News

Balanced Teaching Period 2017: Guidance on preparing for Orientation and Week 1

We know that for students to succeed it is critical for them to have the best possible start in their first few weeks of study. With the recent changes to the academic calendar, there are corresponding requirements for what must be provided to students in all subjects by the start of the Orientation period and Week 1.

So, now is a good time to review how we are enabling students to have the optimal beginning to the new Session. See below for some very brief guides to help you with this. Download the guides individually, or grab the whole set (pdf).

Introduction

This background one page description provides an overview and invites you to consider three ‘templated levels’ for an introduction to your subject. Download this document and Bronze below to get going. To move past the basic requirements check out the ideas in the other levels. As your Faculty may have additional expectations, or different deadlines, please make sure you’ve checked your faculty requirements. 

Bronzebronze medal

This is the basic level of welcome activity that is expected for all subjects under the balanced teaching periods 2017. Download this guide to understand the baseline practice for student success in preparing for your subject. Perhaps you are new to UTSOnline, new to teaching, or have agreed with your Faculty to hit the minimum requirement.

silver medalSilver

Moving beyond the base requirement level, you can add to this with some extra quality or interactivity. We have a few suggestions of good things you could add to your basic UTSOnline site to get students better prepared for a good start with your subject when they meet with you in Week one.

gold medalGold

Add to your Silver preparation with an idea or two from these best-practices – for the most engaged and interested students. Here we consider some extra elements you might use to set a very strong tone for a high quality interaction with you in 2017. 

  • […] would like specific information about requirements and deadlines in your Faculty. Also, please see some guides for different online Week 1 ideas at Gold, Silver and Bronze levels of support, produced by […]

    • Thanks for the alert Michaela – have fixed it up now. Hope you find some good ideas that you can use.

  • Thanks for the explanation of differences in the levels and providing suggestions on achieving each level.
    In the bronze level it says “The first day of the Orientation period is February 20 and Week 1 commences March 13 ….; All subjects must have their subject outline available to students by that time.” Does this mean by February 20? 13 March or sometime between?

    • Hi Sonia, thanks for pointing that out. The date for posting your subject outline is 20th Feb but I will edit the text to make it clearer. Thanks!

Join the discussion