Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)

The Centre for Teaching and Learning supports students and teaching staff to sustain and enhance their teaching and learning. The Centre for Teaching and Learning provides a comprehensive range of services to support teaching and learning including:

• A support service for students in difficulty;
• An introduction to tertiary education and learning styles held in O Week;
• The development of resources for teaching; and
• Consultancy services to all teaching staff to develop teaching and learning throughout the College.

Academic learning advisers provide direct learning support for students with study related problems, and conduct workshops for academic staff and students to improve staff skills. Specialist support is provided for students of non-English speaking backgrounds.

Centre for Teaching and Learning support staff provide counselling services as needed and are available Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 PM. To make an appointment at the Centre or for further queries, please use the contact information below. 

Contact us

Centre for Teaching and Learning

Dave Hurlow BA(Hons) Media Production, TEFLA, TESOL Originally from Wales, Dave joins ICMS following extensive ESL and Business English teaching in Australia,Spain and the UK. A keen musician, he has frequently composed songs for the ESL market, none more so than when he was program manager and radio host for a children’s education initiative in Madrid. His senior teacher role in Sydney saw him teach and coordinate all ESL courses including IELTS, EAP and CAE.

The Centre for Teaching and Learning is open from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 PM. Experienced staff members are available by appointment throughout the term for academic advice and guidance.

How can the Centre for Teaching and Learning help you?

The CTL provides a range of resources and services to help you improve your studies.  Some highlights of CTL services are listed below. 

Orientation sessions for new students

Students are encouraged to attend the 'Orientation to Academic Learning' session where you will receive the first part of your 'Undergraduate Learning Guide.' This provides you with key information about how to achieve academic success.

Email advice on improving your academic and study skills

You will receive regular emails from the Centre to assist you with key skills such as time management, answering academic questions and referencing.  Use these helpful hints and resources as you work on your academic tasks.

Lectures on study skills and techniques

Throughout the term the Centre delivers mini-lectures on topics such as note taking, academic reading and writing and oral presentations. During these lectures you will be given more sections of your 'Undergraduate Learning Guide.'

One-on-one and group advice

The CTL provides academic advice, consultation and counselling upon request.
Academic learning advice can be provided in the following areas:

• Effective study techniques;
• Note taking skills;
• Exam techniques;
• Time and stress management;
• Academic writing;
• Oral presentation;
• English support (written, spoken and comprehension); and
• Marked assignments, including academic style and language feedback.

This is a growing advisory area. If you are not sure where you went wrong once you have your marked assignment back, come up with the paper and we can go through it and perform an 'academic autopsy' to highlight weak areas to ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.

Academic learning advisors are unable to: 

• Check answers on assignments;
• Advise on course subject matter;
• Proofread; and
• Check unmarked assignments for grammar/punctuation errors. 
  

Why can't the CTL do these things?

The Centre for Teaching and Learning will not check your answers on unmarked assignments etc. It will not proof read your assignments either. Students are encouraged to check their own work and use ‘self editing’ techniques. The centre can help in this area. Assignments should always be run through a spell checker (Aus spelling only please). Please do not come to the CTL asking us to check your essay on the day of submission, because you will be disappointed with the answer.

We will not advise on subject content. We are happy to listen to ideas and encourage argument building and research, but the CTL will not rule on whether any one particular topic of argument is ‘better’ than another.

The CTL cannot check sentence structure on assignments before they have been marked. This is something that we always get asked to do. We can assist you throughout the term to improve your academic vocabulary and grammar issues (in other words, we can’t tell you what to say, but we can assist you with how to say it better or more clearly).

What happens when you visit us?

Students may be referred to the us by their lecturers, self-referral or if they are considered at risk or placed on conditional enrolment because of poor academic performance.

A visit to us usually involves a needs analysis, a negotiated academic learning plan follow-up support and monitoring of progress.  Students are encouraged to bring along marked assignments for discussion.

Are you at risk of failing or on conditional enrolment?

Students with a GPA of less than 1.99 in any one term are considered to be at risk of failing to meet a satisfactory rate of academic progress. Such students will be asked to attend a compulsory meeting with the CTL and a support program will be agreed with the counsellor.

Students with a GPA which is less than 1.00 in any one term will be placed on Conditional Enrolment and must attend the CTL for counselling and academic support.

To make an appointment by email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it