University policies and guidelines

There are a number of Flinders University policies and guidelines that support the use of educational ICTs, including:

• Flinders Strategic Priorities and Future Directions
• Education at Flinders
• WebPET
• Guidelines for Fully Online Topics

Flinders Strategic Priorities and Future Directions

Flinders Strategic Priorities and Future Directions 2006-2010 (PDF 778KB) includes the following educational objectives:

• Objective 1.6: To utilise the full range of media and educational technologies available for the educational benefit of students.
• Objective 3.5: To expand programs offered in flexible modes.

Also identified as an educational goal for 2005 (p 23): ‘Flexible delivery will be embedded within all postgraduate courses and within all identified undergraduate courses, and a web presence will be available in all topics.'

Education at Flinders

Education at Flinders: A guide to the principles and policy framework for education and teaching and learning includes an educational principle relating to on-line learning and information and communication technologies, which states:

‘Flinders University provides a teaching and learning environment that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) in a broad range of areas, including on-line education, access to Library collections, email, the internet and a range of applications. It aims to provide skills in using ICT that will assist graduates to operate successfully in employment and in the community, and to provide an appropriate range of resources to enable students to use this technology in the educational environment.

As they relate particularly to the University's educational mission, on-line learning and ICT will be harnessed to:

promote the development in students and graduates of knowledge and skills that will let them take their place confidently amongst their peers graduating from well performing teaching and research universities anywhere in the world:

• achieve innovative design and content in courses;
• expand the range of sources and forms of knowledge available to students;
• enhance the provision of support services for students;
• support the involvement of links in certain courses with industry, the professions and the community, resulting in programs that are relevant to and meet the requirements of future employers and open the way to careers in a variety of occupational areas; and
• support access by students from a variety of backgrounds to educational programs, including international students, students from rural and remote areas, students with disabilities and students who are studying while at the same time in employment.'

WebPET

Part of the realisation of the Flinders stated objectives has been the development of a Web Presence in Every Topic (WebPET). WebPET has been developed to help provide an environment that supports students in their learning by:

• giving access to a minimum level of information to help them approach learning
• giving access to tools which allow students to find information and communicate
• preparing students for a technology and information rich society
• providing a base for more innovative use of technology to enhance the quality of their learning.

A consistent approach is being used to provide:

• minimum expectations of support (ie ‘As a Flinders student I can expect…')
• efficiency in supporting staff
• efficiency of data handling (eg elimination of multiple data sources)
• sustainability
• ease of student use/familiarity for cross-faculty students.

All topics at Flinders now have a FLO area that contains (as a minimum):

• a link to Topic Information (including teaching staff, aims and outcomes, timetables)
• a link to the Library
• a link to the Student Help Desk
• tools for communication including the Discussions tool, Mail tool, Calendar, Announcements and Who's Online.

The FLO Topic Home Page will (as a minimum) look like the following.

For more information on WebPET support see Support .

Guidelines for Fully online Topics

Guidelines for fully online topics (PDF 73KB)  Have been created to support the development of fully online topics.