engleski

Quality Assurance in University Teaching, Guidelines on Quality in University Teaching = Osiguranje kvalitete u sveučilišnoj nastavi, Smjernice za osiguranje kvalitete u sveučilišnoj nastavi = Zagotovljanje kakovosti pri univerzitetnem poučevanju = Smernice za zagotovljanje kakovosti v univerzitetnem poučevanju

The TEMPUS project SM “Quality Assurance in University Teaching, Full Ahead” lasted from 15 October 2006 to 31 October 2007.The book - the three documents produced as outcomes of this project are to help inform and influence higher education institutions and policy makers. The focus is on all persons in the academic community – their capacities, attitudes, beliefs, values, teaching and learning strategies. All of these considerations are of paramount importance to university teaching. We have aimed for maximum coherence among the documents included, in spite of the fact that they attempt to cover a multiplicity of academic disciplines and fields. As in all documents of these kinds, there is considerable diversity of viewpoints and stances. The project rallies members from different academic communities and cultures (Croatia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and Austria) as well as administrative bodies (the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports and the Agency for Science and Higher Education). We have aimed to represent the wide scope and plurality of perspectives that such a document hopes to cover. We believe that the reader will benefit most by taking the documents in the order they are meant to appear. We also hope that the TEMPUS SM Project “ Quality Assurance in University Teaching, Full Ahead” documents will stimulate university teachers and all involved in higher education not only to a greater awareness of the importance of quality assurance in university teaching, but also to a greater appreciation of the fact that an academic is no longer seen as a person who only delivers the curriculum and produces learning in students, but understands the social and cultural world in which he or she works. Large– scale curriculum reforms cannot be implemented without a change of attitudes among academics. And we do not see academics as passive recipients of reform who mutely accept changes thrust upon them. We strongly believe that genuine reform needs to grow out of the concerns of the whole academic community. Document one, the Code of Good Practice in Teaching and Assessment, the pivotal document of the project, establishes principles and standards of behaviour which should be observed by any university, teacher or student working or studying at a university to which the Code applies. The Code of Good Practice in Teaching and Assessment cannot cover the differential needs of all higher education institutions in Croatia but it is an attempt to define minimum levels of good practice. Document two, the National Strategy for the Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness 2007 - 2011, focuses on the appropriateness, framework and strategy of the evaluation practice. Document three, the Action Research Programme for Enhancing the Quality of Teaching (a staff development scheme), hopefully, demonstrates the power of action research as a research tool for teaching and professional development. These three documents are designed to complement and mutually support each other. They aim to be the framework of reference for the quality assurance in university teaching in Croatia. The documents are elaborated for the development of a new policy, as well as in the case of existing policies that need to be substantially improved. Although these three documents have been developed in the Croatian context, we envisage that other countries in Europe would also find these documents to be of interest.

quality assurance; professional development; action research; evaluation; teaching effectiveness

Ova knjiga je vezana uz Tempus projekt SM_SCM C028A06-2006 'Quality Assurance in University Teaching, Full ahead'.