Open Learning and Student Leadership: A Case Study

Rebecca Johinke
The University of Sydney
Sydney, Australia


This paper showcases an open and innovative suite of units designed by a multi-disciplinary team of academics and students at the University of Sydney. As part of a process of curriculum transformation, staff from Health Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, and Arts and Social Sciences collaborated with staff from Education Innovation and the Library to develop a number of student leadership units. The units are: OLET1402 Leadership in Education and Organisations (0 credit points, free of charge and available to staff and students); OLET1403 Student Leadership: Community Engagement (2 credit points); OLET1404 Peer Mentorship (2 credit points); and OLET1405 Student Leadership: Representation (2 credit points). These open learning units aim to give students theoretical and practical underpinning for their leadership aspirations and provide them with the opportunity to develop and practise relevant skills. Students have been important partners in this process as they have assisted by developing content and testing the units (early qualitative feedback). The curriculum includes the provision of foundational areas to support and inform study on leadership skills, the opportunity to apply broadly leadership skills, and a strong focus on personal development and communication. Once they have completed the online and open zero credit points unit, students can then choose to extend that knowledge by taking any one or all of the additional two credit points units, which are (ideally) designed to scaffold to provide a comprehensive suite of leadership offerings. Taught wholly online, by a multi-disciplinary team, these units are open and innovative, and represent a breakthrough for this type of curriculum at the University of Sydney. The units were offered for the first time in Semester 1 2018 and so preliminary results and evaluation data (qualitative and quantitative) are presented for discussion.