Sessional teaching staff
Sessional staff play a vital role in the University and a number of services and resources have been developed to support staff.
Tutoring @ UniSA
Tutoring @ UniSA is a 3 hour workshop that has been developed specifically about tutoring skills and strategies. A website has been developed which provides you with
- An overview of the workshops and information that arises from them
- Resources and links
- Discussion boards that act as 'helpdesks' offering different types of assistance
Teaching @ UniSA
Teaching @ UniSA is an introduction to university teaching program for new academic staff. Sessional academic staff in their second contract with the university (where these contracts are for greater than 13 hours per study period) are required to participate in this paid 25-hour development opportunity. The Schools determine which of their sessional academic staff they are able to support and provide regular lists of names of people to be invited into the program.
Planning for Success: Teaching active learning classes at UniSA
Planning for Success is a 50 page booklet that is a practical resource for all teaching staff that run active learning classes at UniSA (tutorials, practicals, workshops, seminars, studios, practical classes etc). The booklet includes:
- Definitions of effective teaching in higher education
- strategies to plan, conduct and evaluate active learning classes
- advice for teachers supporting learning through feedback, group work, online learning
- an outline of assessment, marking, moderation and academic integrity at UniSA
A wiki of the current version of the resource and a print version of the document are available.
A quick guide for sessional academic staff
The Human Resources Unit has developed a Quick guide for Sessional Academic Staff (PDF 473kb - download Adobe Acrobat)
Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences sessional staff resources
The Division of EASS has developed a number of specific resources for sessional staff. These can be accessed on the Sessional Staff Homepage.
The RED report: the contribution of sessional teachers to higher education
The RED acronym stands for Recognition, Enhancement and Development. The RED report and RED resource, outcomes from an Australian Learning and Teaching Council project on the contribution of sessional teachers to higher education, are available to download. A website from the project is also available.
AUTC Sessional Teaching Website
An outcome of the 2002 AUTC Teaching large classes project was the recognition that the Australian higher education system is one of the most casualised industries in the employment market. In light of this, a second project was developed to focus on establishing guidelines and support mechanisms at the university level for policy development purposes, and at the organisational unit level (school and subject level) for the support and training of sessional teaching staff.
A major aim of the project was to provide a range of models of good practice at each level.
The specific aims of the project were to:
- identify implications and issues related to sessional teaching staff
- identify policies and models of best practice
- disseminate best practice for training, supporting and managing sessional staff.
A comprehensive body of information has been obtained, literature reviewed and resources including case studies, guideline for good practice and checklists developed. All of the information and resources are available on the AUTC Sessional Teaching website, hosted by the University of Queensland. (Please note that the website is currently being redeveloped and not all links may be working).