CHEMP Projects
New Project
e-Teaching leadership: planning and implementing a benefits-oriented costs model for technology enhanced learning
This project seeks to assess the full costs and benefits of online teaching, specifically via development of appropriate methodologies for within-institution costing of online teaching, and the implications of online teaching for staff workloads. On this basis, the project will provide leadership by working with Schools and Course Teams within the four participating universities to plan and implement strategies for a prospective rather than retrospective cost-benefit model, which can enable innovators to plan and understand the relationship between the expected learning benefits and the likely teaching costs. Our approach will be based on the models of Laurillard and Twigg.
Laurillard argues that, while new technologies promise greater personalisation and learning productivity, without careful modelling of the effects on staff time, costs can easily increase without commensurate benefits being achieved. This leads her to suggest a relatively simplified planning model for new courses using technology-enhanced learning. Significantly for about a decade, the American National Center for Academic Transformation, under the leadership of Carol Twigg, has been working with thirty American universities on the re-design of large undergraduate courses, using technology to increase interaction, improve learning outcomes and reduce costs. Evaluation results have demonstrated improved student learning in twenty of the projects, while all thirty institutions reduced costs by about 40 per cent on average. Twigg’s models vary between participating institutions; however, the core elements are similar to that proposed by Laurillard.
Ongoing and recently completed projects
The Proposal for an Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement was released in mid-2008. The key recommendation is for the introduction of an Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement in the form of documentation provided to graduates by awarding institutions in addition to the degree or diploma certificate or testamur. Its purpose is to make qualifications more portable and their value more transparent by providing descriptions of the nature, level, context and status of the studies pursued and completed by graduates, as well as information about the education system to which the qualification belongs. The project was jointly lead by Professor Richard James, Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne and Professor Lynn Meek, the then Director of the Centre for Higher Education Management and Policy at the University of New England, on behalf of a consortium of 14 universities. The work was commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and was recently endorsed by the Minister for implementation. more
The Changing Nature of the Academic Profession
The project examines the nature and extent of the changes experienced by the academic profession in recent years. It will explore both the reasons for and the consequences of these changes. It will consider the implications of the changes for the attractiveness of the academic profession as a career and for the ability of the academic community to contribute to the further development of knowledge societies and the attainment of national goals. The project, relying on a six-stage model of change, will make comparisons on these matters between different national higher education systems, institutional types, disciplines and generations of academics. The following countries are committed to conduct national studies: Argentina, Australia, China and Hong Kong, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, The Netherlands, UK, and the US. Additional countries are under consideration including Brazil, Canada, Korea, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and South Africa. more
Australian ePortfolio Project (AeP)
The final report emphasised the need for a cohesive national framework for ePortfolio use to support the exchange of information and data across institutional, sectoral and international boundaries.The project was funded by the then Carrick Institute, with project lead by QUT and researchers drawn from Queensland University of Technology; The University of Melbourne; University of New England; and University of Wollongong. more
Erasmus Mundus - Action 3 Partnership Program
CHEMP and the University of New England are participants in a successful bid to establish a partnership under the Erasmus Mundus Action 3 European Community Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration. Through the promotion of international mobility of scholars and students, Erasmus Mundus prepares European and non-European participants for life in a global, knowledge-based society. more
The Changing Nature of the Academic Deanship: A Comparative Study Between Australia and the Netherlands
The project is focussed on how the changes in institutional governance structures in universities, that in themselves reflect changes in the universities’ external environment, impact on the position of the academic deanship. more
Transformation and Adaptation of Higher Education Institutions: a comparative study
This project concerns the future of higher education institutions and systems in Australia and internationally. Comparatively grounded, the program of research examines how higher education institutions interpret environmental pressures (including government policy) and translate these into strategic responses. The project provides information of theoretical and practical importance on how higher education institutions operate in an increasingly complex and turbulent social, political and economic environment. It better informs policy makers and institutional leaders alike about the intricacies and unintended consequences of the interaction of policy, environment and institutional behaviour. Countries included are Australia, Portugal and The Netherlands.
The Academic Research Enterprise
The forces of “massification” and “marketization” in higher education have markedly altered the institutional framework that shaped the academic research enterprise. The concept of a “research university” as well as its appropriate form and function have now become subjects for public debate even in those nation/states where the only organizational form of higher education was the university.
The project will develop a framework of public policies relevant to shaping the academic research enterprise in the public interest. The framework will inform a comparative research project on the impacts of national policies on research universities. Some organizing questions include:
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What public policies are relevant to public financing of research in the university sector?
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What public policies are relevant to connecting academic research to economic development?
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What public policies are relevant to maintaining effective doctoral education?
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What public policies are relevant to assuring the accountability of publicly supported research universities?
University-Community Engagement
This pilot study investigated the practicality of using existing information to report against a set of indicators to determine the type and extent of community engagement activity of Victorian universities. Preliminary findings were presented in a paper, Once upon a time in Victoria: Viability and use of performance indicators to assess community engagement (pdf 3MB) to the AUCEA National Conference "Embedding University Community Engagement: The Good the Bad and the Ugly" held in Perth 12-14 July 2006. The final report was launched and the results discussed at National Roundtables held recently in Brisbane and Melbourne. To access the report navigate to http://www.eidos.org.au/news/results.chtml?filename_num=119393