“The second strand is learning and teaching. It explicates a body of ideas, is informed by available research, and instils habits of inquiry that reflect the provisional nature of knowledge.”[98]
Under the direction of a Curriculum Commission chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Peter McPhee, in 2007 the University of Melbourne undertook the most significant reform since it was first established in 1853.
The resulting Melbourne Model reflects the global trend towards broader undergraduate programs followed by intense professional training at postgraduate level. In the Australian context it gives students more time to consider career choices. Starting in 2008, the ‘new generation’ degrees provide a multidisciplinary curriculum with a strong international focus. Students will experience discipline breadth as well as depth, with one-quarter of their study coming from outside their core discipline, including a suite of new University breadth subjects. Students will be exposed to, and learn about, alternative domains of knowledge, different methods of inquiry and different ‘ways of knowing’. Our graduates will be equipped for lives and careers in which knowledge boundaries are more permeable, the issues of professional practice often require interdisciplinary understanding and knowledge is rapidly renewed.[99]
What does the changed curriculum model mean for the shape of our libraries? Their location? Their scope? The balance between discipline-based libraries and libraries which expose students to a breadth of scholarship? How will our professional postgraduate coursework students’ needs differ from those of our undergraduates?
How will we develop in students the information literacy skills required to be adept at learning in a range of ways, including through information and communication technology?
Students will be introduced to the ethics and methodologies of research as part of their undergraduate experience. They will have opportunities to build interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and technological awareness and skills, with direct exposure to leading research and knowledge transfer projects on campus, as well as opportunities for off-campus experience such as industry and community work placements and international study. Many universities have moved to provide some courses or, in the case of the University of Phoenix, all courses fully online. In contrast the University of Melbourne remains committed to the on-campus experience, enriched through the use of emerging technologies to support individual and group-based learning. Through the “Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning” the University has reaffirmed its commitment to encourage and support innovative approaches to learning and teaching, including through the application of information and communication technology. It has also reaffirmed its commitment to develop and maintain high-quality teaching and learning spaces and resources. The aim is to create an effective learning environment, whether virtual or physical, noting that the quality of learning technologies and resources of all kinds is a prominent indicator of the quality of a higher education learning environment.[100]
How might scholarly information and technologies be used to facilitate research and knowledge transfer opportunities within the curriculum? What types of learning environments are required for next-generation courses and students? What technologies must we make available to students in our learning spaces? In our teaching spaces? How do we support a diverse student body with different skills and differing levels of access to emerging technologies? Who has the responsibility to protect and preserve the intellectual property of students?
If our role in the information age is to encourage the understanding of how to learn and how to expand scholarship, then the information itself is of less significance. What argument then for adopting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Open Course Ware model and Open Access more generally? Why do people come to Melbourne — what is special about the way we deliver on our mission?
In addition to curriculum reform, the University has undertaken a major review of its administrative and student services. The quality of the Melbourne student experience was a key focus of the reforms. It has involved a significant reshaping of the University’s services and administrative effort from a student-centric perspective.
The Melbourne Experience aims to provide students with a strong cohort experience, building strong peer networks and encouraging close links with academic units. Under the Melbourne Model students’ individual needs come first, from their initial contact with the University as prospective students through to an ongoing relationship as alumni. A recent study has shown that our students overwhelmingly wish to use technology to increase convenience with 83.9 per cent wanting to use the web for student services such as enrolment, signing up for classes and paying fees, and 80.9 per cent also wanting to use the web to access a learning portal.[101] Our commitment to the Melbourne on-campus experience has seen the creation of Student Centres to provide students with close links to their discipline areas. A ‘one stop shop’ approach to administration and academic support will mean the end of students being sent from one corner of the University to another for student cards, course information, language support or career advice. There are plans for the Student Centres to co-locate with refurbished libraries and learning spaces which provide state of the art information access located in spaces for collaborative and individual study.
How might our virtual environments, our learning spaces, our libraries, our campuses foster a cohort experience for students? How do we encourage a sense of the University as a learning community? Improve the quality of the student experience? What priority do we place on the virtual, as compared to the physical, student experience?