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Improving Learning and Teaching through collaboration and Benchmarking

Benchmarking partnerships and more formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) provide the University with external academic points of reference. This external input to the University's quality systems is used as one (of several) means of informing and enhancing performance in the area of Teaching and Learning. External input serves to:

  • inform the University of its comparative performance
  • identify areas of best practice
  • identify areas when performance needs to be enhanced
  • identify processes that contribute to either good or poor performance

Professional Accreditation is another way the University's professional faculties benchmark both themselves and the quality of their programs.

Enterprise level MoUs in Teaching and Learning

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a document that describes an agreement for cooperative effort between two separate organisations defining the roles and responsibilities of each organisation in relation to the other or others with respects to an issue over which the organisations have concurrent jurisdiction without binding them into an irreversible relationship.

At the enterprise level in Teaching and Learning the University has MoUs with the following universities:

ANU

Discussions have taken place, including an in principle agreement, to investigate the potential of a benchmarking relationship between the two Universities focusing on information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. A Draft Memorandum of Understanding has been drawn up for the period 2004-2006.

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Monash University

The Memorandum of Understanding is an agreement 2003-2005 for academic cooperation and sharing information on planning, implementing, and evaluating the teaching research nexus within each institution. (Further information on Research led teaching)

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Open University

The agreement is focussed on the appropriate use of online learning and structures to support its effective implementation, including quality systems for ICT-supported learning. The 2001 Quality Assurance and On line Learning Policy (which has since been superseded by The Quality Assurance and Learning Management Systems policy) was developed in accordance with principles established in the discussions between the two universities. A program comparing the student experience of online learning and the curriculum development and teaching process is being developed in a series of meetings and exchanges.

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Oxford University

The universities have exchanged QA and teaching and learning documentation and several visits have occured. Early activities related to responses to external agencies (Oxford with the UK Quality Assurance Agency; Sydney with the Australian Universities Quality Agency) and student surveys.

As both Oxford and Sydney are research-intensive universities there has been a high percentage of overlap with regard to issues and interests. Oxford worked with ITL to adapt the SCEQ to its needs and piloted it in one department in 2000/2001. At least half of the questions on the Oxford questionnaire are the same as the University of Sydney questions.

In 2001/2002 the SCEQ was piloted across a number of departments at Oxford, surveying approximately 1500 students. A response rate of 48% was achieved. The results showed an overall similarity with results achieved at Sydney. The greatest difference occured in some Generic Skills items. Oxford open response comments highlighted some benefits of the lecture/tutorial system used at Oxford.

In 2002/2003 Oxford implemented the questionnaire across the University, surveying 3rd year undergraduates. The University of Sydney has supported Oxford throughout by providing the questionniares and then analysing the completed questionnaires.

More recently, the University of Sydney, joined an international research project led by Oxford University: "Network for Enhancing Teaching and Learning in Research-Intensive Environments". The Project aims to increase capacity building for academic leadership. It seeks to identify existing informal pathways to leadership and to make cohesive current fragmented strategies around developing leadership in learning and teaching within research-intensive universities.

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UCL

There has been an exchange of QA and teaching and learning documentation and several visits from both universities. The advice and experience of UCL in its dealings with the UK Quality Assurance Agency has influenced the University's and the Go8's response to the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). UCL's approach to departmental reviews of teaching in a research-intensive environment has been applied to the development of the Academic Board's Faculty Review process. The UCL documentation was adopted as the template for the written guidelines for the Board Reviews. We have also drawn on UCL's experience in developing a broader process of self-review of administrative units.

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University of Queensland

The Universities have agreed to compare student experiences using a common set of survey questions in the Student Course Experience Questionnaire (SCEQ). The University of Queensland uses the "UQ Student Experience Survey" (UQSES) which has some, but not all, of its items and scales in common with the SCEQ. The first surveys have been undertaken and results on equivalent scales and items, using the "agreement" metric are given where equivalent academic organisational units exist across institutions.

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Enterprise level Benchmarking in Teaching and Learning

A definition of benchmarking, as a framework for continuous improvement is provided by Jackson and Lund (2000 p. 6):

Benchmarking is, first and foremost, a learning process structured so as to enable those engaging in the process to compare their services/activities/products in order to identify their comparative strengths and weaknesses as a basis for self improvement and/or self-regulation.

For the University this means the comparative analysis between benchmarking partners to identify, adapt and apply processes, the improvement of which will impact positively on the achievement of the pillars listed in the University’s Strategic Directions plan.

At the University, enterprise level benchmarking activities in teaching and learning are centred around the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), the Insitute for Teaching and Learning (ITL) and the Evaluation and Quality Assurance Working Group (EQA).

ITL has undertaken:

  • benchmarking of student data with Oxford, Queensland and Melbourne Universities. It is planned to extend benchmarking of student satisfaction data to UCL, Edinburgh and Lund Universities. With Lund, it is also planned to compare student progression and retention rates
  • the provision of expert advice to parallel programs at UCL, Edinburgh and Hong Kong Universities
  • ICT policy development in collaboration with the Open University

Change has resulted from benchmarking activities. The Learning Community Scale was develped in conjunction with Oxford University. Benchmarking with Hong Kong Polytechnic University has led to ITL developing, adopting and adapting Grade Descriptors. The development of the MEd (Higher Education) program by ITL was a result of benchmarking with Edinburgh University.

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