Tuesday 16 December 2014

December Newsletter

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1.  Issue 30 of SaMnet’s monthly newsletter 

This Month’s Question: Specific Grading is said to bring rigour back into academic marking. It involves all assignments as pass/fail, with limited second chances, which contribute to the final grade (as described in this article). Do you think that specific grading is likely to be feasible and effective in the Australian science context? Send thoughts to samnetaustralia@gmail.com.



2.  Conferences & publication
Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 6-9 July, 2015
The theme of the conference is Learning for Life and Work in a Complex World
Abstracts due February 15, 2015

European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Conference
The University of Helsinki, Finland, 31 August-4 September, 2015
The theme of the conference is Science Education Research: engaging learners for a sustainable future.
Abstracts due 31 January, 2015

Call for Papers – International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (IJISME)
Assessing Laboratory Learning in Undergraduate Science – Abstracts due 10 January, 2015, Manuscripts due 13 April, 2015

Call for Papers – International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Call for papers for December Issue: Last day for Submission, 31 December 2014.



3.  Connections/Events

Future: SaMnet Leadership Development Workshops - January and February 2015

Each year SaMnet conducts leadership development workshops for academics in science and mathematics who are invested in teaching and learning. Benefits of attending these workshops include support in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), career development, and leadership in academic institutions.

SaMnet will be conducting five leadership development workshops in January and February, 2015.

Click on any workshop to register or express your interest in attending one of SaMnet’s leadership development workshops.
 



4.  SaMnet activity 
SaMnet is working with host SaMnet scholars at each institution to put together the February leadership development workshops. We would like you to come along whether you are new to the community or can offer experience and advice.

Western Australia Workshop - Curtin University, 28 January
Victoria/Tasmania Workshop - Monash University, 19 February
New South Wales/ACT Workshop - In Sydney, February date TBC
South Australia Workshop - In Adelaide, February date TBC
Queensland/Northern Territory Workshop - Griffith University, February date TBC

Click on any workshop to register or express your interest in attending one of SaMnet’s leadership development workshops.



5.  Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) (Edited by - Emma Bartle, UQ & Matt Hill, USYD)
This month we focus on research supporting the shift to learner-centred teaching:

Professors’ Place in the Classroom is Shifting to the Side
Dan Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Education
This article presents findings from a triennial survey produced by the Higher Education Research Institute. The survey was sent to 16,000 academics across 269 institutions to explore their teaching methods in the tertiary classroom. Data confirms the shift in pedagogy towards learner-centred teaching, changing the role of academics from “sages on stage” to “guides on the side”.

Reading Guides Rediscovered
Trent W. Maurer, Judith Longfield, Featured on Tomorrow’s Professor Blog
With flipped classroom approaches gaining momentum in university courses, it is even more crucial students come to classes prepared and having completed pre-readings. Yet research suggests 80% of students do no pre-reading. Setting the reading isn’t enough– students also need to be taught HOW to effectively read. This article looks at how reading guides can be utilised to ensure students get the most from their reading preparation.



6.  Leadership insights (Edited by Matt Hill & Will Rifkin, USyd)

Tips for a Winning Research Proposal
Mark Matthews, editor of Prism
15 great tips on writing winning research proposals. How many of these do you employ when applying for grants in education or discipline based research?

To Change a Campus, Talk to the Dean
Audrey Williams June, The Chronicle of Higher Education
More than almost any other administrator, deans are in a better position to influence people and forge consensus. To succeed, they must manage up and down, engaging regularly with senior officials, the faculty, staff, and students.” How well do you know your dean, or their KPI’s? How will that frame your goals?



7. Initiative in Focus:
Have you an initiative, project or interest to share with the community in order to get feedback or disseminate your work? Contact samnetaustralia@gmail.com.



8.  Classifieds
Two types of positions: PhD students and Postdoc.

Domestic PhD Scholarships in Science and Engineering Education (2-positions) – Curtin University
Two PhD scholarships (covering both academic fees and living stipend), funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant, are available for the holders to conduct research in a project that investigates the nature of learning in Science and Engineering laboratory activities. The final practical objective of the project is an assessment of the level to which student learning in a physical laboratory setting can be replicated in remote/online laboratories. In this regard, the project is strongly aligned with the contemporary and future delivery of degree programs in Science and Engineering in the rapidly developing era of online, remote-access, education.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Graduate Employability for Monash Science
Monash University are seeking a three-year postdoctoral research fellow in the field of science education. The focus of the GEMS (Graduate Employability for Monash Science) project is to better understand the needs of employers and recent graduates in the workplace. The skills cited by employers as lacking in recent graduates include problem solving, numeracy, communication, team working, leadership and commercial awareness. Many academics would argue that development of these skills is embedded within degree programs. This is an international issue and we aim to address it for Monash Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) graduates, thus enhancing their employability and career trajectory.