My notes here are a bit scattered. The main takeaway for me was the discussion around the importance of valuing teaching in an institution (whether that is with monetary rewards or not; although, from the discussion, it seemed clear that without the monetary reward, teaching would never be as high-profile as research). Another interesting part of the discussion is the work that’s being done in Hong Kong with TLQPR (teaching & learning quality process review) which looks like a pretty extensive instrument. Lots on the web about TLQPR.

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some of the ways assessment is currently done (examples from the room)
- student feedback
- feedback from practitioners
- retention and graduation rates
- exit surveys
- programme advisory groups
- alumni surveys
- programme review
- peer review & feedback
- accreditation review
- teaching awards
- performance review, tenure & promotion

Ronald’s experience:
- institutions don’t do it well
- there are lots of issues with assessing quality (what’s quality?)
- productivity
- accountability
- honouring the trust – parents trust us with their kids. are we honouring that trust?

Ronald’s experience in Hong Kong:
- teaching development grants were given out generously
- having the money wasn’t the only answer
- everything was focused on research so that got all the money
- TLQPR was put into place to swing the pendulum back to teaching

what would a culture of quality teaching & learning look like?
- teaching and learning are our primary functions
- continued efforts to assure and enhance the quality of teaching and learning within the institution (at the institutional level, at the individual level)

the purpose of TLQBR
- to maintain the focus on teaching and learning as the primary mission of the institution
- to inform funding (because if money is not attached to it, all the extra money goes to research)
- some faculty members think of the teaching part of their job as philanthropy. what they’re really there for is the research

- quality has two facets: did you design it and did you do it?
- how do you use the results of student assessment to improve teaching and learning?
- define quality in terms of student outcomes, not in terms of teaching
- substitute low cost for high cost resources where possible without hurting quality
- work collaboratively to achieve mutual involvement and support

- the needs of students are so much more diverse than the ability of the people working in the system can respond to. our structures are fixed: calendars, timing, certain ways in which information is traditionally carried through.
- students are looking for a smaller, more user-friendly experience. larger universities can’t quite cope or adapt as quickly. how do we create more innovative ways to transform the teaching and learning experience?
- for the foreseeable future, we have to put education at the forefront, as health has been over the past few years.
- health care takes us an incredible amount of our national energies and that will grow as the population ages. how to we take teaching and learning up to that level of focus?
- the Rae Review was a chance to talk to teachers and faculty about what’s going on & Rae’s conclusion is that there has been a deterioration of the quality of the student experience in Canada over the past 15 years
- shouldn’t underestimate the value of engaging students one-on-one.
- the producer-driven culture is too powerful in universities. not enough emphasis on the student experience
- one of the great complaints we hear from students: they want their educational experience to be far more seamless than it is (e.g.: high school to college to university, etc.)
- according to students, universities are the least reponsive, most bureaucratic, and the most difficult to deal with (compared to colleges & other educational institutions)
- far too little collaboration between universities and colleges, universities and surrounding communities, universities and other local institutions, etc.
- teaching has been downgraded to research. this is dangerous. this disconnects it from the student body, from the learning experience. on the other hand, you can’t have good teaching without research.
- this simplistic differentiation between teachers and researchers is dangerous and does not stand up to closer inspection
- “it doesn’t always matter what the question is, education is always part of the answer.”