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The Monash environment

Supporting learning and teaching

Transition and orientation: working with students new to university

Monash University offers comprehensive  Transition and Orientation programs to support new students in their university experience. The research on transition and undergraduate learning shows that students want to be independent learners, but often need help and encouragement to achieve this.

Some of the students in your classes will have experienced a form of learning at school which minimises the risk of failure and maximises their ability to meet very specific criteria. Others will have experienced a more independent learning environment much closer to the tertiary model. The student's first experience of university teachers sets up scripts or expectations about tertiary teaching and learning.

Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching

The Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) provides strategic and targeted learning and teaching support for the university. CALT programs and services that are available to sessional academics as well as continuing staff include:

Learning and Teaching Support Online

Understanding student evaluation

Evaluation can be defined as the "systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide useful feedback" which at Monash relates to information about programs, policy, teaching and the institution.

The University has procedures for the formal, periodic evaluation of teaching units that is carried out by faculties. The unit evaluation policy requires that each unit is evaluated at least once annually using the agreed unit evaluation instrument. Units are evaluated in relation to:

  • Content and objectives
  • Teaching methods
  • Assessment procedures
  • Student workload and study behaviour
  • Routine evaluation
  • Expertise of teaching staff

Teaching evaluations provide:

  • Feedback on the perceptions of students in their class
  • Feedback to lecturers so they can improve their teaching
  • Feedback to the faculty and university so they can judge the teaching performance of academics
  • Information to students about what other students thought of the lectures

Monash has three major ways of evaluating teaching: MonQueST, Self evaluation and Peer evaluation.

Information Technology

As a Monash staff member you are granted an Authcate account that will provide access to Monash resources that are password-protected. Your school/department will advise you on the process of applying for the accounts relevant to your work.

The university offers a wide range of IT training courses, including online tutorials.

As a sessional academic, you may take advantage of the Microsoft-Monash CAUDIT (Monash only)agreement that permits staff members to purchase designated software (Monash only; pdf 106kb) at heavily discounted prices ($25 per product at July 2008) for use on a home computer, for work-related purposes only.

It is important that you familiarise yourself with the Monash policy on Acceptable use of information technology by staff.

  • Support for Monash University Studies Online (MUSO), a suite of online teaching and learning tools.
  • How to request mailing lists for your classes so that you may contact your students as a group.

Library resources

The library website  provides access to services, resources and facilities to support teaching and learning by staff and students. The library has an extensive range of printed and electronic resources, including databases, e-journals and e-books. Staff and students of Monash University may use electronic resources anywhere, anytime using an internet connection. Your Authcate password provides access to these resources.

The electronic resources are governed by licence agreements which restrict use to non-commercial academic research or learning purposes, and you may not download, distribute, or retain substantial portions of licenced material. Copyright and proprietary notices must not be removed from any printed or downloaded material and all use of material must be cited appropriately. Users are also legally required to comply with any additional terms of use as specified in an electronic resource. See the Terms and conditions for use of electronic resources.

Monash policies and legislation

It is important that you familiarise yourself with the University's policies and procedures - these are available from the Policy Bank. Key areas relevant to your teaching duties are:

It is also important to be aware of the University's Occupational Health, Safety and Environment and Security policies and procedures.

Some areas are also covered by university legislation, including:

When teaching international students, faculties and staff are responsible for compliance with the Educational Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000 (amended 2007) and the National Code 2007. The Act mandates the processes that must be undertaken by education providers to ensure quality education for international students, and provides consumer protection for them.