This month's question:
Do you know what it requires to apply for a
grant from the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT)?
Many in the SaMnet community do, and this
month we congratulate those recently awarded
grants including Peter
Adams (UQ), Siggi Schmid (USYD), Adam Bridgeman (USYD), Simon Pike (SaMnet Steering
Committee, Adelaide), Madeleine Schultz (QUT), Daniel Southam (Curtin), and Gwen
Lawrie (UQ). Want to know more, visit the OLT
grants website or talk to these
scholars.
Congratulations to those recently announced
2014 OLT
National Teaching Fellows, Marina Harvey
(MQ), John WIllison (Adelaide), Elizabeth Beckmann (ANU), and Joe Shapter
(Flinders).
2. Conferences & publication
Last month we advertised two discipline
conferences in December. Abstract submission has now closed. If you are
attending, look out for the Education sections and take part and continue to
increase the profile of discipline based education research.
Hong Kong Baptist University,
7-10 July 2014.
University of Palermo, Italy,
7-12 July 2014.
Edith Cowan University, 9-11
July,
Future: The Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics
Education (ACSME)
– The University of Sydney and The University of Technology, Sydney. September
29 – October 1, 2014.
The main annual
gathering of the SaMnet Australia Community
20-21 August and 22 August
2014, Mercure Hotel, Sydney
A pricey, but valuable
opportunity for aspiring female leaders in the SaMnet community.
4. SaMnet activity
SaMnet is preparing for a gathering on the
discipline day of ACSME, October 1 at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Details to follow in the coming months.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) (Edited
by - Emma Bartle, UQ & Matt Hill, USyd)
Bridget O’Brien, Ilene Harris, Thomas
Beckman, Darcy Reed and David Cook, Journal of the Association of American
Medical Colleges
Qualitative data, such as student focus
groups and open-response questionnaires, are being increasingly used in SoTL
projects. Standards exist for reporting quantitative data in peer-reviewed
papers but not for qualitative data, which can cause concern for scientists.
The authors define and explain a set of standards that authors, editors and
reviewers can use to report findings from qualitative research projects.
Bernard S. Chan, Lindi M. Wahl, The Canadian Journal for the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The authors analyse peer-reviewed
journal publications from 2000-2010 from Canadian scholars on Post-Secondary
Maths research. They “highlight topics of continual interest, changing trends
in time and newly emerging themes”. It offers a benchmark of current
scholarship and allows for comparison with the Australian situation.
6. Leadership insights (Edited
by Matt Hill & Will Rifkin, USyd)
Where do you gain inspiration or wisdom for
your leadership? Share your insights with the SaMnet community as a guest
editor of the “Leadership Insights” section of the newsletter. Interested?
Reply to this email.
Alex Malley, CPA Australia
According to the author, how you perform in
meetings appears to be a “proxy for career progression”. Will these five tips
help you get the results you want – a valuable read.
Eric J. Romero
The concepts [of leadership] are pretty
simple: listen to followers, set an ambitions vision, create a positive work
environment, etc. It’s not rocket science…” Why then is the common opinion that
“on the whole, managers are terrible”?
7. Initiative in Focus: 2013 OLT
National Fellowship Update: Work It Out: Enhancing students’ problem solving
skills by modelling how to “Work It Out” in a just-in-time learning
environment. Chris Creagh (Murdoch
University):
Chris will
be running a workshop related to her fellowship at ACSME 2014 (See
Connections/Events). She currently uses three “Inquiry Orientated Learning”
activities with the first year Physics & Engineering cohort, one from Les
Kirkup and two developed originally.
Students learn lots of different things besides experimental design and
such will be the case with the ACSME workshop, which will include pedagogy as
well as hands-on practice. – Stay tuned for workshop details.
Next month: Manju Sharma, Active
lecture approaches in science and mathematics.
8. Classifieds
Wanted
Experienced (and successful) grant writers
willing to advise others in the SaMnet community over the next year as they
seek wider support for their projects. Reply to this email if willing.