Learning outcomes and Curriculum Development in Psychology in Australia

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• Learning outcomes and Curriculum Development in
  Psychology in Australia
• Presented by Peter Wilson on behalf of the team

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Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in
Psychology

• Funded in 2004 by The Australian Universities
  Teaching Committee (AUTC)
• Funding continued in 2005/06 by the Carrick
  Institute for Learning and Teaching
• Ottmar Lipp, Project Leader
• Steve Provost, Project Officer

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Team Members

• Ottmar Lipp, Deborah Terry
• Steve Provost, Peter Wilson
• Frances Martin, Greg Hannan, Gerry Farrell
• Debra Bath
• Denise Chalmers

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Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in
Psychology

• Universities involved in team
• Southern Cross University
• University of Queensland
• University of Tasmania
• Griffith University
• some team members have since moved

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Australian University System

• 38 universities funded by Federal Government
• All have psychology departments/schools
• Independent sources of income (fees etc.)
• 2 private universities
• Different types of universities
• Group of 8 (Go8), regional, other metropolitan

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Psychology Education in Australia

• Standard model is a 4-year undergraduate degree
  which includes a final Honours year (or
  equivalent) Pass Hons 31
• Undergraduate degrees provide coverage of all
  main topic areas in psychology
• Honours year involves a supervised research
  project advanced coursework

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Postgraduate Psychology Education in Australia

• Professional programs clinical and others
• 2-year Masters degree is typical
• Professional Doctorates are increasing
• PhD degree is a pure research degree

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Some features of Australian Psychology

• Different Faculty locations
• Science, Arts, Health Science, Behavioural
  Sciences Social Sciences
• Psychology is a science and a profession
• Service provider for other areas
• Strong accreditation framework U/G and P/G
• Quality assurance / consistency across Australia

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Accreditation of Psychology in Australia

• Australian Psychological Society
• Registration Boards in each State
• Aust Psych Accreditation Committee Council
  (APAC)
• Strong standards requirement consistency
• Curriculum, staffing levels, facilities, names of
  degrees
• Special off-shore and distance-education
  requirements
• 5-year cycle of reviews linked to Registration

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Carrick Institute Grant

• Goal to identify strategic directions for
  Psychology in order to enhance learning and
  teaching
• Results presented in a Report and other forms of
  dissemination

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Aims of the Project

• Review models and methods of teaching, curriculum
  development and learning outcomes
• Identify innovative practice in teaching
• Dissemination of material
• Develop platform for future scholarly discussion
  on teaching of psychology

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Network Meetings

• Almost all departments nominated a representative
  to participate in the project
• Interviews with nominated academic
• A series of Network Meetings were held
• Focus on issues such as models of education and
  training graduate attributes
• Cross-cultural indigenous international

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Scientist-Practitioner Model

• Basis for accreditation of departments
• Applies to the overall model of education and
  training not just postgraduate
• Different interpretations / views of science
• Separation between U/G and Professional
• The model has served Australia well but there is
  lively debate about value and consequences

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Factors affecting content of curriculum

• Based on interviews factors with high
  influence
• Accreditation requirements
• Collective academic value of staff
• Individual staff interests and skills
• Personal academic values of individual staff
• School teaching and learning committee
• Individuals within schools were also seen as the
  main driver of innovation

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Factors affecting content of curriculum

• Interview results suggested low influence
• University Teaching and Learning Committee
• Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee
• Pressure from undergraduate students
• Feedback from professionals

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Factors affecting content of curriculum

• Middle ranked influences
• Head of Department and Feedback from students
• Student feedback was also seen as affecting
  method of delivery

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Innovative Practices - 1

• On-line teaching support for on-campus teaching
• Textbook Resources being more widely used
• Problem-based learning
• Education around Plagiarism
• Focus on the First-year experience tutor
  training / peer mentoring
• Live video-conferencing across campuses

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Innovative Practices - 2

• Cross-cultural and indigenous issues
• Research methods -integration
• Topical issues e.g., environment
• Overall curriculum more psychology included and
  new topic areas
• Note not much focus on internationalisation

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Indigenous Issues

• Need to increase participation rate
• Differences of views in regard to curriculum
• Inclusion of more material but where and how?
• Some very good examples from some universities
• Use of Indigenous Learning/Support Centres
• Professional programs are stronger - but not all
  adequate
• Project highlighted needs in this area

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Internationalisation Issues

• Incoming international students
• International experience for Australian students
• Curriculum issues cross-cultural focus
• Bologna Process

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Graduate Attributes

• University and Departmental Attributes
• Sometimes poor link with curriculum and
  assessment
• Some excellent examples
• Portfolio system - UNSW
• Impact on accreditation standards

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Graduate Attributes

• Knowledge and understanding of psychology
• Research methods in psychology
• Critical thinking in psychology
• Values in psychology
• Communication skills
• Learning and the application of psychology

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Graduate Attributes at Southern Cross University
- 1

• Scientific report writing
• Poster preparation
• Psychological survey construction/evaluation
• Quantitative data analytic skills
• Competence in statistical software

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Graduate Attributes at Southern Cross University
-2

• Ethics and integrity
• Communication skills Awareness of global,
  cultural and social responsibilities
• Recognition and respect for diversity
• Intercultural competence

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The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)

• Collected after course completion ( 6 months)
• 5 Scales, 24 items
• 3 scales are mandatory (public info)
• Good Teaching (6 items)
• Generic Skills (6 items)
• Overall Satisfaction (single item)
• Items scored on a 5-point Likert scale, then
  rescaled on -100 to 100 point system
• psychology data at the project website
  ltwww.psy.uq.edu.au/carrickgt

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Some questions

• Does the CEQ matter?
• Yes to Universities, Deans and Heads of Dept.
• Often our only real source of quantitative
  information about our students
• Can have funding implications
• Problems
• Results are released too late sometimes changes
  often already made for other reasons
• Self-nominated Fields of Study

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Analysis of the CEQ

• With whom do you compare Psychology?
• There are 328 separate Pass Bachelors Fields of
  Study listed, and 263 Honours Fields
• Professional programs such as nursing?
• Social sciences such as sociology?
• Natural sciences such as biology?
• The core 4-year degree in Psychology with Honours
  is unique

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3-year Pass level 2005
At the level of fields of study, Correlation
between GTS GSS r .54Correlation between GTS
OSI r .68Correlation between GSS OSI r
.60
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Honours level 2005
At the level of fields of study, Correlation
between GTS GSS r .72Correlation between GTS
OSI r .77Correlation between GSS OSI r
.72
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10 largest Pass degrees in ascending order
(Psychology n2,043 out of N59,824 or 3.5
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10 largest Hons degrees in ascending order
(Psychology n599 out of N7,658 or 8.0
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Summary

• As a discipline psychology performs well on the
  CEQ.
• Overall improvements have occurred over time
• 3-year Pass students provide less positive
  feedback than Honours students. There are about
  4,000 3-year Pass graduates each year, and we
  need to find ways to obtain better results.
• More detailed results are available for types of
  universities can be seen on website
• We still dont know what drives CEQ performance
  research is needed on this subject.

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Further Outcomes from Project

• Increased focus on teaching of psychology within
  departments/schools
• This focus is very notable in some universities
• Network of educators has been established which
  should have a permanent role
• Indigenous, international and graduate attributes
  are issues now receiving more attention
• Accreditation standards changed to reflect
  graduate attributes

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Acknowledgements

• The rest of the Psychology Project Team
• Profs Nigel Bond and John OGorman
• Professor Ian Johnston and the rest of the
  contributors to the Steering Committee
• The AUTC and Carrick Institute
• But most of all to all of the wonderful people
  who came and contributed to the Network Group
  Meetings

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