Colleague development: working together to improve learning and teaching
The has recently introduced the Colleague Development Program to improve the quality of learning and teaching, and to improve support for Faculty teachers. The program is open to anyone who teaches and can be adapted to suit both early career and experienced teachers. Associate Professor Maree O'Keefe, the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, explains.  Commentary
While student surveys provide valuable information to teachers about student experiences of learning and teaching, feedback from teaching colleagues is also valuable. Colleague feedback can complement student feedback by providing information on aspects of teaching that students may find hard to judge, such as the currency of subject matter, the appropriateness of student learning objectives or the validity of the assessment program. Colleagues can share personal experiences and also make suggestions to improve teaching. In 2006, the Faculty of Health Sciences introduced the Colleague Development Program. The program - supported by funds provided through the University of 新浪彩票 Learning and Teaching Development Budget - gives teaching staff opportunities to develop their teaching skills and to explore innovative teaching and/or assessment techniques. Faculty teachers from a number of disciplines were involved in developing the program. The Colleague Development Program is built around providing constructive feedback and on promoting collegiality within and across traditional discipline boundaries. One of the key aims is to facilitate peer observation partnerships between teachers. Participating teachers ask a trusted teaching colleague to act as an observer of their teaching. Before the observation begins, the teacher tells their observing colleague which aspects of their teaching they would like feedback on. The observing colleague's task then is to tell the teacher what was done well, what was done less well and to make specific suggestions for improvement. The colleague observer and the teacher discuss these observations and suggestions and the colleague observer prepares a written summary of mutually agreed outcomes. Each parti | 
