Specialised program for higher education professionals
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The Higher Education program at Macquarie University offers academic and general staff working in higher education the opportunity to advance their skills in e-learning, learning and teaching or leadership and management.
The Institute of Higher Education Research and Development (IHERD) offers a fully articulated program commencing with Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, moving on to the Postgraduate Diploma, Masters program and finally Doctoral level studies. Within each of these programs are three different strands: e-learning, learning and teaching, and leadership and management.
“Our program has been designed for people who have a teaching role in higher education but also for those who have a leadership and management role,” says Postgraduate Programs Research and Administration Officer Alison Cameron.
Teaching and learning strand
“We are in an environment where increasingly people are expected to have a formal background in learning and teaching,” says Cameron. “In the past you did a PhD and then you taught. I think those days are past and people are expected to have some preparation to go into the classroom. We have had academic staff in the program who have been teaching for some time but still find it good to get some theoretical background.”
Students can commence with basic units on learning and teaching theory in higher education and go on to study units in curriculum design and assessment as well as supervising postgraduate research students.
e-learning strand
“Given the importance of e-learning and different technologies and approaches to learning and teaching we are finding that the e-learning strand is increasingly popular,” says Cameron. “Staff who teach in the program actively use different technologies so that students have some experience in using them as well as being on the receiving end of them.”
The e-learning units have made use of a software package called Breeze that enables interactive web-based communication and collaboration. Students can be in different locations across the country or across the world and be able to see each other deliver presentations and take part in verbal or text-based discussions. One student who had access to a wireless network on his train line was able to participate in the tutorial sessions by logging in on his way home from work.
Leadership and management strand
The leadership and management strand is designed for both academic and general staff. It introduces theory and then asks students to reflect on their own practice.
The program looks at the Australian university environment and aims to provide students with a better understanding of policies that they are dealing with at a national level. “Students will learn how they can enhance their practice and the work that they do for the betterment of their own unit, staff, university and ultimately their students,” says Cameron.
The Higher Education Program can be undertaken on either a full time or a part time basis and can be done in internal mode or entirely online in distance mode.
For further information contact Alison Cameron alison.cameron@mq.edu.au or visit www.aces.mq.edu.au/iherd