Principles of good education practice

Lauren Kane, from the Flexible Learning Unit of the College of Engineering & Computer Science facilitated an Education Design Workshop this morning at the Australian National University. The topic was "How can educational technologies, including ANU's learning management system (Wattle), enhance your teaching practice?".

We worked through the "Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" (Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson, The American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, March 1987):

encourages contact between students and faculty,

develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,

encourages active learning,

gives prompt feedback,

emphasizes time on task,

communicates high expectations, and

respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

Lauren pointed out that this was written long before the current e-learning technology was developed, but the principles are still applicable. Also I though they could be equally applied to postgraduate teaching, as for example in my Green ICT course COMP7310 and in Unravelling Complexity VCPG6001.