010045 Reflective Academic Practice

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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Description

In this subject university teachers develop their understanding of themselves as learners and how they can make better use of professional development opportunities. Participants use their experiences of undertaking a program of professional learning in a higher education workplace to reflect on the way they typically like to learn, their strengths and weaknesses as a learner and the aspects of their workplace that enhance or inhibit their efforts to reflect on their work. Participants have the choice of exploring a wide range of topics relevant to their academic work, including research supervision, technology-enhanced learning or research-led teaching in their discipline. Credit can be gained towards subject completion by participating in formal professional development activities offered in the University such as Mental Health First Aid, the LEAP modules on entrepreneurship or project management. Participants review these learning experiences to discover how they deal with unexpected situations and changes that need to be made to their approach to learning in the workplace that leads to practical learning outcomes for their future practice.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

• Reflexively assess complex issues related to curriculum, assessment and pedagogy, and generate effective scholarly and creative solutions (2.1)
• Support and facilitate inclusive practices that foster respectful engagement with diverse learners and perspectives at a local and global level (3.1)
• Articulate one’s contribution to the culture and climate of the University, and to the sector/discipline more broadly on matters of concern for higher education teaching and learning. (5.1)
• Express ideas on teaching and learning to different audiences in a variety of modes (6.1)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

This subject addresses the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Professional Readiness
1.2 Graduates have skills in making informed decisions about teaching, subject design and assessment

2. Critical and Creative Inquiry
2.1 Graduates possess critical inquiry skills to reflect on and evaluate teaching and subjects

3. International and Intercultural Engagement
3.1 Graduates demonstrate a broader awareness of higher education within international contexts

5. Active Citizenship
5.1 Graduates possess an understanding of their contribution to the culture and climate of the university
5.2 Graduates possess the skills to engage and advocate ethically on matters of higher education teaching and learning.

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject entails participants undertaking a professional learning activity that may focus on any aspect of the subject participant’s academic work. The professional learning activity is negotiated with a project adviser. Activities could include on-the-job training, including online courses, taking on additional responsibilities in order to build skills, shadowing a co-worker to see how they do their job, a secondment to another unit to broaden their experience or being mentored or mentoring a colleague. Early feedback is provided on initial reflections on practice with suggestions for changes occurring through independent reflection and negotiation with a Faculty advisor. Participants develop their understanding of how they may prepare for the future world of academic work by reflecting critically on what you have learned as a participant in a professional learning activity.

Content (topics)

This subject includes core and negotiated components.

The core component focuses on professional learning in the workplace, scholarship of engagement, critical incident analysis and reflective writing.

The negotiated content varies depending on the focus of the professional learning activity.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Initial reflection on professional learning

Assessment task 2: Professional Learning Review

Assessment task 3: Course portfolio

Minimum requirements

Participants in this subject are required to engage in 24 hours of professional learning in higher education and need to provide evidence of this professional learning in their course portfolio. Participants who do not provide evidence of participation in work experience will not be assessed.

References

Brookfield, S. (1995) Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Glassick, C.E. (2002). The four scholarships. HERDSA News, 24 (1), 1-4.

Glassick, C. E., Huber, M. T. and Maeroff, I. E. (1997). Scholarship assessed: evaluation of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Jenkins, A., Healey, M. and Zetter, R. (2007). Linking teaching and research in disciplines and departments. York: Higher Education Academy. Retrieved June 4, 2007 from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/research/LinkingTeachingAndResearch_April07.pdf

Kember, D, McKay, J., Sinclair, K., & Wong, F.K.Y. (2008). A four?category scheme for coding and assessing the level of reflection in written work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33 (4), 369-379.

MacFarlane, B. (2007). The Academic Citizen: The virtue of service in university life. London: Routledge.

Sandmann, L.R. (2002). Serving society: The scholarship of engagement. HERDSA News, 24 (2), 4-7.

University of Technology Sydney (2018). Academic Promotion Vice-Chancellor's Directive. Sydney: UTS Internal Document http://www.gsu.uts.edu.au/policies/documents/promotion-academic.pdf