TLU history

The Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU) was established in 1998 to nurture the practices of academic teaching and research and student learning, both undergraduate and graduate, within the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at the University of Melbourne. It was the first embedded unit of its kind within an Economics and Commerce Faculty in Australia, and one of the first in the world.

The Unit has a strong research culture and has won more than $5,496,405 in competitive grants since 1993. Most recently, members of the Unit received a Learning and Teaching Performance Fund grant for a project on "The Quantitative Analysis of the Student Learning Experience" and a Carrick Institute Award for a project on "Embedding development of intercultural competence in Business Education".

Academic staff have published in key educational journals such as Higher Education Research and Development, Issues in Educational Research, Studies in Philosophy and Education and Studies in Higher Education as well as education-related journals in key Economics and Commerce discipline areas, such as Australian Economic Papers and Journal of Economic Education.

The TLU has several areas of responsibility, including: policy development, research and scholarship, academic development and tutor training, undergraduate and graduate support, multimedia and e-learning development, and transition support. It services all staff and students of the Faculty.

Initially staffed by two people under the leadership of Foundation Director Associate Professor Carol Johnston (1998-2006), the TLU has grown to a vibrant unit of thirteen professionals, specialising in academic development, learning support, and the development and application of multimedia technology in teaching and learning. The TLU also works closely with the Faculty's Marketing and Development Unit and other central units to assist students with the transition from school or the workplace to university and from the university to the professional environments beyond.

Demand for the services of the TLU continues to increase. The Unit runs Tutor Training across the Faculty, catering for more than 100 tutors each year. It also meets increasing demand for its multimedia services, and received 1,493 student visits in 2005. It also produces a wide range of educational materials for students, and regularly produces reports for the Faculty in key areas such as intensive teaching, groupwork as a form of assessment, research-led teaching, and assessment strategies.

In 2004, the Unit were finalists at the Australian University Awards for University Teaching under the category of "supporting student learning". The Unit also won the $25,000 Norman Curry Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in the same year.

In 2006, the Director of the TLU, Associate Professor Johnston, accepted a position as Assistant Dean. She was replaced by Associate Professor Marcia Devlin, an higher education consultant and psychologist who has worked in academia for more than 15 years.

In 2007, Associate Professor Marcia Devlin accepted a position with the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE).  Dr. Robert Dixon, a Reader in Economics at the University, was Acting Director of the Unit prior to the TLU welcoming new Director Associate Professor Kim Watty in August.  Before joining the TLU, Kim was the Director of Teaching Quality in the School of Accounting and Law at RMIT University. With a discipline background in accounting, she has a keen research interest in assessment design, quality in higher education and an emerging interest in threshold concepts.

In 2008, The TLU celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a book highlighting the successes of the unit.  You can download a copy of the book here.