The integration of research and teaching is a key challenge in a research-intensive university. We aspire to ensure that a distinctive feature of students’ educational experience at the University of Sydney is research-enhanced teaching. In this context, we provide students with an opportunity to experience an intellectual environment that focuses on research in the content of courses, in the development of inquiry based learning, and by the engagement of staff and students in research into university learning and teaching. It is through this engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning that academic teachers are able to develop an evidence-based approach to curriculum development.
This volume attests to the commitment of the University and its staff to the scholarship of teaching, and illustrates how such scholarship enhances the teaching and learning process. The contributors are key researchers in teaching and learning across the faculties of the University of Sydney. The book is designed to showcase research on teaching and learning within the University and to demonstrate how this research is translated into changes in teaching practice.
The collected works illustrate research to develop a better understanding of students’ conceptions and experiences in relation to specific curricula challenges, as well as describing a range of innovative strategies to increase students’ preparedness to undertake study in their chosen field. Some of the chapters in this volume demonstrate the ways in which research and inquiry into aspects of teaching and student learning is being integrated in an iterative way into curriculum design and development.
The work presented here has been subjected to international peer review. Uniquely, the book demonstrates a wide spread of practice in the scholarship of teaching and learning from within one single institution. We hope that it will demonstrate how teaching scholarship is being used to enhance students’ learning and that it will make an important contribution to intellectual discussions and debates about the scholarship of teaching and learning worldwide.
Don Nutbeam
Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor
University of Sydney iv