In Search of the Holy Grail

NOMINATED PROJECT FOR THE 2019 BEST RESEARCH & PRACTICE PROJECT AWARD "Competence Oriented Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - Essentials"

What is the essence of good teaching in contemporary higher education?

To answer this question, a small self-study guide for higher education teachers with a focus on outcome orientation and learner orientation was produced. Based on 40 years of teaching experience in different contexts in Switzerland and abroad (including 20 years in higher education) an attempt was made to summarize the essentials with a focus on learner orientation. A model is introduced (GUCK) to capture the critical elements together with a selection of needed competences. Additionally, material is presented that help higher education teachers in acquiring the needed teaching skills. More specifically, the teaching strategies presented in the book are designed to optimize student learning and comprise:

• a contextualisation of the paradigm shift from teaching to learning

• guidelines for formulating competence-oriented learning outcomes

• strategies to reduce complexity and amount of content

• strategies how to design forms of competence-oriented assessment

• ideas how to activate students.

Curious? Have a look at the book for more info.

To verify the appropriateness of the selection in the book a survey was conducted amongst 25 higher education teaching and learning specialists (researchers and staff developers) from Europe, the Americas, Australia, Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

Interested in more details? Read the study online.

To share practices of our university in higher education teacher training and to evaluate their usefulness in different contexts, we have started network projects with colleagues from Albania & Kosovo and Tunisia & Egypt. To foster a dialogue amongst higher education staff developers from all over the world, we upload material free of charge to the internet.

Want to know more? Check out the following weblinks and visit our nominated session at EAPRIL2019

• tiny.phzh.ch/learning-outcomes
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1JKNBx-NKA
• https://www.hep-verlag.ch/essentials-downloads
• https://zenodo.org/record/3374814#.XaBqjEYzbIV
• tiny.phzh.ch/wolf-eng

Heinz Bachmann, Centre for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, University of Teacher Education, Zurich, Switzerland

Heinz Bachmann was a natural science teacher at secondary schools in the Canton of Zurich for 15 years. He also taught in Africa, Latin America and Asia from kindergarten up to secondary school level as well as in high schools and colleges. After completing a second degree in psychology at the University of Zurich, where he also did his PhD, he worked as a teaching advisor and school psychologist. Later, he switched to development cooperation. He currently works as an academic advisor at the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at Zurich University of Teacher Education. Additionally, he is employed as a part-time lecturer for inter-cultural communication at the University of Liechtenstein.In his work, he focuses on higher education teaching,learning,change management,higher education research, and, intercultural learning and intercultural cooperation. heinz.bachmannn@hispeed.ch