Learning approach

• Student's role
• Lecturer's role
• Expert Tutors
• Responsibility
• Problem Based Learning

We have designed the unit around a real-life situation, similar to those you may experience in a future or present work place. In this case, the situation will be environmental management planning for multiple-use of a pastoral lease. You will be required to engage with your classmates and the unit lecturer, and to drawn upon the expertise of researchers and expert tutors during the semester, by using the facilities and resources available on Learnline and the unit website.

This is also a very practical unit. Our intention is to offer you a unit that provides the opportunity to foster problem-solving skills similar to those you will need in your professional practice. You will meet experts, researchers and managers, and build your professional network. You will get to meet people living in the landscape. You will be introduced to the latest resources available to advise you on the management of northern landscapes. You will have the opportunity to place a grass-roots problem into a regional, national and global context.

Student's role

We are expecting a high level of self-direction from you. You will be expected to plan what you need to do, to achieve the objectives of the unit within the 13-week timeframe. To support you in your work this semester, there are opportunities to seek and receive feed-back and discuss your work with expert tutors, your class mates and the unit coordinator. Typically, students in the program come from a range of perspectives and backgrounds, and already have experience in the region. As you would in a normal classroom, get to know your student colleagues. In summary, you need to be organised, interested in other people's perspectives and willing to learn and reflect on your own learning.

Lecturer's role

The lecturer's role in this unit is one of facilitator and unit coordinator, rather than the traditional role of lecturer. I will join you in your learning process, prompting you along the way to ensure that you have considered relevant issues to the situation you are working on, that you are meeting timeframes, that you are making relevant connection between issues and that you are aware of the resources available to you. I will not 'deliver' information to you. You will be expected to research, and gather the information and resources you need, to solve the problems at hand. I will be your mentor as you do that. I will also be looking forward to learning from your skills and previous experience.

Expert tutors

The content of the unit has been recommended and developed by researchers and experts working with the Tropical Savannas CRC and elsewhere. They will be providing you with the latest advice on research and approaches to natural resource management in the region. Take this unique opportunity to pick their brains and seek their feed-back on your thinking about managing the northern rangelands.

Responsibility

This unit will be most rewarding if all of us contribute to the learning process as a group. The "Classroom" discussion board will be the hub of the unit. You should also use your student colleagues as a support in your learning; the Coffee Shop has been established as a place in which you can do this. Alternatively, you may choose to work in pairs or small groups via email.

It is also your responsibility to seek feed-back from me and the available experts during the semester (particularly during weeks 6-12). We have a full semester ahead of us. It is important that you meet the deadlines for assessment items. This is because assessment items build towards one another, and also because your final Assignment 3 will become part of a group activity during the concluding Expert Forum.

My responsibility is to ensure you do not leave important stones unturned, by tracking discussion in the Classroom and in your Journal, and providing you with prompts along the way to keep you on track.

Problem Based Learning

This unit has been developed around the principles of Problem Based Learning. This style of teaching and learning places the student in real-life situations and asks the students to meet the objectives of the unit by dealing with that situation, as they would in the real world. If you are interested in this area of education you may want to refer to the following website for an introduction - http://www.imsa.edu/team/cpbl/cpbl.html.