ERIC Number: EJ944941
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1449-9789
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Teething Problems in the Academy: Negotiating the Transition to Large-Class Teaching in the Discipline of History
Keirle, Philip A.; Morgan, Ruth A.
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, v8 n2 Article 3 2011
In this paper we provide a template for transitioning from tutorial to larger-class teaching environments in the discipline of history. We commence by recognising a number of recent trends in tertiary education in Australian universities that have made this transition to larger class sizes an imperative for many academics: increased student enrolments in the absence of a concomitant rise in teaching staff levels, greater emphasis on staff's research and service, and governmental and institutional pressures to maximize resource efficiency. All this, of course, taking place in an environment where staff are required to engage with discipline-specific pedagogies in teaching and learning to ensure that their departments, faculties and institutions successfully meet and maintain standards of quality in the delivery of higher education. The main challenge historians face here, we argue, is to ensure that the "higher order thinking skills" associated with the discipline are developed in a learning environment often deemed incompatible with doing so. Dealing with this issue requires a particular approach to curriculum design, one that systematically unpacks the signature skills of historical thinking/writing/reading and engages with the pedagogy of large-class teaching environments. What follows is an account of our foray into unfamiliar territory, which, we hope, can act as a guide to academics moving in a similar direction. (Contains 2 footnotes and 5 tables.)
Descriptors: Higher Education, Curriculum Design, Historians, Thinking Skills, Postsecondary Education, Intellectual Disciplines, Foreign Countries, Enrollment, Class Size, Educational Environment, Instruction, Outcomes of Education, Models, Teamwork, Feedback (Response)
University of Wollongong. Available from: Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources. Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Tel: +61-2-4221-3140; Fax: +61-2-4225-8312; e-mail: jutlp@uow.edu.au; Web site: http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A