are worth weeks of research about a topic, and the workshops are even more valuable if you are a presenter. Perhaps the most valuable aspect is that the workshops make you feel valued for the efforts you put into teaching. Spending time on teaching is not always a popular choice, because inevitably you make enemies when you try to change things. You also find yourself on the backfoot because good teaching takes time, especially in the development phase of a new course, and so research suffers.
Please continue to use academics (who have experience from the "field") for these workshops. It is important in running workshops for academics that people leading them are open and flexible and not threatened by the natural academic tendency to ask questions, test, and challenge etc. The good thing about this [Problem-Based Learning] workshop today was this flexibility.