About this project
This two-year project was awarded to a team from The University of Queensland, The University of Tasmania and Southern Cross University. The Project Team Leader is A/Prof Ottmar Lipp, and Dr Stephen Provost is serving as the Project Officer. (See contacts page for further details.)
The project was designed to meet the stated goals of the AUTC to “identify examples of best practice in teaching and learning in Australian universities at the level of discipline or field of study”. Funded projects were required to “produce an evaluative overview of courses… with a focus on the specification and assessment of learning outcomes and must identify strategic directions for universities to enhance teaching and learning in these areas”. Following the dissolution of the AUTC at the end of 2004, the project was adopted by the Carrick Institute, and is now funded through that body.
Project Goals
The stated project outcomes are:
- The identification of the disciplinary basis for evaluation through a review of the scientist-practitioner model, its role in training and accreditation, and consideration of current challenges to this position.
- An overview of the teaching of psychology in Australian universities through the compilation of a database of course documents, identification of pathways through undergraduate programs to post-graduate opportunities, analysis of models and learning approaches adopted, and the identification of both formal and informal mechanisms by which curriculum development takes place in psychology.
- An assessment of the degree to which psychology programs meet the interests and needs of students, employers, the profession, and the scientific community.
- A description of innovative practices in the teaching of psychology, particularly in response to challenges from current changes in the higher education sector (e.g., internationalisation, technological developments), and the dissemination of material providing guidance on identified best practices.
The Network Group
A key feature of the project is the establishment of a “Network Group” comprising academics from each of the schools and departments teaching psychology in Australia, academics teaching psychology outside of these organisational units (e.g., in nursing and business), and other major stakeholders in the teaching of psychology (e.g., the Australian Psychological Society). The Network Group met in November 2004, and in July of 2005.
An electronic discussion forum, The Australian Psychology Educators Network, has been established to facilitate further scholarly discussion, and provide a mechanism for dissemination of information flowing from the project. Academics who teach psychology, in any context, are very welcome to sign up for membership by visiting this site.
Teaching Forum at the APS Conference
A Teaching Forum was held at the APS conference in Melbourne 2005, with sponsorship from both the Project and the APS Division of Research and Teaching (DRAT). The Forum was led by Professor Marie Carroll, Director of the Office of Quality Enhancement and Statistical Services, Australian National University, and by Dr Lynne Cohen, School of Psychology, Edith Cowan University. Professor Carroll presented material on the relationship between contemporary knowledge in cognitive psychology and the teaching of psychology. Dr Cohen described the support and acculturation program for First-year students at ECU, for which she and her team received an AUTC National Teaching Award. PowerPoint files used in these presentations can be found in the Resources page of this site.
It is hoped that this session is the first of a regular event to be held at the APS conference in collaboration with DRAT.
Dissemination
Dissemination of the project outcomes will take place through this website, hard-copy publication of documents, and participation in appropriate meetings such as the Australian Psychological Society’s Annual Conference. Please check the other pages of this site for archived documents.