AbstractIn Australia, the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching (CAUT) was established in 1992 to provide funding to support teaching development projects. Many universities have supplemented this programme with similar internal schemes. Underlying the use of funding in this way is an assumption that innovative teaching ideas and materials will be developed by keen practitioners, and then will be disseminated to others who will adopt or adapt the innovation. The paper argues that the notion of dissemination is borrowed from scientific research and is an inappropriate way of conceptualizing innovation in university teaching. Suggestions are made about ways of encouraging innovation in teaching — suggestions which are based on a more adequate understanding of the way in which teaching practices change.