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Helping educate under -25 tertiary students

December 7, 2013

Lesley PetersenEIT is spearheading research aimed at enhancing the teaching of younger tertiary-level students nationwide.

EIT, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, Wintec and Waiaraki Institute of Technology are collaborating for the two-year project, Becoming effective teachers for under-25 students: A model for professional development decision-making.

All five institutions are sharing in a $150,000 contribution to the research project, a figure being matched by Ako Aotearoa. EIT teacher development advisor Dr Lesley Petersen says it is the biggest polytechnic-led collaboration to attract Ako Aotearoa funding since the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence was established in 2007.

Early last year, EIT started investigating the professional needs of staff teaching a growing demographic of students aged under 25. “The common expectation for students transitioning from school is that they can work independently and manage their own learning in tertiary education,” Dr Petersen says. “Our programmes are tailored to make students work-ready, but younger students in particular can find that a challenge.”

EIT is embarking on two case studies centred on the institute’s Certificate in Engineering Trades and the Bachelor of Computing Systems.

Having helped pinpoint their professional development needs, teachers will be asked to test drive appropriate initiatives to determine whether these work in practice.

“We want to know what support is needed to teach these under-25 students well,” Dr Petersen says. “Of course the initiatives have to positively influence others in the classroom as well as the younger students.”