By Marcia Devlin, Whyalla News
Traditional so-called academic “content experts” now work with learning/educational designers, e-learning specialists, curriculum consultants, language and academic skills experts, library staff, work-integrated learning experts, careers and employment staff, information technology staff, learning-space designers and others to create and deliver university curriculum and learning environments and experiences. The move to more teaching-focused academics may just reflect the related changes occurring in the university teaching space. Of course, there are other motivations for the growth of these positions. As Professor Probert points out, attempts to improve a university’s research standing for international ranking purposes have led to widespread use of teaching-focused positions to remove research-inactive staff from “the count” of staff, the number of which affects the calculations for rankings.
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