Issues of Teaching and Learning, 4(6)

'Issues' Elsewhere

This edition gives insights into what other universities say about teaching and learning related issues. The following excerpts were taken from the Web and hard copy resources, mainly from newsletters within and outside Australia, and they illustrate some points for academics to consider in their role as teachers. Further information can be obtained at the relevant Web source or from the Centre for Staff Development.

What's Inside ITL

• Challenges to Educational Practice (a perspective from the University of Sydney)
• The Ages of a Lecturer (re-visited by the University of Queensland)
• Improving Student Writing (a search by the University of Manitoba)
• Excellence in teaching
• Encouraging Students in a Racially Diverse Classroom (Harvard University 'rules')
• Using Student Evaluations to Improve Teaching (Stanford University suggestions)
• Learning by Doing (a University of Wollongong standpoint)

"Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that was called cheating. The curriculum sent the clear message to me that learning was a highly individualistic, almost secretive, endeavor. My working class experience . . . was disparaged."
Henry A. Giroux (1992). Border Crossings. NY: Routledge.

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) invites reader response to its publication ITL. Responses advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised will be published in the Web version of that issue.