Getting Started

Teaching Tool Box: Includes ideas about what to do in your first class, as well as a housekeeping checklist, ice-breaker activities and strategies for learning students' names.

First Words: This site from Oxford university has a section on surviving the first few weeks of teaching, as well as planning your classes and setting up student learning groups.

Teaching for Learning: This is an excellent resource from Flinders University for tutors or demonstrators and their supervisors. This user-friendly site includes pages on various types of tutorials, tips and techniques for successful group work, addressing common tutorial issues, and running effective laboratory demonstrations.

Practical tips for teaching assistants: This site contains some practical tips and advice for cooperating with your course coordinator and for preparing for your first class. Include ideas for getting acquainted with students, setting a good climate for learning and carrying out administrative tasks.

Concerns of beginning teachers: This is a short online chapter of a book prepared by the University of Melbourne called "Tutoring and Demonstrating". This chapter contains ideas for getting started as a teacher, planning a session, finding out what students already know and creating interaction in class.

Understanding approaches to learning: An excellent site from University of Technology Sydney clearly explains the distinction between deep approaches and surface approaches to learning. This understanding is particularly useful for teachers who want to create learning environments which encourage students to achieve desired learning outcomes

Training post: This site discusses the principles of adult learning, describes the characteristics of the adult learner as well as the various roles teachers of adult learners can play. Advice on planning sessions that incorporate these principles is also given.

How people learn: This excellent site from Hawaii Community College contains a variety of links about how adults learn best, active learning and how personality can be assessed and understood to assist in the teaching and learning process.

Tutoring: A concise online booklet describing kinds of adult learning, how adults take in information, teaching methods and styles and the attributes of a good tutor. The three most important tutor skills - speaking, listening and asking question - are clearly and succinctly discussed, with practical examples to highlight key points.

Principles of adult learning: This site is a concise set of tips for teachers of adult learners. It comes from "Best Practice Resources" - an online training and staff development web site.

Thinking and learning sites. This page has links to sites that specialise in different types of thinking and learning, such as creative thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving. Each site will open up in a new browser window. Simply close down the window to return to this page.

Interactive workshops on learning and life skills. This site contains interactive workshops to complement the academic programs students are participating in. These workshops offer strategies to help students develop and enhance their general learning skills and include topics such as writing essays, staying motivated and reducing exam anxiety.

Academic tips. This web site contains tips and tricks to help you manage your time, take better notes, study more effectively, improve memory, take tests, and handle the stresses of university life.

Study skills online. This site offers advice for students on dealing with writing, note-taking, time management, exams and assignments.

Study skills self-help information. Setting priorities, proofreading, staying motivated, note-taking, essay writing, time management and improving memory. You name it; this site has advice about it!

StudyTrekk. This site from Curtin University is an interactive guide to studying at university.

Designing group activities: This site from Berkley University in California provides a concise step-by-step plan for designing group work, organising learning groups, evaluating group work, setting up study teams and dealing with student or faculty concerns about the use of group work.

Collaborative learning online: This site contains explanations of group processes and stages. Check out the "Student resources" link for descriptions of various teamwork strategies and brainstorming techniques.

Group work techniques: This University of Queensland site provides brief definitions of various group work activities, such as buzz groups, concept mapping, jigsaw and role-plays. Where appropriate selected references are provided.

Teaching formats: This is a short online chapter of a book prepared by the University of Melbourne called "Tutoring and Demonstrating". This chapter explains various teaching formats in higher education including leading discussion and guiding group projects.

Small group teaching at Oxford University: This excellent site from Oxford University describes teaching, and understanding the dynamics of, small groups of students.

Solutions for integrating online teaching. This excellent site offers suggestions and examples for using online instructional activities and various models for integrating IT into your teaching processes.

How to use IT investments to improve educational outcomes. This site lists strategies that help teachers use IT to make major improvements in the educational outcomes of students. Also discussed are some of the pitfalls of using technology in the classroom.

Assessment for learning. This site provides a checklist for anyone responsible for planning or implementing assessment and wishing to use assessment as a tool to enhance student learning.

Considerations when assessing students: Check out the "Assessing students" link on this Hong Kong website. Topics covered in brief are the effects of assessment on student learning, designing assessment methods, giving guidance, dealing with dishonesty, giving feedback and using assessment to improve your teaching.

Assessment, feedback and support: This is a short online chapter of a book prepared by the University of Melbourne called "Tutoring and Demonstrating". This chapter provides advice on assessing student writing, giving helpful feedback after assessment and offering support to students.

Using feedback and self-evaluation: This site suggests ways for you to get feedback from students, supervisors and peers, as well as the use of self-evaluation. It also describes how you can use this feedback to improve your teaching skills and raise your confidence.

Getting feedback: using student evaluation of teaching: This is a short online chapter of a book prepared by the University of Melbourne called "Tutoring and Demonstrating". This chapter discusses the use of students' opinions and achievement as performance indictors and for the purposes of continuous improvement.

A guide for self-evaluation: Another of the chapters from the University of Melbourne book "Tutoring and Demonstrating". This chapter contains various checklist for identifying strengths and weaknesses.

Any student questions about their course or program of study should be directed to tutors, course coordinators or program coordinators in the first instance. However, students will always have concerns or needs external to their course or program of study that are best dealt with by student support services.

Most universities have policies and sections of the institution that deal with the following student support issues (however not all students, or teachers for that matter, necessarily know about them):

If your students approach you with a need, problem or concern outside the scope of your role as a sessional teacher, direct them to the appropriate student support network or section. Don't feel you must solve all of their problems for them!

Below are some links to sites containing resources to support your students, and information about various services and networks. The majority of these sites belong to universities around Australia. When reading the information, remain mindful of the expectations of your course and supervisors, and find out more about these services within your institution!

Student orientation. Check out Sydney's University of Technology student orientation website. It boasts a 'learning skills' lecture series, online tours of campus, a peer network, information about the institute's clubs and societies and a university-readiness quiz.