Achieving sustainability in learning and teaching initiatives

Universities have a long history of change in learning and teaching to suit various government initiatives and institutional priorities. Academic developers now are frequently required to address strategic learning and teaching priorities. This paper asks how, in such a context, academic developers can ensure that work they do in relation to one specific institutional priority can support future learning and teaching strategies. Two examples of efforts to integrate research and teaching are discussed to demonstrate the length of time needed to develop institutional understanding and how to create sustainable resources to meet the needs of changing initiatives. The paper highlights the importance of a sustainable approach to ever-changing learning and teaching priorities, suggesting that resources and other work developed to meet institutional initiatives should be structured so that they can be readily reused or adapted when policies change. The paper concludes by drawing out some implications for academic development.