Designing for learning
Well-designed and engaging learning experiences
A well-designed curriculum aligns learning activities and assessment tasks with clear learning objectives and provides students with intellectual challenges that help develop their autonomy, reflection and evaluative judgement. Click below to read more about the Melbourne Framework for Educational Excellence’s approach to this topic.
Related CSHE resources
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Engaging and interactive lectures
Lectures are often considered synonymous with university teaching. When thoughtfully designed and effectively delivered, lectures can offer distinct pedagogical benefits.
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Designing more inclusive assessment
Students with disability will be present in every course and every subject.
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Asking questions to support student learning in class
This short guide has been prepared for those new to teaching in higher education. The purpose is to identify helpful strategies for posing questions to suit five common objectives within the small-group learning environment.
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Internationalisation of the curriculum
The site provides staff with strategies, practical tools, ideas and examples for adding international or intercultural elements to the curricula.
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Constructing effective assessment feedback comments
Evidence-based guidelines on how to construct feedback that can support learner sensemaking, agency and impact.
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Assessment considerations in moving from closed-book to open-book exams
Exams should allow for valid, reliable evidence of students’ achievement of subject learning outcomes.
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Designing authentic mobile learning
Instead of focusing upon strategies to stop our students being distracted by their mobile devices, we can explore how to use them to enhance, augment, and even redefine how they learn. Authentic mobile learning facilitates collaboration, user-generated content, and user-generated learning contexts.
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Managing polarising topics in the classroom
This short guide provides some initial advice for educators in managing polarising topics, beginning with steps you can take prior to teaching, then discusses some elements of leading class discussions.
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Seven ways to improve students' online learning experiences in your subject
Modest modifications to the way in which you approach online learning as a teacher, and how you provide online learning tasks for your students, can really improve the teaching and learning experience of both you and your students.
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Multiple choice questions: An introductory guide
This Guide focuses on addressing issues with MCQs and helping to make the use of MCQs in assessment of learning more valid, reliable and productive.
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Writing learning outcomes: A practical guide for academics
This guide provides some general background information on learning outcomes, their function and some practical strategies for how to start thinking about and writing them.
Other resources
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Teaching and Learning Gateway
The University’s gateway to resources designed to help academic staff create and deliver exceptional learning experiences for students.
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ePortfolios
ePortfolios offer students a space to create and curate evidence and artefacts. Purposeful reflection associated with portfolio creation engages students in metacognition.
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Advice for online and flexible learning
The key elements mentioned on this page are important to consider when delivering online or in dual delivery. These fundamentals of delivering an online subject are relatively easy to adopt.
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Assessment rubrics
An assessment rubric is a criteria-based marking tool. Rubrics give students clarity on what is expected and build students’ self-efficacy.
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Authentic assessment
Authentic assessment gives students a chance to apply their theoretical knowledge in real-life situations.
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Formative assessment
Formative assessment is an integral part of student-centred teaching and learning. It promotes learning and provides opportunities for formative feedback.
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Peer review
Student peer review creates opportunities for social learning and rich feedback. This strategy also supports students in developing evaluative judgment.
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Self-assessment
Self-assessment is a formative assessment approach, which moves the responsibility for learning from the educator to the student.
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Reflective practice
Reflective practice is a learning strategy that promotes metacognition and develops students’ capacity for self-regulation.
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Team-based projects
Team-based projects are continuous group assessment tasks that encourage students to work collaboratively towards a common goal and cultivate work-related skills.