There is a need to provide a good quality first year experience for students. An important resource in any effort to identify and prioritize improvements is identifying the perceptions and needs of those who coordinate and teach the first year topics. A forum is periodically convened to enable academics from multiple disciplines to discuss issues of common concern and to share effective practice.
Forum goals
The key goals of the forum are:
- To develop a profile of current Flinders first year students in order to prioritize areas for future work.
- To achieve greater efficiency in teaching and assessment without expense to the quality of the learning outcomes (more productive student and staff workloads).
- To improve the uptake of learning activities that are relevant to students' interests and foster deeper understanding, application and analysis.
- To increase the effective utilization of Flinders student support services and reduce needless drop out and disaffection with student life.
- To develop collaborative projects that address common concerns of first year topic coordinators and teachers.
- To develop a set of guidelines for designing and teaching first year/level topic
Each meeting of the Forum begins with a showcase of resources developed across the university that might be able to be applied to a wider audience. Resources showcased to date include:
Previous Fora
Contact the Centre for University Teaching for further information about the fora or these presentations.
