Redrawing the map of key players

The people who still have the greatest influence on how teaching and learning occur are those staff and students present in the lecture theatre, the seminar room, the laboratory or the on-line learning situation. They bring to the teaching and learning environment their own experiences, beliefs and needs, from various communities and cultures, all of which have the potential to enrich higher education.

This local teaching and learning activity influences, and is influenced by, the broader social and cultural context in which it is embedded. So, for example, while governments may influence teaching and learning in universities through policies and funding, academic teaching staff may influence government policies in higher education through their professional associations.

The February 1998 edition of this newsletter mapped some of the structures and organisations influencing teaching and learning in higher education in Australia. Quite a deal has changed since then. The Higher Education Council is no more. The Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development has gone, and with it National Teaching Development Grants and Staff Development Grants. New and restructured bodies addressing issues of flexibility and the use of computers in teaching and learning have emerged. In WA the Curriculum Council is having a significant impact through its focus on outcomes-based education and the revision of the tertiary entrance process. The influences mentioned in the following pages are not comprehensive, though they are some of the most visible. Some of the bodies are highly structured and have well defined roles while others are less structured and mainly reactive. Some are still quite new and their roles are evolving. Their possible influences range from an immediate and widespread impact on teaching and learning to a gradual or limited one.

Recent years have been difficult for universities in Australia. While the public purse has been tightening student numbers have increased and there has also been a raising of expectations concerning the quality and nature of teaching and learning. The demand for greater flexibility in teaching and learning, making use of emerging technologies, has placed added burdens on the sector. The end result may be the provision of a more effective and responsive learning environment for our students. We may be getting closer to becoming ‘the clever country’. The inside pages attempt to give an insight into the framework that currently exists to assist the nation towards that goal, while the back page maps teaching and learning at UWA.