1. Welcome
Here is the
first newsletter of the Science and Mathematics network of Australian
university educators -- SaMnet.
Circulation =
100 SaMnet Scholars / ‘leaders of change’, those of you pursuing
action-learning projects.
2. Conferences
Australian
Conference on Science and Mathematics Education (ACSME), Sydney, 26-28
September. Abstracts due 15 June.
Other
conferences you are attending this year? Tell us where you will be (survey
sent last week), and we will connect you with other ‘SaMnet’ delegates.
3.
Collaboration
Collaborate
with other project teams on a panel presentation or paper.
SaMnet website
now lists projects by Topic and Discipline, as well as Region.
Vanderlelei,
Lawrie, and Pearce – Did you know that you are each evaluating the learning
impact of ‘new media’ assignments? King and Simson – Transition.
Joint grant
proposal to the Office for Learning and Teaching?
4. SaMnet
activity
21
action-learning projects are under way. 8 expressions of interest in new
projects were recently approved.
The SaMnet
workshop you took part in during February or April was repeated in Sydney,
Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.
Mini-workshops
in person -- Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne in May-August.
Mini-workshops
on Skype/teleconference -- June-August.
Website – See
the new ‘Resources’ page. ‘Events’ = a calendar. Add notes on your project in
the ‘Member’s Area’. Revisit this newsletter.
5. Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
SaMnet SoTL
writing workshop in Melbourne in July (stay tuned for further info).
6. Leadership
The 8 steps
involved in leading change described by Harvard professor John Kotter – http://www.kotterinternational.com/kotterprinciples/changesteps
The
‘transition’ model of William Bridge, how change requires people to let go,
experience confusion, then engage with new energy -- http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/bridges-transition-model.htm
7. Team in
focus: The SaMnet HQ crew
In each
newsletter, we will tell you about one SaMnet project team. As ‘charity begins
at home’, we will start with our own names, ‘day jobs’, and what we do to
support SaMnet.
Manju Sharma
–Lecturing, supervising, directing various institutional and national
endeavours, and leading SaMnet! Chief Coordinator of SaMnet.
Will Rifkin –
E-mails by the bucketload, project planning, and commuting to Brisbane.
Executive Manager of SaMnet.
Stephanie
Beames – Supporting teaching and learning in the Faculty of Science and
Engineering at QUT. Creative input & operational insight for SaMnet’s
executive team.
Alex Yeung, PhD
Chemistry Education – Managing IISME, including ACSME conference and IJISME
journal, and various institutional endeavours. Providing occasional help with
SaMnet.
Matt Hill, PhD
Candidate – Multiple representations in learning university physics. Website
and resources for the SaMnet community.
Waki Wohoro,
Physics Major – Analysis of E-mail correspondence for SaMnet. New member of the
team, to help make your life (and ours) that much easier.
8. Classifieds
The Dawson – van Loosen – Yeo team at Curtin is looking for a senior
mathematician to try their video-based resources for first-year students.