In this article, Dr Henk Huijser shares insights and tips for incorporating authentic assessment, work-integrated learning, engaging online content, and research into higher education teaching practice.
Integrating authentic assessment into higher education
A goal for our graduates is to be able to step into a role in industry without having to be retrained.
As the university for the real world, QUT's planning framework places a strong emphasis on authentic learning.
One of the key strengths of authentic learning is that it creates relevance for the learner. The sooner you introduce it in a course, the better the results will be for the learner.
This can be introduced in year one through various scenarios with the goal to be as authentic as possible. In later years this then develops into industry-based internships and industry-led projects.
There are several challenges academics may face as they introduce problem-based learning in their units.
Firstly, the more authentic you want to make it, the more engagement you need with industry to make sure that it is authentic.
In some disciplines, lecturers have strong industry connections and industry backgrounds. In other disciplines, this connection may be more tenuous. In these cases, learning and curriculum designers can provide support creating links to industry to create more relevance.
Another challenge is that industry connections provide good insight into current practice now, but don't necessarily prepare students for what the industry will look like 4-5 years from now.
Industry—like education itself—changes rapidly, especially in a digital environment. Constant change presents challenges around how to keep up, and even, how to predict these changes.
The key thing is to look at it on a course level and work collaboratively with other unit coordinators.
There's a multi-year developmental element to it, so it's important that different units in a course link together.
If you are an academic in charge of a unit, I recommend involving a learning or curriculum designer early to talk through what you're trying to achieve and how you'd go about assessing that.
You can receive help setting up a Curriculum Advisory Committees of industry contacts. You can also network with others in your faculty who have industry connections.
How does higher education remain relevant in a constantly changing world? @QUT's @hhuijser shares his thoughts on authentic learning and the benefits of introducing work-integrated learning early pic.twitter.com/iH0hZ8c5kc
— QUT Learning and Teaching (@QUTlearn) February 23, 2021
Challenges of online teaching
The disruptions caused by COVID-19 have driven us to do things differently in our classrooms.
There are significant differences between teaching face-to-face and teaching online. Some staff have tried to transition what they do in a face-to-face context to an online environment, but this is often a mistake. It's a different environment that requires a different approach.
For learners, it can be difficult to sit in front of a computer screen and watch something for two hours straight.
It's better to break up the lecture content into 5-to-10-minute segments that are theme-based, content-based or concept-based so students can watch this in their own time.
Another difference between face-to-face and online learning is the number of students that you engage with. I recommend keeping online workshop groups small and splitting face-to-face and online cohorts into different sessions.
You can create breakout rooms, but you still need to have a teacher presence in those breakout rooms to make it work. It can be difficult to facilitate a face-to-face conversation and monitor what's happening on the screen and in a Zoom chat room at the same time. Splitting up your cohort may reduce stress and help you focus on one mode of delivery at a time. The digital resources you create for your online cohort can be used as part of your face-to-face teaching as well.
Facilitating engagement in an online environment can be more challenging than in a face-to-face context. Students can tune out or not show up at all.
One of the reasons students might choose to not turn up is because they can't see the relevance. As we live in a digital age, there are many ways to create relevance and delivering learning material and resources. In this case, the teacher’s role then changes. The teacher role is to facilitate learning that happens with those resources.
Relevance can also be created by introducing authentic assessment or other forms of assessment where the stakes are high. When the stakes are high, students see the value and feel like they must engage.
Assessment is a currency of value in a university learning environment. By linking everything you do to assessment, you show its relevance to what they're learning.
The same occurs in the workplace. When there are competing deadlines and tasks, we prioritise them according to what adds the most value. Students do the same thing in how they approach their learning.
I feel the onus is on us as educators to show learners the relevance of what they are doing. Be explicit about what our expectations are and then link directly to assessment.
Part 2 of authentic learning in higher education with @QUT's @hhuijser Dr Huijser suggests implementing authentic learning activities early in the student journey to create relevance and engagement. How soon do you think work-integrated learning (WIL) should be introduced? pic.twitter.com/7qVibIPtr7
— QUT Learning and Teaching (@QUTlearn) February 23, 2021
Scholarship of learning and teaching
I’m an active member of the international learning and teaching research community, also known as the scholarship of learning and teaching.
I regularly publish work in academic journals, including the International Journal for Academic Development. I’m also an associate editor for the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, which promotes research in digital learning environments and innovation in digital learning environments.
Through this research, I seek to engage academics in research and encourages staff to publish articles about what they're doing in the classroom.
Many academic staff don't necessarily feel that they're doing anything ‘amazing’, when in fact they are. It's good to share, not just internally within your university, but also with the sector more broadly.
When it comes to the scholarship of learning and teaching, it can sometimes be challenging for teaching staff in faculties to identify the direct career benefits of getting involved in research. The benefits are in fact plentiful.
You must evaluate what you're doing. When you evaluate what you're doing—and collect evidence about whether it's working or not—you can use that data to then publish about your work.
I’m excited about my involvement in a new research group at QUT called Digital Learning for Change, led by Associate Professor Kate Thompson. This Tier 3 research group focuses on educators, teachers and professionalism; learners and learning; interaction design and immersive environments; and digital ethics.
The Digital Learning for Change research group has the ambitious aim of making society a better place through education. There has been a lot of initial interest from staff across the university in the group.
The official launch of this research group will be soon, so watch this space.
Dr Henk Huijser is a curriculum and learning designer with extensive experience with blended digital learning. He's also dedicated to research into the scholarship of learning and teaching. View Dr Huijser's QUT staff profile.