Page 29 - Learning & Teaching Model

in a linguistic dyad with ‘solutions.’ But, from a different cultural or even, disciplinary perspective, there may not be a ‘problem’ at all. Frequently these are re-named as ‘challenges,’ ‘issues,’ or, ‘opportunities,’ rather than ‘problems,’ in order to expand student thinking on these topics.
Furthermore, integrative learning can be facilitated when student assessment is treated as an integral part of the
learning process and not a separate add-on at the end of a unit of study. This ‘Assessment for Learning’ approach ensures that assessment is a continuous and progressive process that is used to inform instructional approaches in situ (Cooper, 2006: Fenwick & Parsons, 2000). At RRU, we have examples of programs
where assessment serves diagnostic, formative, and summative purposes; relies on multiple sources (self, peers, and teachers); is outcome or competency-based; involves both oral and written components; and integrates re ection on the process as well
as the product. Many of our program assessment frameworks place the students at the centre of the process – helping them learn how to assess their own performance and contribute
to the assessment of their peers. According to Weimer (2002), these are the kinds of skills that independent and self-regulating learners need to develop for successful application to real-life situations. Furthermore, Moss, Osborne, and Kauffman (2008) contend that placing assessment at the centre of the learning process also helps reinforce a transdisciplinary view of the curriculum, thereby enhancing its relevance to everyday life.
7. FaCULTy wiTh PROFEssiOnaL ExPERiEnCE Fundamental to the delivery of any program at RRU is the emphasis placed on having an overall faculty body that has extensive professional experience in addition to the requisite academic quali cations. Although professional schools often
require some faculty members to have practical, professional experience, it is rare to nd a university, like RRU, that supports this scholar-practitioner philosophy across all of its programs. Our university’s applied educational focus heightens the value placed on professional experience, especially from a student’s and an employer’s perspective. RRU’s original Education Plan, developed in 1995, called for many of the university’s professors to be “drawn from business, industry, government and other post-secondary institutions to ensure our programs balance theory and practice (Royal Roads University, 1995, p. 13)”.
One way of achieving this balance, according to the Education Plan, is to intentionally attract both full-time faculty that have teaching and program management responsibilities as well
as a signi cant complement of term-contracted faculty that have an extensive professional experience in addition to the related academic credentials required. Eighteen years later, this rich blend of experience and expertise amongst our full complement of teaching remains a core strategic asset for the university.
8. TEaChing as an aCTivE PROCEss OF FaCiLiTaTing LEaRning
At RRU, the primary function of the instructor is not to just serve exclusively as the “expert” imparting great tomes of knowledge but it is to serve as a facilitator or mentor that guides the student process of constructing knowledge and meaning from student engagement in the learning and problem-solving process. Therefore, an expert model of education is actually limiting when compared to a facilitative, collaborative model of inquiry-based learning, leadership, and decision-making. As Knowles (1975) observed, the learning facilitator functions as more of a process- oriented guide than only a content expert to help students discover what kinds of knowledge, resources, thinking strategies, and perspectives are helpful in understanding and managing
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