Collaborative Projects Program – Learning and Teaching Hub

About the Program

The Collaborative Projects Program (CPP) provides an opportunity for academic staff to partner with the Learning Design and Production (LD&P) team on learning and teaching projects at the Faculty. The goal of the CPP is to encourage, support and promote excellence and innovation. Projects undertaken under the CPP include untried/novel approaches that can be refined, trialed and evaluated. Projects can also progress along the CPP pipeline, depending on their readiness levels and resourcing needs. All projects will also undergo a standard process of design, implementation and evaluation, with appropriate progress reporting built in. Successful project outcomes, resources and exemplars will be shared with the Faculty at our CPP Seminar at the projects’ conclusion.

For more information about the CPP project process, please see Arts-LD&P-Project-Process-v5-20230511 [.pdf 1.3MB]

Project Categories in the CPP

There are five project categories in the CPP. The projects can range in size from small-scale projects that seek to improve design and delivery of learning and teaching within a single unit, to larger and more complex projects that may impact an entire degree program. Project categories also differ according to their initiators, resourcing needs, duration, number of offerings per year and scalability.

GEP- General Enhancement Projects

GEPs are small-scale innovations or learning design developments to enhance the learning experience in a single unit, or for a sub-cohort of students. They are short-term projects that run from between one to three months where implementation and outcomes are confined to the participant student cohort. Academic staff can directly initiate a GEP at any time via an online EOI form available in the Arts Learning & Teaching Hub. Examples of projects/topics that would fall under this category include: updating lecture resources, improving graphics and branding, and general digital/media enhancement to improve learning experience in a unit.

PDP - Pedagogy Discovery Projects

PDPs serve to promote the development and dissemination of novel learning and teaching approaches in the Faculty. The program provides teaching staff with the opportunity to design, develop, implement and evaluate approaches and solutions in identified areas of pedagogical need. The implementation and evaluation phase of PDPs allows for project outcomes to be tested and refined, adding to an evidence-basis that supports scalable implementation across units. PDPs run from between three to six months and can be initiated at any time by academic staff directly, or by Directors of Education, via an online EOI form available in the Arts Learning & Teaching Hub. Examples of projects/topics that would fall under this project category include novel approaches to the use of online tools in activities and assessment and piloting of an academic integrity DIY assessment ‘health-check’ online tool.

ISP - Innovation Support Program

ISPs assist the refinement and implementation of scalable, pedagogically proven, learning and teaching approaches in up to five units. ‘Innovation’ in this context refers to interventions that have already been devised/trialed in some capacity and are ready to be implemented and more formally evaluated. Intake for potential ISPs will be open twice per year. ISPs may run for up to a year and can be initiated by academic staff, through Directors of Education, with the possibility of funding support. Examples of projects/topics that would fall under this category include: changing an existing approach to unit activities and/or assessments using a new/different iLearn tools, implementing a blended-synchronous mode of unit delivery, and full revision of a unit to accommodate changes to design and delivery.

EEP - Education and Employability Projects

Education and Employability Projects (EEP) are significant development projects where outcomes are pedagogically proven and scalable across multiple units and/or courses. These projects may also involve external stakeholders and will generally tightly align to the published Faculty strategic priorities. Intake for potential EEPs will be open once per year. EEPs may run for up to a year and are initiated by the Arts Faculty Education Committee, with the potential of funding support. Examples of projects/topics that would fall under this category include: learning analytics, broad use online unit, and the Adobe Activation project.

SPP - Strategic Priority Projects

SPPs are significant, long-term projects with outcomes that are intended to be applied across units and/or courses. They may involve a variety of stakeholders and participants across Departments, Schools and disciplines in the Faculty. These projects are underpinned by the University’s and/or the Faculty’s strategic objectives in learning and teaching. The Faculty’s Learning Design and Production team will undertake SPPs as directed by the Dean or Deputy Deans, with the potential of funding support. Examples of projects/topics that would fall under this category include: the development and deployment of the revamped Bachelor of Arts, the implementation of the Faculty of Arts iLearn unit template, and the BA Transferable Skills Framework DDI project.

Project Impact

When assessing project proposals, three measures of impact are considered.

Pedagogical Readiness Level
This is the extent to which projects are based on established/proven pedagogical approaches that can support the likelihood of successful implementation of project outcomes. (1: low to 7: high)
Scalability Readiness Level
The extent to which the projects in this category can be scaled/applied in other contexts (eg. activities assessments, units and/or courses) in the Faculty (1: low to 5: high).
Reach
Number of students and number of units impacted.

Proposing a Project

GEP & PDP proposals

Academic staff can propose a GEP or PDP at any time via an expression of interest (EOI) online form. Project proposals received via the EOI process are assessed in terms of viability, resourcing requirements, LD&P team capacity to support the project, and the likely impacts of project outcomes.

ISP proposals

Academic staff wishing to propose an ISP should use the form below and send it to their Director of Education or Nominee. We run 2 rounds of ISP intake a year. In 2024, the deadlines are 28th April 2024 and the 2nd August 2024. Please allow sufficient time for DoE's to assess your proposal before this deadline.

CPP ISP EOI_V1 [.docx 28KB]

EEPs & SPPs proposals

EEPs and SPPs are not initiated via the EOI process, but through the Faculty Education Committee and Dean/Deputy Deans, respectively. Please raise any ideas you have through those channels.

How are Projects Managed?

What happens after I lodge an EOI/project proposal?

How do I know if my EOI/project proposal is successful?

Who will collaborate with me on the project?

Projects are jointly managed by the academic staff member who proposed the project and the LD&P team member who is designated to work on the project.

The LD&P team member will maintain and share a dedicated project folder where all project documentation will be stored. They will also keep in touch with their academic staff collaborator over the duration of the project to support the meeting of milestones, deadlines and to promote the achievement of project outcomes.

What happens at the conclusion of a project?

All collaborators working on the project will be required to complete a brief project evaluation questionnaire and then attend a debriefing session with the LD&P team member to review project outcomes.

To disseminate project outcomes, academic staff members will also be invited to deliver a brief presentation on their successful project at a ‘CPP Seminar’ to be organised by the Faculty. CPP seminars may run once or twice each year.

How are projects evaluated?

Project evaluation serves as a tool for assessing project success, promoting accountability, driving learning and innovation, supporting decision-making, engaging stakeholders, and demonstrating accountability to stakeholders and funding providers.

The goal of the Faculty of Arts Collaborative Projects Program (CPP) is to encourage, support and promote excellence and innovation in learning and teaching. As such, evaluation of projects completed under the CPP framework is an important step, so that useful outcomes may be shared with the Arts community. Project evaluation also serves to showcase the efforts and ideas and talent of our dedicated academics.

Project Evaluation Survey

All CPP stakeholders (including Learning Designers) will complete an evaluation questionnaire at the conclusion of a project. The CPP evaluation approach is based on the Impact Management Planning and Evaluation Ladder (IMPEL), used by the Department of Education to evaluate of government-funded educational projects.

Variables evaluated at the conclusion of a CPP project include:

Changes experienced by the stakeholders through partnering in the project.
Changes likely to be experienced by students (and any other staff members) directly influenced by the project.
Contributions to knowledge in the field/discipline.
Instances of/likelihood of dissemination/adoptions of project ideas by other practitioners within the faculty and/or the University.
Systemic changes at the University level or beyond (eg. that influence policy and process).

Project Debriefing Session

Stakeholders will also be invited to attend a project de-briefing session to provide their views on the project outcomes and reflect on their experience of participating in the CPP. This information will be used to improve future project management.