Redefining the teaching space as public: An essential step in implementing lasting change in Australian universities

This paper reports on a project that moved beyond the collection of student evaluation data as an indicator of quality, to the development of an integrated unit evaluation and renewal process. This process used teaching staff, peers' and students' experience of a unit to inform professional development for teaching staff; to challenge and drive the structural changes needed to support teaching quality initiatives, and resulted in the adoption of a collaborative, iterative curriculum design approach across six common first-year units. At the heart of this project was the Arendtian understanding of the distinction between private space (a space not open to challenge or question) and a public space which is characterised by open dialogue, discussion and debate. Despite significant investments of time and resources in developing and implementing student evaluation data-gathering mechanisms, the university unit co-ordinator's realm has largely remained a private space. This project infused this Arendtian idea of public space into the quality improvement process to redefine the unit as a public space, open to question by both colleagues and students in its design and delivery.