Increased interest in teaching has been evident in recent decades, accompanied by heightened activity in promoting teaching quality. Programs about teaching and learning in higher education are one strategy adopted for this purpose. This article is concerned with reflecting upon, and theorising, the experience of teaching in one such accredited…

Sustained innovation in teaching and learning is needed to achieve high-quality outcomes in student learning. However, despite extensive research in teaching and learning practice, challenges are faced to translate teaching research into scholarly practice, especially in professional degrees. This article develops and proposes a new conceptual…

Student engagement is consistently identified as a key predictor of learner outcomes within the online learning environment. However, there is limited guidance about using proactive strategies to improve engagement for low and non-engaged students: for example by specifically employing course learning analytics (CLA) and nudging strategies in…

This article explores arguments for adopting appreciative inquiry (AI) as an action research approach that generates pedagogic development in UK and international higher education. An overview of AI considering the methodological dilemma of focusing only on positive experiences is discussed. Findings from focus group discussions in a post-1992 UK…

An article published in "Higher Education Research & Development" (HERD) in 2010 titled, 'The criteria of effective teaching in a changing higher education context' argued that an effective university teacher needs to have specific skills and practices that are applicable to a particular context. The article is one of HERD's most…

Academics nowadays are increasingly expected to implement high-quality teaching, what is frequently referred to as 'excellent teaching'. Understandings of academics' conceptions of excellent teaching are, however, limited, despite extensive research on different aspects of quality teaching. To address this gap, there is a need to expand the…

Amongst the rapid and continual changes occurring in higher education is a heightened emphasis on teaching and the emergence of a quality teaching discourse. In tandem, we are living through a time where not only circumstances, but also new, more complex technologies continue to disrupt and challenge the ways teaching occurs. Despite various…

This article presents the authors' successful experiences with Cirrus, a purpose-built Digital Humanities teaching and learning platform developed at The University of Queensland between 2016 and 2018. Our case studies in teaching the crafts of close reading, critical analysis, and writing show that Cirrus's annotation tools enable teachers to…

This paper addresses the wicked problem of measuring the productivity of learning and teaching in higher education. We show how fundamental validity issues and difficulties identified in educational productivity research point to the need for a qualitatively different framework when considering the entire question. We describe the work that needs…

This study examines students' perceptions of the development of academic and critical thinking skills in college, with a specific focus on team-based learning (TBL), an active learning strategy designed to increase student interaction and engagement. Six hundred and fifty students in five different courses were surveyed at the beginning of the…

Teaching awards are now common practice in higher education. However, few award applicants and their writing guides have investigated their experience of writing a teaching award application, a writing process recognised as different from that required in research publication. To systematically research and analyse their personal experiences two…

The importance of reflection in higher education and across disciplinary fields is widely recognised and it is generally included in university graduate attributes, professional standards and programme objectives. Furthermore, reflection is commonly embedded into assessment requirements in higher education subjects, often without necessary…

Declining trust in public services has led to increasing calls for higher education to be "accountable" for the quality of its teaching and learning provision. However, increasing levels of quality evaluation have led academics to feel that their professionalism is under attack. Reflecting on this history and various dimensions of…

This paper outlines a peer-assisted teaching scheme (PATS) which was piloted in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, Australia to address the low student satisfaction with the quality of information and communication technology units. Positive results from the pilot scheme led to a trial of the scheme in other disciplines.…

Metaphors are a primary influence on the way we perceive and construct our world; they are also a way of revealing beliefs and attitudes that might otherwise be difficult to identify. Furthermore, metaphor has been found to be an effective way of shifting people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. This paper details the findings of a pilot study…