Co-written by Ann Wilson and Alisa Percy
As you prepare for your teaching, you may be interested in refreshing your skills and knowledge, or thinking about some new ideas or inspirations. The start of a new year is always a good time to think about what you might do differently this next teaching session.
An ideal option to start you on the right foot is a programme we have developed in-house, supported by our own people at UTS. There are some other good options outside of UTS too, which are free and open to everyone to enrol in. Have a look below, and choose your own adventure.
Enhancing Teaching@UTS
Enhancing Teaching@UTS is a program for all UTS academics that was introduced in August last year. It aims to support you to develop the understanding, capability and confidence to teach subjects drawing on good practice principles aligned to the UTS distinctive approach. As well as encouraging innovative teaching with a strong focus on student learning and the student experience, the program also aims to connect you with resources and community across disciplines and the Education Portfolio to promote ongoing support and collaboration.
This is a 5-week online program consisting of five 1.5-hour, weekly online workshops in the Autumn 2025 teaching session (weeks 3-7). You will also be invited to join a Canvas site to connect and collaborate with each other.
Over the 5 weeks of this program, you will:
- Reflect on the opportunities and challenges within your teaching context and identify areas of inquiry that interest you
- Consider the alignment between your teaching practice, the key elements of effective and inclusive teaching, and the UTS distinctive approach
- Apply design principles to the development and teaching of your subjects to enhance student learning
- Enhance your feedback and assessment strategies to promote student success
- Explore tools and methods to engage students using technology
- Develop strategies for evaluating and reflecting on your practice
Enrol now for the program, which kicks off 7 March:
Beyond UTS
The following courses are all online and self-paced.
Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching MOOC (CAULLT)
- Duration: 17 February – 4 July
- Study Hours: flexible, 2hrs per module (complete 12 modules to receive a badge)
- Faciltated by: Professor Agnes Bosanquet (Torrens University) and A/Prof Marina Harvey (Macquarie University).
This MOOC is free to all and caters to a range of educational responsibilities and roles. You can choose from 4 pathways: new to teaching, enhancing student learning, enhancing your teaching practice, leading learning and teaching. You can choose your own pathway within 24 modules, exploring what interests you and is relevant to your teaching context. Download the flyer to read more or go straight to the enrolment page in Canvas.
The heart of teaching: Reflective Practice in Teaching and Learning (FutureLearn)
- Duration: 5 weeks
- Study Hours: 4 hours per week
- Facilitated by: Lauren Flannery and Dr Elizabeth Scholefield, University of East Anglia
In this course you will learn to build strong, supportive relationships in the classroom to foster inclusivity and create positive learning environments. This 5-week program takes you through 5 key topics: the impact of identity, the power of perspective, navigating bias, the teaching context, and the human touch. Free access to this course expires 19 March, so enrol before that date.
e-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age (Coursera)
- Duration: 4 weeks
- Study Hours: 6 hours per week
- Facilitated by Mary Kalantzis and William Cope, University of Illinois
This course explores 7 affordances of e-learning ecologies, which open up genuine possibilities for what Kalantzis and Cope call New Learning: Ubiquitous Learning, Active Knowledge Making, Multimodal Meaning, Recursive Feedback, Collaborative Intelligence, Metacognition and Differentiated Learning. They suggest that designing for learning with these 7 affordances in mind develops students’ capacity to be successful in an increasingly digital world. Enrol now to learn more.