Alisa Percy, PhD

Stakeholders in academic integrity: Embedding academic literacies into three professional degree programs

Isla A. Bowen et al. — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:51:03 PST

Towards benchmarking AALL practices

Bronwyn A. James et al. — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:51:01 PST

The aim of the project was to do some of the initial leg work that would enable AALL as a professional body to meaningfully benchmark the diverse range of practices currently employed by AALL units to support their students' development of core, disciplinary academic and professional skills and attributes.

A new age in higher education or just a little bit of history repeating? : linking the past present and future of ALL in Australia

Alisa Percy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:50:59 PST

For those relatively new to the field of Academic Language and Learning, the ‘new’ social inclusion agenda may appear as the dawning of a new age in higher education—a revolutionary moment in history where the qualitative transformation of teaching and learning feels imminent. For others, it may feel like ‘a little bit of history repeating’. This paper critically examines the limitations of the agency of ALL in ‘forging new directions’ by considering how the past haunts the present. Using the lens of governmentality (Foucault, 1991; Rose, 1999; Dean, 1999), the paper makes the claim that, given that ALL is deeply embedded in the social regulation of conduct in the academy, new directions emerge, not so much from the wisdom of ALL, but from the constellation of historical circumstance, political reasoning, and social, economic and institutional exigencies that reconfigure the university as an apparatus of government, reconstitute the student as an object of government, and position the ALL practitioner in particular ways at particular times to do particular work. This paper provides a framework for making sense of our institutional intelligibility and considering future directions through this lens.

Making sense of learning advising: an historical ontology

Alisa Percy — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:51:38 PST

This thesis is concerned with making sense of the discursive complexity of the learning advisor in Australian higher education. It considers how learning advising, rather than the sensible and unitary field of practice it is often taken to be, constitutes a professional complex that is the effect of the saturation of historical, political, theoretical and institutional layers of meaning that continue to have salience in the academy today. In this thesis, learning advising is shown to be a contested space crossed with multiple truths, whose practitioners are both enabled and derailed by the contingent discourses that frame their intelligibility and ethical agency in the academy.

Written in the spirit of a Foucauldian 'history of the present' (Foucault, 1977), the thesis takes the form of an historical ontology (Foucault 1997a, 1997b) that examines the learning advisor as an effect of the dynamic interaction between power, knowledge and ethics in the academy. Conceptually, it uses the lens of governmentality to consider how the learning advisor can be understood as deeply embedded in the social regulation of conduct in the academy. Through this lens, the constitution of the learning advising subject is examined as an effect of the constellation of historical circumstance, political reasoning and social and institutional exigencies. These factors combine to reconfigure the university as an apparatus of government in a liberal society; problematise specific aspects of higher education; and (re)present the subject of higher education – the student – as the object of government. It is argued that these constellations also create the discursive space for historically different versions of the learning advisor to appear, and that these different versions are present in the layers of truth found in the professional narrative today.

Methodologically, the thesis combines genealogical design with archaeological method to isolate, trace and juxtapose four historical constitutions of the subject of learning advising that can be shown to have continued salience in the academy today. This is achieved by drawing together the analysis of the historical archive - comprising international reports on higher education, government policy, educational research, and learning advising publications - with the voices of learning advisors in the present. Data obtained through semi-structured interviews with learning advisors is used to demonstrate how key aspects of each historical constitution can be found in the way learning advisors make sense of themselves in the present. This thesis highlights how these various constitutions can be seen to be discontinuous and, as such, create a complex of contradictory truths – a discursive complexity and an ontological stammering – for the learning advisor in the present.

Importantly, this thesis engages with the normalising tendencies in the field‘s political and professional 'will to truth' that corresponds directly with its recent professionalisation in Australia. The thesis is founded on the idea that while professionalisation might be regarded as an important political step to professional autonomy and growth, this thesis suggests that learning advising, as an emerging field of practice in the academy, be wary of too readily grounding its politics in truth and the desire to secure identity. Truth and identity in this thesis are shown to be contingent, shifting and always worthy of critique. Rather, I propose the need for a politics that does not pursue the search for a foundational subject or an attachment to fixed ideals, but engages in intellectual work that renders visible the fractures in our contingencies and histories, and troubles not only the stories we receive, but those we tell. This thesis is one attempt to do this kind of work.

Use of Quality Teaching and Learning Circles in Engineering

Alisa Percy et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:22 PDT

The commercialisation of higher education, an increasingly diverse student population, the emphasis on educational technology and flexible delivery, the need to be internationally competitive and the increased regulation on quality standards, just to name a few factors, has seen a rapid transformation of the university system and the demands placed on the staff therein. Assisting staff to cope with such changes and providing them with the necessary skills to effectively contribute to the needs or goals of the institution requires sophisticated methods of professional development. This paper introduces one such method that is being implemented at the University of Wollongong. This method involves the creation of Quality Teaching and Learning Circles (QTLCs) to develop solutions for various teaching and learning issues. The QTLC extends beyond the normal ‗teaching program team‘ to include an educational development and learning development lecturer, among others, to provide contextualised support and to link faculty initiatives to the policy and goals of the university. This method promotes reflective practice, cooperative learning and the ability to contribute to organisational learning, in effect establishing the conditions necessary for a leading learning organisation. The paper provides a rationale for the project, a description of a pilot QTLC in the Faculty of Engineering and a discussion on the issues and expected outcomes.

The casualisation of teaching and the subject at risk

Alisa Percy et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:21 PDT

The casualisation of teaching in Australian higher education has come to be problematised as a risk to the quality of teaching and learning. However, the potential and location of risk, and therefore what constitutes an appropriate institutional intervention, requires interrogation as universities comply with the various regulations that, on the one hand, legitimise further casualisation in the name of flexibility, and on the other, insist on institutional responsibilities in the performance of quality. Taking a critical approach to risk consciousness, this paper examines the way casualisation is produced through workplace reform and problematised as a danger to the student learning experience through the quality agenda in Australian higher education. By examining the tensions between the discourses of flexibility and quality, the authors argue that casualisation should not simply be understood as a problem with individual teaching expertise that can be overcome through formal training of the individual. The neoliberal political rationality that seeks to individuate responsibility and locate ‘risk’ in this way masks the broader systemic tensions within the culture of the university which the authors argue have increasingly profound consequences for the quality of university education. Arguing that professional learning and quality enhancement are the product of open collaborative and collegial social practice, the authors conclude that addressing casualisation only in terms of systematic teacher training is a politically expedient response to a highly complex political issue facing Australian universities. Drawing on professional learning literature, the authors argue for a shift in policy and practice within the university to recognise, value and integrate the expertise and potential quality contribution of casual teaching staff at a micro-level with a particular focus on the teaching team.

How do we know if students learn online? A case study of the deep integration of tertiary literacy and discipline-specific skills into a flexibly delivered first year subject

Margaret Merten et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:20 PDT

As universities globally move toward the flexible delivery of subjects and courses, the issue of how students learn from these modes is increasingly important for the design of these subjects. Using an action learning approach, this paper will show that this integration of learning skills into subject curriculum results in significant improvements in students’ skills levels. The main focus of the paper is to show that the conversion of subjects into flexible delivery allows a deeper level of integration of tertiary literacy instruction than is possible in campus based subjects. To explore this, the paper will present a case-study on the conversion of a core first year subject for the Bachelor of Commerce, MGMT110: Introduction to Management. This paper will outline the development and application of an online study guide that has been integrated into the flexibly delivered version of MGMT110, which includes the collaborative process between subject staff and Learning Development in the design of this subject for flexible delivery, discusses issues on the design and delivery of such integration, discusses evaluation techniques and results and poses further questions based on issues arising from the evaluation.

Mapping the tertiary literacy skills of the Bachelor of Commerce: a step towards inter-disciplinary dialogue and cohesive skills development in a degree program

Alisa Percy et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:18 PDT

This paper outlines a two-staged inter-disciplinary project in the Faculty of Commerce designed to identify, review and integrate the teaching of tertiary literacy skills within the undergraduate degree programs. The paper provides an overview of the process that involves three strategic learning partnerships: the partnership between the Faculty of Commerce and Learning Development; the partnership between Commerce academics and Learning Development staff; and inter-disciplinary partnerships within the faculty. The paper emphasises the importance of inter and intra-disciplinary dialogue and a whole degree approach as a means for ensuring articulated skills instruction across a degree program and improvements in teaching and learning outcomes.

The IDEALL approach to Learning Development: a model for fostering improved literacy and learning outcomes for students

Jan Skillen et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:17 PDT

An increasingly accepted viewpoint in tertiary education today is that the diverse student population entering university at first year level requires support with the transition process from previous education contexts to that of tertiary education. While Learning Centres were initially developed to assist that transition, the support they offered was limited: it was remedial in the sense of 'fixing-up' the students who were diagnosed (either by themselves or their lecturers) as needing 'help'; it was inequitable, assisting only a very small proportion of the students population; and it was generic in that the learning support was offered outside of the disciplines being studied.

Building Online Essay Writing Support Tools

Cath Ellis et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:15 PDT

The English Studies Program at the University of Wollongong, with support from staff in the library and Learning Development, has linked together a series of learning support tools for use in their 100-level subjects. These tools — an online research and citation skills assessment task and an essay and quiz writing study guide — harness the world wide web as a means of augmenting and enhancing student learning at an undergraduate level. Each of these tools is flexibly delivered, student centred and curriculum integrated. This project is part of a broader initiative in the English Studies Program to develop an even more secure support infrastructure for undergraduate students as they approach their assessment tasks, and to guarantee concrete follow-up on assignments early in the students’ course of study. The early results of our evaluation and the anecdotal evidence we have received indicates the effectiveness of these projects and their value to our students as they develop generic skills. In addition, the administrative benefits of this project make a significant contribution to an efficient teaching environment. This paper provides an overview of these tools, explains the rationale behind their design and argues for the very powerful benefits of integrating and implementing them into undergraduate subjects.

Creating partnerships in suporting student learning: A paradigm shift in student learning support

Jan Skillen et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:14 PDT

The main focus of this paper is the creation of partnerships between learning development academics and curricula, faculty staff and the institution that seek to ensure students achieve at their potential. These partnerships are part of a paradigm shift in learning support that has replaced a remedial philosophy with a developmental philosophy. The paper also focuses on the value of these partnerships to curricula, discipline academics, faculties and the institution as well as to students. It highlights three issues:

the creation of partnerships to ensure student learning;
the benefits of these partnerships to learning across an institution;
the benefits of these partnerships to teaching across an institution.

Evaluation of the model and its partnerships has shown that:

staff acquire a level of explanatory power about tertiary writing that allows them to rethink curriculum development and teach and assess skills as well as content;
rich, inclusive curricula are produced that allow students to acquire skills quickly during the course of a semester;
instruction can be integrated into core curricula across 3 or 4 year degree programs to ensure that degree programs produce quality graduates and that students progressively acquire the skills needed for success in the discipline;
faculties can more easily teach and assess generic and professional skills within such a model;
greater levels of student development in required skills are achieved than in a regular curriculum;
significant development in generic and discipline-specific skills is achieved across the whole cohort of students within a subject;
the institution is provided with an avenue for the development of both teaching and learning.

Learning advising practice and reform: a perspective from the University of Wollongong, Australia

Alisa Percy et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:12 PDT

The claim made in this paper is that higher education reform and learning advising practice are not simply part of a natural progression; rather, they are discursively constituted. To illustrate this argument we draw on the work of Michel Foucault to reflect on two iterations of learning advising practice in Learning Development at the University of Wollongong, Australia over the last decade. Our discussion will demonstrate how a multiplicity of discourses underpin educational reform and privilege particular learning advising practices in the Australian higher education context.

Tutors’ Forum: Engaging Distributed Communities of Practice

Jeannette Stirling et al. — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:41:10 PDT

The need to engage students studying at a distance in order to reduce isolation, foster a sense of belonging, and enhance learning has received significant attention over the past few years. Conversely, very little research has focused on teachers working in this type of environment. In fact, we argue, they appear to be the forgotten dimension in „communities‟ of distance learning. In this paper we identify some of the problems generated by teaching university subjects simultaneously across a network of campuses: a practice known as multi-location teaching. We examine strategies for engaging multi-location teachers as key contributors to a quality learning experience for students and provide an analysis of how identified teaching needs and professional development are addressed within one particular teaching team by a small but powerful micro-practice called the „Tutors‟ Forum‟. Drawing on data collected through a survey and interviews conducted over 2006 / 07, we discuss the benefits and critical success factors of the Tutors‟ Forum in facilitating engagement and professional development for teachers working at a distance from the subject coordinator and other members of the teaching team. These factors include a specific style of leadership which fosters an inclusive, dialogic space where the patterns of interaction are characterized by reciprocity, collegiality and professional care. We discuss the implications of this practice for the further engagement of university teachers in an increasingly casualised and fragmented higher education sector.

Meeting ANESB students' LAS needs in an institutional context

M. Cargill et al. — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 21:23:34 PDT

When considering what needs to be known, changed and developed at the institutional level to improve provision of LAS to ANESB students, or any student "group" layers of incongruent agendas complicate the task. The student population of the modern university is becoming increasingly diverse to the extent that there is often no easily identifiable "mainstream", but rather a number of heterogenous and overlapping "groups", with diverse learning needs within the academic context.

{Item deactivated 22 June 2010}

The RED Resource, Recognition - Enhancement - Development: The contribution of sessional teachers to higher education Sydney

Alisa Percy et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:23:13 PDT

This large-scale study into the recognition, enhancement and development of sessional teaching in higher education builds on the Australian Universities Teaching Committee Report (2003a) Training, Support and Management of Sessional Teaching Staff. The aim of the current Project was to identify and analyse current national practice and refocus attention on the issues surrounding sessional teachers in the university sector. The Project had three objectives: to establish the full extent of the contribution that sessional teachers make to teaching and learning in higher education; to identify and analyse good practice examples for dissemination; and to consider the possible developments for institutional and sector-wide improvements to the quality enhancement of sessional teaching. Sixteen Australian universities were involved in the Project, representing the ‘Group of 8’ (Go8), regional, Australian Technology Network (ATN), transnational and multicampus institutions in all states and territories. At each of the participating universities, the number and typology of sessional teachers was audited across the institution and sixty interviews were conducted with the full range of participants, from sessional teachers to university executive staff.

The RED Report, Recognition - Enhancement - Development: The contribution of sessional teachers to higher education

Alisa Percy et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:22:51 PDT

This large-scale study into the recognition, enhancement and development of sessional teaching in higher education builds on the Australian Universities Teaching Committee Report (2003a) Training, Support and Management of Sessional Teaching Staff. The aim of the current Project was to identify and analyse current national practice and refocus attention on the issues surrounding sessional teachers in the university sector. The Project had three objectives: to establish the extent of the contribution that sessional teachers make to higher education; to identify and analyse good practice examples for dissemination; and to consider the possible developments for institutional and sector-wide improvements to the quality enhancement of sessional teaching. Sixteen Australian universities were involved in the Project, representing the ‘Group of 8’ (Go8), regional, Australian Technology Network (ATN), transnational and multi-campus institutions in all states and territories. At each of the participating universities, the number and typology of sessional teachers was audited across the institution and sixty interviews were conducted with the full range of participants, from sessional teachers to university executive staff.

Coming of Age: Developing a genealogy of knowledge in the LAS field

Alisa Percy et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:50:46 PDT

Quality teaching and learning in higher education has become a mantra in the rhetoric of university policies, and, increasingly, assuring successful student learning is seen as the core business of the modern university. Ironically, this comes at a time when academic staff are faced with unprecedented demands on their teaching repertoire while being expected to function with fewer resources. Not surprisingly then, many LAS staff find themselves, their knowledge and their skills central to ensuring the university's aspirations, yet in many ways still under threat of intellectual erasure. A contributing factor to this threat, it is argued, is the lack of a clear articulation of the knowledge and skills on which our discipline is based, and therefore, the intellectual contribution that we make to the wider university. This paper suggests that the LAS field, in order to come of age as a discipline, needs to conduct a genealogy of knowledge. It also goes so far as to suggest a basis for discussion in what is an ongoing dialogue about LAS identity.

Exploring student engagement for Generation Y : a pilot in Environmental Economics

Ann Hodgkinson et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:35:56 PDT

This paper reports on a pilot study involving the redesign of a third year Economics subject according to principles of engagement as they relate to the discursive Generation Y subject. The study involved a review of the literature, redesign of the subject to a blended learning format and evaluation of the design.

Representation for (re)invention

Alisa Percy et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:25:23 PDT

In her plenary address to the 2001 Australian Language and Academic Skills Conference, Carolyn Webb (2002, p. 7) suggested that in comparison to other educational developers in the university context, Language and Academic Skills (LAS) practitioners had been less strategic in addressing their identity and practice ‘to secure their place in the landscape of university work, [and] to reinvent themselves for securing future places’. She concluded with the suggestion that LAS practitioners might wish to see themselves as ‘facilitators of organisational learning’ (Webb, 2002, p. 17). Both of these points will be addressed in the following discussion. This paper argues that models of practice can be understood as powerful signifi ers around which learning advisers are able to (re)invent themselves in response to institutional agendas. The point is illustrated through a refl ection and critique of a shift in representation of Learning Development practice at the University of Wollongong, with the most recent representational model attempting to capture the notion of the LAS practitioner’s role as making a signifi cant contribution to organisational learning as it relates to the quality enhancement of student learning in general. The refl ective process in this paper is informed by the quality imperative currently in circulation at the University of Wollongong: that is, to plan, act, review and improve.

A systemic approach to working with academic staff: addressing the confusion at the source

Alisa Percy et al. — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:25:16 PDT

The role of the learning adviser in the tertiary context could be argued to be in a period of transformation with the changing culture of modern universities. While in many respects we are still attempting to develop an appropriate and comprehensive definition of our role at the national level, the approach we take is often dependent on our university’s organisation, philosophy and policy. In response to a number of educational and economic factors, in some universities the role of the learning adviser is moving from one that operates in the remedial mode focusing solely on student skills development, to one that transforms the culture of teaching and learning in the institutional by working with academic staff at the curriculum level. At the University of Wollongong, it is the latter systemic approach that is deemed the highest priority in providing the most equitable and effective learning support for all students. This approach aims to remove the sources of confusion for students by integrating tertiary literacy skills instruction into subject curriculum, training staff in providing explicit feedback on their students’ skills and developing teaching and learning materials which further explain and model aspects of the feedback. This paper will present three crucial aspects of the systemic approach: the shift in focus from working outside the curriculum to one that addresses the issues inside the curriculum, or system, by collaborating with discipline staff; the importance of working at the faculty and department level to make these collaborations strategic; and the need to participate in and impact upon policy decisions at a number of levels.