Supporting collaboration in rationalising an area of study

The usual reaction is to form a committee of those involved in teaching the units to look into the matter. In this approach, such a committee's task may involve the difficult decisions of which units will be eliminated, which ones will be retained, which ones will be integrated and how will integration be achieved.

This paper is concerned with an alternative approach to academic rationalisation in an area of study which involves a change from academic staff working individually to working together to redevelop unit offerings. The paper is based on a process attempted at the University of New England, in relation to the research methods units offered in the Faculty of Education. This approach involved beginning not with a perusal of existing units but with a survey of academic staff perceptions of what should be included in research methods units, in the various Faculty awards. All staff members, including those who were not teaching in the area, were invited to contribute their views. This paper documents this approach and identifies the support required and the principles developed for the collaborative rationalisation and redevelopment of the research methods units.