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in audio as a podcast.
This month's question:
What are you submitting for ACSME 2013? Join
the Skype Conversations on 3/6/13 and 11/6/13. Email samnetaustralia@gmail.com
to book your seat.
Adam Bridgeman has been awarded the
Outstanding Teaching Award as part of the U of Sydney’s 2013 Vice-Chancellor’s
Awards for Learning and Teaching. Adam
is involved with multiple SaMnet action-learning projects and is an active
participant at SaMnet workshops and conference gatherings.
Let us know if you have garnered an award
recently, as these rewards build morale … and influence.
2. Conferences & publication
Australian Conf. on Science and Maths Educ.
2013: “Students in transition – The Learner’s Journey”. Venue: ANU & Uni of Canberra. Submissions
due: 7 June 2013.
The European Science Education Research
Association Conference 2013. Venue:
University of Cyprus in Nicosia. Abstract submission: Closed. In Europe in Sept.? ESERA2013 is well worth a visit.
IJISME Special Issue on Biology Education Futures – Would you consider writing a paper for this
publication? Expressions of Interest are due 14 June 2013 and manuscripts are
due 26 July 2013.
Future: SaMnet Skype
Meetings to discuss planned ACSME submissions – 3 & 11 June 2012. Register interest by emailing: samnetaustralia@gmail.com.
HERDSA 2013 Conference
– 1-4 July 2013 at Auckland Institute of Technology. Venue: Auckland, New Zealand. Tell us if you are attending. We will gather SaMnet Scholars.
Venue: U
of Melbourne. Topic: “Biology Education Futures”.
Day 1: Strategies for Academic Life:
Workshop for early and mid-career academics
Day 2: Biology Education Futures:
Includes showcase for e-learning in biology and assessment as evidence for
achieving learning outcomes.
Match up:
Visit the SaMnet
project list,
and make contact with a fellow SaMnet Scholar.
Compare your projects and your efforts to drive change. Be a colleague’s ‘critical friend’.
4. SaMnet activity
SaMnet Advisory Panel Meetings: Friday 10 May
2013.
SaMnet Scholars can log in and see project reflections from participants
of the SaMnet Leadership-Development Workshops from February 2013. Log in with
a gmail/google account and email samnetaustraliamoderator@gmail.com if you are
not able to log in.
The future of SaMnet:
SaMnet’s advisory panel is made up of
prominent academics and administrators, such as former PV-Cs, Adrian Lee and
Alex Radloff. They are keenly interested
in building and sustaining SaMnet’s successes.
They want us (including you) presenting compelling data on how you have
changed teaching in your schools and faculties.
They asked us to engage more academics, beyond current SaMnet
Scholars. That builds the ‘movement’ for
improving science teaching and enables ‘succession’, new and energetic people
at the top. They underlined the value of
rewards for your efforts, which is why we assist you in refereed
publishing.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
(SoTL)
Implementation of criteria and
standards-based assessment: an analysis of first-year learning guides Higher Education Research & Development latest
issue – Rosemary
Thomson, UWS.
Analysis of 159 first-year units in Australian
institutions – “The paper provides a snapshot of the types of assessment used
in the first year, including exams and analytical, reflective and authentic
tasks”.
Widespread distribution and
unexpected variation among science faculty with education specialties (SFES)
across the United States Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - Seth
Bush, Nancy Pelaez, James Rudd II, Michael Stevens, Kimberly Tanner, and Kathy
Williams.
A new type
of specialised science academic position within science departments is emerging
here and abroad. SFES academics were
found around the US. The authors
examined recognition for these staff and support for their research.
6. Leadership insights
Another
social-media-heavy section on Leadership insights – 2 posts from Linkedin.
What’s the Common Ingredient
for Team Success in Surgery, Banking, Software, Airlines, and Basketball? – Adam Grant
Individual
practice or experience may not be the key to success as some have claimed it to
be. This post discusses how collaborative and team experience leads to results.
Recognise these factors in relation to your project team?
Do
you know the difference between working “For” and “With” a company? “But J. T.,
if I stand up for myself, I’ll get canned.” This article claims to offer a
secret to being a top performer at work.
7. Project in Focus: Developing
and resourcing academics to help students conduct and communicate undergraduate
research on a large scale, Susan Rowland, Gwen Lawrie, Kirsten Zimbardi, Jack
Wang, Paula Myatt.
Editors note: We are beginning to branch out from
the SaMnet action-learning teams to other projects of interest within the Science
and Maths education community, particularly if team members are connected to
SaMnet as Gwen Lawrie is.
Imagine your class of 200 undergraduate science
students all engaged in research during their regular laboratory or field
sessions. Fun… A good learning experience… How about daunting? What
if there was someone who could help you do it?
Team
ALURE
(Apprenticeship-style Large-scale Undergraduate Research Experience) is a group
of teaching-focused academic scientists at UQ. We are recruiting five new
champions who want help implementing large-scale undergraduate research
experiences for their science classes from Semester 2 2013. Our aim is to
develop and resource academics who want to help students conduct and
communicate undergraduate research on a large scale.
What can we offer you?
·
Experience: Experienced
ALURE champions help new champions design, implement, and evaluate their ALURE.
·
Protocols and methods: Groups
from ANU, Griffith, Sydney Uni and UQ have documented a “how to” for the ALURE
– these protocols and notes will be available to you.
·
Project Evaluation: We
provide evaluation methods and analysis.
·
Regular Personalised Backup: ALURE
implementers are visited and mentored regularly through Skype.
·
Meetings and Workshops: An
interactive showcase will be presented at HERDSA
8. Classifieds
Have you seen a validated survey to assess
communication skill development?
An honours project at the University of
Queensland is looking to evaluate communication skills of students submitting
research reports for an internally-circulated research journal. The request is
for any papers documenting a validated instrument to assess development of communication
skills.
