Framing the presentation - Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC and some lessons
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18/03/2011
Three BA Reviews:
UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons
A presentation for
James Cook University
by Fred D’Agostino
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Framing the presentation
• These are experiences connected to a specific
kind of program.
• The main lessons are more generally
applicable.
• Saying this does not mean that there is a
recipe for renewal implicit here.
• The map-of/map-to distinction.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
118/03/2011
The UQ BA Review
• Conducted in late 2005
• Self-Study; external panel; short timeline for
implementation of main recommendations
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Outstanding issues
• Recruitment (numbers and quality)
• Cohort experience?
• Retention (high attrition + drift to other UQ
programs)—
– a vicious cycle with recruitment
• “Too many” majors
• “Too many” first-year courses
• A flat curriculum
– Students don’t experience themselves as progressing.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
218/03/2011
Responses
• The first-year experience—development of an on-line community,
including Facebook, using student mentors
• Appointment of first-year learning advisor
• Intensive study of attrition
• Engagement with secondary schools to understand the student transition
• Redesign of marketing and communication
• Enhanced visibility of dual degree programs
• Spin-off degrees—BCrA and BIntSt
• RESULT: Bigger and better cohorts with less attrition
• The gateway/capstone model for majors
• Enhancement of role of major conveners
• Mapping pathways to coursework postgraduate study
• RESULT: Better integration and progression in the majors.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
The UniMelb Review
• Looking at the BA curriculum in light of the
introduction of the University-wide
“Melbourne Model”
• Developed the fitness for purpose and
sustainability criteria
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
318/03/2011
Fitness for purpose, 1
A program of study shows its fitness for purpose by
• its contribution to the broader purpose of the BA as a general qualification
articulating, for some students, with professional programs;
• its recognition, across the international academic community, as a legitimate and
important field of study for undergraduate students;
• the distinctiveness relative to other fields of study of its basic intellectual tools and
key concepts and findings;
• the critical mass and quality of academic staff teaching into it;
• the availability, currently or after further curriculum reform, of a progressively
structured sequence of study, based on the gateway/capstone model;
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Fitness for purpose, 2
• avoiding such breadth of study as would be more appropriate for a stand-alone
specialist degree program;
• avoiding such narrowness of focus as would be more appropriate to a stream
within a major;
• evidence of significant student interest (enrolments and completions);
• its fit with the research profiles and strengths of the contributing schools;
• its significance in relation to broader social purposes;
• its sustainability, in the most general sense, encompassing staffing, student
demand, financial and other resources, including library holdings, academic
facilities, etc.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
418/03/2011
Fitness for purpose, 3
• The list provides a basis for “red-flagging”
programs on specific grounds and,
• for resourcing improvements where the
overall judgment is that the program should
be maintained.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
The sustainability criteria, 1
1. Student load particularly in view of the funding relation between
staff costs and enrolment numbers. Of course, there will be cases
where this criterion trades off against others and where the School(s)
concerned are prepared to “cross subsidize” teaching from other
income streams.
2. Staff profile including, especially, the adequacy of current permanent
staffing arrangements to support sustainable offerings of subjects in
sufficient number and variety to enable students to complete a
coherent and appropriate program of study.
3. Program integrity where this encompasses the breadth of subject
offerings and their coherence and coverage of the area of study. In
the case of programs which are “essentially interdisciplinary”, it is
also important, to ensure that students are able to “process” this
interdisciplinarity, that core subjects be identified, extending beyond
the provision of a distinctive capstone, that explicitly equip students
to benefit from interdisciplinarity.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
518/03/2011
The sustainability criteria, 2
4. Management where this means, typically, having a secure place in a
School and/or an appropriate management structure such as a Board of
Studies, proper administrative structures and continuity of responsibility
for maintaining the program.
5. Other strategic factors which include but are not exhausted by the
intellectual centrality of the subject area, the strategic importance to the
state or the nation of the subject area, the degree of stakeholder
involvement and/or community support for the program, etc.
6. Appropriateness for inclusion in a new generation BA program where
the issues include the appropriateness of the program as an
undergraduate (rather than postgraduate) offering and its place in the
BA rather than some other new generation degree program. In addition,
each major should be reasonably distinct from every other. Any
extensive cross-listing of subjects between majors should occur only
with optional subjects, and it should be made clear how those subjects
relate to both majors.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Sustainability criteria, 3
• Once again, these criteria serve as the basis
for “red-flagging”.
• Where a program is “red-flagged”, there are
always a variety of responses.
• But “the null response” (ignore it and hope no
one notices) is not strategic.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
618/03/2011
The USC BA Review
• A different sort of program at a different kind
of university
• Developed some management criteria
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Management of programs, 1
• An evidence-based approach to assessing market demand for the course or major.
• A method for costing the development and delivery of the course or courses and
of assessing the income generated from student enrolments.
• A resources plan which ensures that :
– there is adequate staff coverage of the area of study consistent with sensible workload
allocations;
– staff coordinating the program and its variants are empowered to deal with student
dissatisfaction with their programs or with teaching;
– dispersed knowledge is captured for and employed in curriculum development, marketing,
and program review processes;
– staff development opportunities build capacity and capabilities, especially in relation to the
financial, curriculum, and marketing elements of program design and delivery;
– the program coordinator is properly recognized in the University’s management structure and
properly resourced (including through workload recognition) to manage the program;
– there is proper and up-to-date library, information technology, teaching support services,
space management planning (including class timetabling), and other infrastructure support for
the majors, variants, and the program as a whole and particularly for those units of study that
adopt technologically enhanced pedagogies.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
718/03/2011
Management of programs, 2
• A curriculum design check-list which enables staff to ensure and students and potential employers of USC
BA graduates to perceive that
– majors and variants offer a coherent student learning experience
– there is progression within the sequence from introductory, through intermediate, to advanced level
study;
– the graduate attributes are embedded and articulated in the sequence and can be evidenced in
assessment tasks;
– work-integrated learning is embedded and mainstreamed;
– the curriculum is “internationalised” in accordance with University policy; and
– there are appropriate opportunities for cross-Faculty and interdisciplinary study, both in the single
degree and in combined programs.
• A flexible delivery and student advisory system which
– in recognition of the timetabling difficulties for students, particularly combined degree students,
ensures that students are able to complete their programs in a timely fashion;
– ensures students are aware of these flexible selection opportunities for enrolment;
– evaluates and resources non-standard delivery modalities such as blended learning, block teaching,
off-site options to ensure that the pool for student recruitment is expanded and that local students
have adequate opportunities to complete their studies compatibly with work and domestic
commitments;
– provides simpler and more transparent processes for cross-institutional enrolments;
– identifies and simplifies student access to cross-institutional enrolment, including, where
appropriate, TAFE enrolment.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
Management of programs, 3
• An external and internal marketing methodology, targeting potential students, their families, career
advisers, potential employers of graduates and other industry stakeholders, which
– collects data about student and employer perceptions of graduates, about both “attrition” from the
program and “in-migration” to the program from students previously enrolled at other universities,
and about medium-term graduate destinations (e.g. five years out);
– addresses misperceptions about graduate outcomes, using the University’s Graduate Attributes,
perhaps re-badged as “capabilities”, nomenclature that may be more widely understood in the
recruitment pool;
– explores the potential of combined programs and of TAFE articulation arrangements to enhance
recruitment to and retention in the program;
– provides for the differentiation of the programand its variants from other programs offered by the
University and by competitor institutions;
– focuses on retention of already recruited students as well as recruitment of new students, including
a proactive stance by Academic Advisors towards the cohort of enrolled students;
– highlights the distinctive attractions of the generic or variant degree program, addressing such
common misunderstandings, e.g. of graduate employment outcomes, as may inhibit uptake.
• A review mechanism which “closes the loop” to evaluate the effectiveness of the course/major/variant in
terms of financial viability, curriculum coherence, learning outcomes, and graduate estinations.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
818/03/2011
Overview of the three reviews
• Learning as you go.
• The importance of data.
• The importance of communication.
– The success (??) of the UniMelb review depended on a pre-planned
communications strategy that involved two-way communication and
feedback.
• Curriculum is embedded in the material circumstances of the AOU.
• The tools we developed can be used to enable curriculum renewal only if
people use them
– resourcing and recognition are crucial for those charged with this task
– and, again, projects will succeed only if emotions are properly
managed.
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
• Thanks
• Questions
• Good luck!
Acknowledgment-Source: D'Agostino, F. (2010). Three BA Reviews: UQ, UniMelb, USC
and some lessons: a presentation for developing Program Leader Networks and
Resources to Enhance Learning and Teaching in Multicampus Universities.
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