UTS course code: C11154
Testamur title: Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning
Abbreviation: GradCertHEd
Course Coordinator: Jo Mackenzie
Course fee: $83.33 per cp (local)²
Total credit points: 12

Footnotes:
1. This course is offered by the Institute for Interactive Media and Learning through the Faculty of Education.
2. This course is not offered to international students.

Course aims
Admission requirements
Attendance
Course duration
Course structure
Assessment
Other information

Course aims

This course is for current university teachers and aims to help you to reflect critically on your experiences of teaching and student learning in ways that are informed by research on learning and teaching in higher education and by your experiences and those of your students and colleagues. It aims to enhance your:

• understanding of different ways of thinking about university teaching and the consequences for student learning, to enable you to make informed decisions about approaches to teaching, subject design and assessment in a variety of contexts and with a diversity of students
• ability to critically evaluate your own teaching and subjects and make changes aimed at improving your students' learning
• commitment to scholarship in teaching and to self-directed continuing teaching development, and
• broader awareness of the higher education and university contexts in which you work

Admission requirements

The course involves you in reflecting on your own practice in a university context. For this reason, you must be a full-time or fractional university academic, or a casual university teacher who can provide evidence that you will have ongoing teaching during your course enrolment.

Attendance

Modules vary in their modes of offering, but a typical module would involve two face-to-face interactive workshops and online interaction. Face-to-face sessions are usually held every second or third Friday and a timetable is posted on the IML website and made available in the course guide. The course commences two weeks before the start of the regular teaching year. Some modules are offered in alternative distance mode, involving paper-based and/or video materials with online discussion.

Course duration

The course is a modular part-time program, equivalent to eight weeks' full-time study.

Course structure

The course consists of a series of 1.5 credit point modules, of which eight must be completed to be eligible for the award. The course may be completed over two semesters, but you may also choose to complete by taking modules over a longer period of time. The modules offered are:

• Reflective Practice (underpinning)
• Student Learning (underpinning)
• Face-to-face Teaching Approaches (core)
• Assessment (core)
• Course Design (core)
• Evaluating Practice (core)
• Facilitating Online Learning (elective)
• The Academic Professional/Mentor (core)
• Negotiated Project (elective)
• Research Supervision (elective).

The underpinning modules Student Learning and Reflective Practice introduce the key themes which underpin all other modules in the course. Negotiated projects may extend across one or two modules depending on the project scope. Other modules may be developed and offered in negotiation with faculty groups. For the purposes of enrolment, the modules are grouped in different combinations into four 3-credit-point subjects.

Assessment

Assessment involves you in developing a Reflective Teaching Portfolio, which will include evidence of your work related to the course and informed, critical reflection on this evidence. You are encouraged to develop portfolio materials that directly relate to your own academic work and interests. While there are some required assessment tasks, most evidence will be individually negotiated and may include evidence of prior learning. You may choose to provide separate forms of evidence for each module or may provide evidence of larger teaching development activities that integrate your learning across several modules. At the end of the course you will complete your portfolio by writing a critical reflection on your learning, which comments on and integrates your portfolio evidence and earlier reflections. Your portfolio will be self-assessed and assessed by GCHETL staff. The student Learning module also involves peer assessment. All work is assessed on a satisfactory/not yet satisfactory basis.

Other information

UTS full-time or fractional-time staff and participants in the Academic Internship program are exempt from paying course fees through sponsorship by the University. If you are a UTS casual teacher with an ongoing contract, you should contact the Course Coordinator to inquire about your fee status. All other participants are fee paying.