Index
Project Description
National Context
An overview: the ‘big picture’
The Teaching Quality Indicators (TQI) Project is an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (formerly known as the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) initiative. The TQI Project has arisen out of a growing need for an agreed approach to recognising and rewarding quality teaching and teachers in higher education.
The overall purpose of this national project is to reward and recognise quality teaching in Higher Education through systematic implementation of indicators and metrics on teaching and teacher effectiveness. The emphasis of the TQI Project on such a systematic approach is a reflection of the shift towards a performance based quality assurance culture in Higher Education. Hence the findings and learning that emerges from this project will have significant impact not only on the cultures of the participating universities but also contribute nationally and internationally to leadership in the area of performance based culture in the higher education context.
Who’s involved?
Professor Denise Chalmers, who has recently taken up the position of Director, Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at University of Western Australia, is the project leader for the project. Professor Judyth Sachs, DVC Academic at Macquarie University, assists with the coordination of the project and is the Leader of the Pilot Group (in Stage 2), particularly working with the D/PVC Academics of the universities participating in the pilot project who sponsor the project in their respective institutions. Ms Kate Thomson and Ms Becky Walker are the Project Officers supporting the initiative from Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
The TQI Project is a national pilot project involving eight universities: Deakin University, Griffith University, Macquarie University, RMIT University, University of Queensland, University of Western Australia, University of South Australia, and University of Tasmania.
What’s it about?
The key outcome of the project is the development and implementation of a framework that identifies indicators and outcomes of teaching quality at the national, institutional and individual levels.
The TQI Project has been envisioned as a four stage project. Stage 1 involved the investigation and development of the framework and involved a number of sub projects. One outcome was an international review of current understandings and practices of the use of indicators and metrics to measure quality of teaching and learning in the Higher Education context. The report of this investigation is available from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and it is entitled: “A review of Australian and international quality systems and indicators of learning and teaching”.
Stage 2 is currently in progress and involves the trialling of the framework within the respective institutional contexts of the eight participating universities in the pilot TQI project.
Stage 3 is to provide support to extend the implementation of the TQI framework into other universities interested in applying it to their own contexts. With a wider adoption of the framework, Stage 4 aims to allow for sharing of agreed data for benchmarking purposes across the university sector.
What’s happening nationally in Stage 2?
The Stage 1 report on the review of quality systems and indicators of learning and teaching identified four key dimensions of quality in learning and teaching. The four dimensions underpinning the TQI Framework are:
- Institutional climate and systems – the institution’s commitment to the enhancement, transformation and innovation of learning, which involves evaluation of institution, staff and student levels of satisfaction; the institution should reflect support for student-centred learning approaches, value teaching and teachers, identify desirable teacher characteristics and employ and develop relevant and appropriate teaching experience and qualifications.
- Engagement and learning community – engagement and participation of students and staff in collaborative active learning and opportunities to participate in multiple learning communities; industry involvement in engaging with learning is also significant to the RMIT context.
- Diversity and inclusivity – with an increasingly globalised Higher Education sector, student and staff diversity has intensified. Institutions need to embrace inclusivity of student and staff diversity and cater for different learning needs through aspects such as international students, increased diversity of cultures, social origins of students, social economic status of students, race and ethnicity of students/staff, gender of students/staff.
- Assessment – assessment policy and practices that transform the student experience and fosters lifelong learning; assessment is based on evidence of learning, current assessment theory and practice, is regularly reviewed internally and externally for internal improvement, reflects commitment to formative assessment, assessment of graduate attributes, and encourage innovative assessment practices and sharing this knowledge and practice across the university.
The TQI Framework is characterised by indicators and measures that are aligned to the four dimensions. During Stage 2 of the TQI Project, these dimensions will guide the work of the pilot universities as they develop their individualised frameworks of teaching quality indicators to meet their organisational needs and strategic directions and priorities. Each participating pilot university has been asked by ALTC to identify one TQI dimension to focus their implementation of the TQI Framework.
RMIT Context
The TQI Project provides RMIT with the opportunity to systematically investigate institutionally relevant indicators, grounded within RMIT’s mission and strategic directions. Such investigation into policy and practice will help determine areas of need, good practice, and areas of concern in relation to improving quality of teaching, the learning experiences of students, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
The short term objectives are to scope the potential and appropriate areas for investigation to advance learning and teaching within the RMIT institutional context and the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s TQI Project context. The longer term objectives are to draw upon findings of initial investigations to inform development and/ or refinement of policy/ projects/ initiatives to advance learning and teaching at RMIT.