Recognising a beacon of teaching and learning leadership in Australian chemistry

Alex C. Bissember; Reyne Pullen; Gwendolyn A. Lawrie

doi:10.1071/CH23146

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Next Contents Vol 77(1)

Recognising a beacon of teaching and learning leadership in Australian chemistry

Alex C. Bissember

^A , Reyne Pullen

^B and Gwendolyn A. Lawrie

^C ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A School of Natural Sciences – Chemistry, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.

^B School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.

^C School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: g.lawrie@uq.edu.au

Handling Editor: John Wade

Australian Journal of Chemistry 77, CH23146 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH23146

Submitted: 11 October 2023 Accepted: 12 December 2023 Published online: 8 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

This Highlight article considers key contributions made by Professor Brian Yates to the Australian chemistry academic community in recognition of his seminal leadership that led to the establishment of the Chemistry Threshold Learning Outcomes (CTLOs) as national assessment standards. These CTLOs currently underpin the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) process of the professional accreditation of chemistry majors in Australian tertiary institutions and, hence, provide benchmarks of learning in our discipline. Examples of contemporary assessment approaches in chemistry are presented to inform academics who are seeking to assess learning outcomes beyond threshold standards and to inspire future innovative assessment approaches.

Keywords: academic leadership, accreditation, assessment, assessment standards, benchmarking, Brian Yates, chemistry education, chemistry threshold learning outcomes, community of practice, CTLOs, leadership in education.

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