An associate deans' community of practice: rising to the local leadership challenge to enhance learning and teaching quality

An associate deans' community of practice: rising to the local leadership challenge to enhance learning and teaching quality

Associate Deans (Teaching and Learning) face a number of challenges in successfully retaining and progressing students in their faculties. The authors, all Associate Deans (Teaching and Learning) across the five faculties at USQ identify a number of challenges to be overcome in order to enhance teaching and learning in the higher education context. The first challenge involves identifying strategies to assist students to actively engage with their studies. This challenge escalates if the primary mode of delivery involves distance learning. The second challenge stems from the need for Associate Deans to empower their staff to design, develop and deliver curricular that achieves student retention.

ADs LT at USQ primarily oversee courses (rather than programs or degrees) and are responsible for the implementation within each of their faculties of the institution’s strategic learning and teaching plans. Most aspects of design and delivery fall into the ADs’ portfolios. This includes promoting teaching best practice, encouraging effective course design and managing innovation in delivery technologies. Management of these issues has, in the past, been undertaken quite independently by each Associate Dean within his or her faculty. At USQ, an Associate Dean’s Community of Practice (AD CoP) was formed to facilitate an institutional approach to student engagement, both in terms of supporting students and supporting staff. This paper outlines the success of this initiative in building the learning and teaching capacities of both students and staff at USQ.

c DEHub. Non-refereed article. Faculty of Arts; Faculty of Sciences; Faculty of Business & Law; Faculty of Engineering & Surveying.