Kim Pham
28 June 2016: Representatives from 29 universities across five different countries converged at the University of Canberra for the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-Learning Teaching (ACODE) benchmarking summit this week.
ACODE is the peak Australasian organisation for universities engaged or interested in technology-enhanced learning and teaching. It aims to enhance police and practice at institutional, national and international levels.
-
Representatives from universities in five countries attended the ACODE event hosted at the University of Canberra. Photo: Kim Pham.
The biennale benchmarking event is an opportunity for delegates to rank their own institution on technology-enhanced learning across eight areas including alignment to the strategic plan, budget, procedures and policies to governance.
University of Canberra teaching and learning officer and ACODE executive officer Karen Halley said the self-assessment allowed universities to examine where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
"From our last session some universities have revisited their benchmarks and their rankings have changed. Some have gone up and some have gone down. The ones that have gone down it's been down to things like a change in vice-chancellor or budget cuts, so it's a moving beast," she said.
"This event encourages networking, sharing information and making things transparent for all universities. You don't need to reinvent the wheel all the time."
Participants from universities in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and Open University UK attended the two-day event while the University of South Africa participated via Skype.
