Tactics for Subject Coordination
Coordination
Overview
Based on student feedback and a series of conversations with ABP subject coordinators, BEL+T has produced a set of Tactics for Coordination. The objective of this process was to identify the characteristics that students attribute to “well-coordinated” subjects to inform teaching practices. In addition to student commentary, the following guidance includes tactics used by subject coordinators as well as things to consider for their application. Access the PDF version here.
Well-coordinated subjects are...
- Structured - To students, the design of subject content/activities follows a structure that is logical, predictable and reasonable.
- Cohesive - Students recognise alignment across lecture, assignment and tutorial content/activities.
- Consistent - When it comes to subject expectations and objectives, students are receiving consistent messages across staff members.
- Organised - Logistical planning of student activities enables a smooth learning experience.
- Clear - Subject documentation is straightforward and transparent in terms of information and expectations of students.
Structured
It is important to students that the design of subject content and activities follows a structure that is logical, predictable and reasonable.
Coordination Tactic | Examples | Things to Consider |
Signposting at the beginning and/or end of lectures and tutorials |
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Pacing student workload and communicating "crunch times" |
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Allocating weighting of each assessment task to correspond to anticipated effort required |
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Related Student Quotations
- “The assignments were well organised in terms of the time they were due in semester. It was much better to have the more time consuming/difficult assignment at the beginning of semester when people weren't as under the pump from other subjects.”
- “All the tasks were so clear and there was a very clear progression from one task to the next.”
- “Even as little as ten minutes at the beginning of the lecture allocated to concisely explaining the deliverables and clarifying the assignment would suffice.”
- “The course structure overall is confusing and there should be more structure in place.”
- “The subject seemed to jump around too much, it was hard to follow understand if there was actually a chronological order for learning things or if they were just thrown in wherever.”
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References
- Design & Teach a Course. Carnegie Mellon University's Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation.
Cohesive
When content is aligned across lectures, assignments and tutorials, students consider this evidence that the subject is well-coordinated. Designing each session to directly support learning aims follows the principle of "constructive alignment" and can address this challenge of cohesion.
Coordination Tactic | Examples | Things to Consider |
Aligning weekly content and learning activities to explicitly support learning aims |
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Designing tutorials to reinforce deeper/applied comprehension of that week’s focus |
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Curating guest lecture content to align with current assessment task and content |
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Related Student Quotations
- “The content was interesting and the tutorials provided an excellent place to discuss and deepen knowledge and understanding of the lecture content. The assignments were also great, they facilitated better application of skill and knowledge, all-around excellent course planning and delivery of information.”
- “The best aspect of the subject was how the lecture content directly related to the [project]. This way we were able to apply our knowledge directly to the [project] while simultaneously getting clarification through the tutorials.”
- “The general organisation of the subject felt really messy, and often the timing of lectures, workshops and tutorials did not seem to be carefully thought out of how best to interact with each other.”
- “Guest lectures could be improved. There have been a few where they were overly general, or some that have repeated previous content.”
- “Guest lecturers were all over the shop at times and often failed to link back to the content, ended up just giving their life story/experiences and seemed irrelevant to our learning.”
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References
- Aligned Course Design. University of Minnesota's Center for Educational Innovation.
- Constructive Alignment. Charlies Sturt University's Division of Learning and Teaching.
Consistent
Many subject offerings in ABP are comprised of teaching teams. A key challenge is to ensure that students are receiving consistent messages across staff members, as students interpret this as evidence of a well-coordinated subject.
Coordination Tactic | Examples | Things to Consider |
Communicating regularly with your teaching colleagues to develop a consistent team approach |
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Sharing documents with tutors that provide a structure and set of objectives for each tutorial |
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Observing at least one of each tutor’s sessions per semester |
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Related Student Quotations
- “There wasn't always a clear set of expectations. They differed between tutor groups, and some tutors either weren't able to clarify them, or would be giving incorrect information to the class, seemingly due to a lack of consistent information between all tutors and coordinators.”
- “Different students had different requirements because of different tutors and I feel that this should be improved…There should be more consistency between the different tutors in terms of objectives.”
- “Tutors and lecturers were not consistent in how they explained the modules and the requirements they were expecting in final submissions. This made assessment completion confusing and stressful.” “There seemed to be a serious lack of communication to the tutors as to what was expected from each submission.”
- “I do understand that tutors might have different opinions from one another, but the workload requirement should be consistent across the subject.”
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References
- Lefoe, G. E., Parrish, D. R., Keevers, L. M., Ryan, Y., McKenzie, J., & Malfroy, J. (2013). A CLASS Act: The teaching team approach to subject coordination. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice 10(3).
- Click the link for more information on the Coordinators Leading Advancement of Sessional Staff (CLASS) project, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).
Organised
The degree to which a subject appears to have been logistically planned directly contributes to its perceived degree of coordination.
Coordination Tactic | Examples | Things to Consider |
Scheduling and organising student access to learning spaces, equipment and off-site opportunities |
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Setting major deadlines carefully |
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Using Canvas or other online systems effectively to deliver the subject and enhance the student experience |
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Related Student Quotations
- “The co–ordination with [a related subject] was really appreciated. Having them due on the same week would have been very bad for both subjects.”
- “There was adequate time in labs and tutes to work on and review work.”
- “I understand as a subject you are encouraged to incorporate MSD facilities into your assignments…However, forcing [all] students to only use [certain tools] was never going to practically work. [MSD facilities do not] have the capacity to complete jobs for [this many] students within that small [of a] time frame.”
- “Some forewarning about site visits requiring and needing adequate timing to get to and from locations would have been nice earlier on in the enrolment process. I couldn't make it to some of the site visits because the tutorial times didn't fit with my timetable. Knowing this when enrolling meant I could've rearranged the time table.”
- “The subject reader and the prescribed text were unavailable at the co–op bookstore. This impacted on the first few weeks of learning negatively and was quite frustrating.”
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References
From the BEL+T website:
Clear
Students highlight the value of a clear set of written policies, information and expectations they can use to guide their learning as part of a discussion of 'good coordination'.
Coordination Tactic | Examples | Things to Consider |
Being predictable regarding timeframes and deliverables |
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Communicating clearly to students the structure of the subject |
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Connecting subject documentation to the University and ABP Faculty context |
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Related Student Quotations
- “The subject guide was clear and concise, and the checklists for each task made sure that requirements were met and nothing was missed.”
- “[The teaching team] managed to communicate very clearly the expectations of assignments, and the LMS content (including the videos, emails, announcements) [was] greatly appreciated, and very clear.”
- “The assignments in general were well organised and the subject guide/s were clear, concise and easy to follow.” “I have found it difficult to understand assignment instructions. I would appreciate clearer instructions as I kept finding myself confused on what I should be doing.”
- “Assignments brief are not explained clearly in either lectures or tutorials; the criteria and deliverable are very confusing.” “The subject guide does not help, and is formatted poorly, so it's hard to navigate.”
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References
Riviere, J., Picard, D., & Coble, R. (2014). Syllabus Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
Gannon, K. How to Create a Syllabus. The Chronicle of Higher Education.