Tertiary Teaching

Tertiary Teaching:
Doing it Differently, Doing it Better

Edited by Jim Cameron, Greg Shaw and Allan Arnott

Shifts in government policy, increased student enrolments, and dramatic developments in education-related technology have transformed Australia's tertiary education landscape over the last decade, the combined effects of which are evident in heavier teaching and administrative workloads, the commercialisation of education and training, increased competition between institutions, a shift in funding from government to consumers, limited and diminishing resources, and an increasing diversity of students.

Many established teaching and learning practices no longer seem suitable, appropriate or possible and tertiary teachers have been compelled to seek out new approached and methods. Documenting and sharing this search is a major purpose of this book, which brings together fourteen of the papers presented to the Teaching and Learning Conference held in Darwin in 1999. The papers are grouped around five broad and overlapping themes: the current context, the implications this context has for tertiary education practice, the challenges for teaching and learning in an increasingly complex and hostile environment, dealing with diversity, and the use of technologies in the exploration of new approaches. The net effect is a convincing demonstration that tertiary teachers are sensitive to the environments in which they work and are creative and insightful in their responses to the challenges they face.