Learning Our Lesson: Review of Quality Teaching in Higher Education Draft Report

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Learning Our Lesson: Review of Quality Teaching in Higher Education Draft Report Learning our lesson: Review of Quality Teaching in Higher Education Draft report Fabrice Hénard 23 June 2009 FOREWORD 1. In the context of the sustained growth and diversification of higher education systems, civil society is increasingly concerned about the quality of programmes offered to students. As a result, there is an increase in public assessments and international comparisons of higher education institutions, not only within the higher education sector but in the general media. However, evaluation methods tend to overemphasise research, and to use research performance as a yardstick of an institution‟s value. If these assessment processes fail to address the quality of teaching, it is in part because measuring teaching quality is complex and difficult. 2. Institutions may implement schemes or evaluation mechanisms to identify and promote good teaching practices. The institutional environment of higher education institutions can also lead to enhancement of quality of the teaching in higher education through various means. 3. The goal of the OECD-Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) project on quality teaching was to highlight effective quality initiatives and to encourage practices that may help other institutions to improve the quality of their teaching and thereby, the quality of their graduates. The project analysed the goal and scope of initiatives, and the role of the faculty members, the department, the central university and the state. The project sought to pinpoint long-term enhancement drivers of institutional support for staff and decision-making bodies, helping to fill the data gap in information on outcomes indicators for higher education. 4. The project examined the two main approaches to quality teaching: the top-down approach (those quality teaching initiatives taken by the institution collectively and determined by its leadership) and the bottom-up approach (those quality teaching initiatives taken by the teachers and which may nevertheless have an influence on the institutional policy on quality teaching). The focus of this review is mainly on the reasons for, and the effectiveness of, those initiatives. It is less concerned with the practical aspects and the concrete mechanisms used to put them into practice, which are heavily dependent on the circumstances of each institution. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the experts who contributed to outlining the structure of the review, advised on the content and sources, and reviewed the draft version: George Gordon (University of Strathclyde), Cécile Lecrenier (Université catholique de Louvain), Philippe Parmentier (Université catholique de Louvain) and Stanislav Stech (Charles University). The final report includes the comments of Outi Kallioinen (Laurea University of Applied Sciences) and Alenoush Sorayan (McGill University), and Institutional Management in Higher Education members. Ellen Hazelkorn and Amanda Moynihan (Dublin Institute of Technology) helped to refine the online questionnaire while Bernadette Noël (Facultés Universitaires Catholiques de Mons) and Gabriella Navarro (Asociación de Profesionales por la Democracia y el Desarrollo) tested it and made it more user-friendly. Special gratitude is due to the faculty members and staff of the higher education institutions who completed the online questionnaire and provided complementary information through telephone interviews and site visits. A meeting organised with the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) on 15 December 2008 allowed the participating institutions to delve into the findings and enrich the conclusions. This illustrative study will be useful to institutions looking to invest in quality teaching. The wealth of examples provided by the 29 participating institutions covered all areas of this study. However, we have selected here those examples that best reflected the recommendations, and could be easily understood by readers around the world. As a result, examples provided by all 29 institutions are not necessarily described here. All responses from the questionnaire can be found on the IMHE website: http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3343,en_2649_35961291_43049991_1_1_1_1,00.html 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW ON QUALITY TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION 7 PART I: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 11 Rationale of the project .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Methodology .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. What definition of quality has this report opted for? ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. The review of literature .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. The unfolding of the review ....................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Institutions‟ involvement ........................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. The online questionnaire ........................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Complementary interviews..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Limitations and methodological points to be considered ....................... Error! Bookmark not defined. PART II: PROFILES OF THE INSTITUTIONS AND OF THE QUALITY TEACHING INITIATIVES. 12 Overview of the group of institutions ........................................................................................................ 12 Distinctive features .................................................................................................................................... 14 Level of autonomy ................................................................................................................................. 14 Orientation of the degree structure (undergraduate, graduate, doctorate) .............................................. 14 Main disciplinary orientation ................................................................................................................. 15 Typology of the group of institutions ..................................................................................................... 16 Overview of the involvement in quality teaching ...................................................................................... 17 Typology of the quality teaching initiatives .............................................................................................. 18 1st group: Institutional and Quality Assurance Policy ................................................................................ 18 2nd group: Programme monitoring ............................................................................................................. 19 3rd group: Teaching and Learning Support ................................................................................................ 19 To what extent the type of institution influences the kind of initiatives supporting quality teaching ....... 20 Targeted audiences..................................................................................................................................... 20 Teachers (A and B) ................................................................................................................................ 21 Students (C, D and E) ............................................................................................................................. 21 Leaders of the institution (G) ................................................................................................................. 21 Administrative staff (F) .......................................................................................................................... 21 Employers (H) ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Overview of the timeline ........................................................................................................................... 21 PART III: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 22 THE ORIGINS OF QUALITY TEACHING ................................................................................................ 22 The influence and interference of national authorities ............................................................................... 22 A favourable climate for change ............................................................................................................ 22 4 Direct state regulations or incentives ..................................................................................................... 23 Quality assurance stimulates the awareness of quality teaching ............................................................ 24 But quality assurance hardly embraces the complexity of teaching ....................................................... 26 The increasing awareness of the importance of quality teaching for the institutions ...............................
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