This paper examines how students in a third year management unit at a university of technology in Australia evaluate the usefulness of film as a tool for developing a deeper understanding of the theoretical leadership effectiveness model developed by Robbins (1997). The study reviews the range of studies describing the use of films in teaching…

There is a universal demand for well-prepared professionals in all disciplines, and society has entrusted professional schools with the task of preparing such individuals (Ralph, Walker, and Wimmer, 2008). Within this context, field or clinical instructors and university faculty have an academic and professional responsibility to teach, supervise,…

This article identifies and analyses some of the challenges that arose in a development process of changing from a content-based teaching environment to a student-centred environment in an undergraduate physics course for medicine and biology students at Universidad de los Andes. Through the use of the Critical Research model proposed by Skovsmose…

Assessment is an important element of university curricula for both teachers and students. It provides evidence that students have learned what their teachers expected them to learn. There is good evidence that teachers' use of exemplars in a dedicated marking class held before an assessment task helps students understand what is expected of…

This paper describes students' experience of participating in a case-based peer-assisted learning (PAL) program in order to examine whether the approach is pedagogically effective and likely to contribute to students' professional development. It presents the findings of a study which examined the integration of PAL and case-based…

Although there is a clear body of evidence supporting the idea that undergraduate students benefit from participation in original research projects, many units of study--particularly in the creative arts and humanities--have been slow to embrace curriculum renewal along these lines. In this paper, we detail a pragmatic approach to meeting this…

This paper reports how one Australian university and the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) are working together to increase the number of school students from low socio-economic backgrounds enrolling in undergraduate university degrees. This innovative program involves university lecturers and school teachers working together…

La Trobe University, like many Australian universities, states that it values honest academic endeavour (Academic Integrity Policy 2011), and it can provide examples of good teaching practice in the areas of academic integrity, proper acknowledgment and avoiding plagiarism. Rather than relying on the chance that individuals will just develop good…

This paper describes a method intended to advance students along the path to independent learning. The method is consistent with the principles of enquiry-based learning. It involves restructuring student contact class time into a single three-hour block, and dedicating the majority of this time to working in small research project groups.…

The current higher education climate seems to be demanding increasing levels of written output from doctoral researchers during candidature. In this context this study employed an online questionnaire, individual interviews and focus group discussions to collect information on the challenges and successes of doctoral writing. It was found that…

A strategy of continuous team assessment over three years, comprising of a series of tests and a major project, was introduced into scheduled tutorial classes in an attempt to improve flagging attendance and low student motivation. The assessment tasks were designed to be undertaken in teams of two students, with ongoing feedback as an integral…

What is it about the teaching-research nexus that inspires engineering undergraduates to want more and become researchers themselves? In this study, we sought to discover more about the influences on current PhD students' choices to embark on higher degrees by research in various fields in engineering in an Australian research-intensive…

This paper reports on the experiences gathered as a result of the foundation, implementation and on-going development of an interprofessional course for undergraduate health science students in The School of Health Sciences (SHS) at The University of Newcastle. The purpose of the course was to provide commencing students (n=600) with a…