This Month’s Question:
With the fifth SaMnet Leadership-Development Workshop
taking place earlier this month, we will be reviewing our workshops for future
years. Here is a chance to have your say! What elements would make the workshop
worthwhile for you to come along again? What elements would you suggest are
vital for those new to SaMnet, or SoTL and Leadership in the STEM disciplines?
Let us know at samnetaustralia@gmail.com.
2. Conferences & publication
Monash University, 25-27 November,
2015
Universities are invited to send two
person teams to showcase a laboratory experiment for improvement. Due date for
EOI for experiments to be evaluated at the workshop: 17 August
Flinders University, Adelaide, 28
September – 1 October, 2015
Call for abstracts for presentations
in the Maths Education Special Sessions close on the 30th of June. Please
note that the dates clash with ACSME (see below), but the conference organisers
have offered to try and schedule talks of ACSME participants on the first two days
so you can get to Perth for ACSME.
Perth, 30 September – 2 October, 2015
The theme is Transforming practice: Inspiring
innovation.
Early bird registrations close August 6th.
Past:
QLD/NT SaMnet Leadership-Development Workshop –
Brisbane, June 9
Future:
The University of Melbourne, 6-7 July, 2015
An annual workshop providing an opportunity for
mathematicians, statisticians and mathematics educators to meet. Unfortunately/excitingly
the venue is fully booked so registrations will be placed on a wait list.
Perth,
30 September – 2 October, 2015
This
is the main gathering and sharing event on the SaMnet calendar each year.
Melbourne,
1-4 July, 2015
Registrations
are closed, but look out for other SaMnet scholars at this event.
4. SaMnet activity
This month we held our 5th SaMnet Leadership-Development
Workshop for 2015. This workshop was held in Brisbane and hosted by SaMnet
Scholar, Sarah-Jane Gregory.
24 people attended the workshop and cited that
one of the most useful aspects included a presentation from OLT National
Teaching Fellow, Prof Pauline Ross on Career
progression: Understanding the System. Participants also found sharing experiences
and hearing from others, and looking at effective change frameworks as some of
the most useful parts of the workshop.
Thank you to all involved, especially Sarah-Jane
as host. If you are interested in hosting a workshop at your institution please
send an email to samnetaustralia@gmail.com.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
From the book, A Concise
Guide to Improving Student Learning: Six Evidence-Based Principles and How to
Apply Them, by Diane Cummings Persellin and Mary Blythe Daniels. Featured in Tomorrow’s
Professor Blog.
This is an overview of several studies
on “desirable difficulties”. This work seems to align with interest in “constructive
failure” or “productive failure”. That is, give students practice in something
that is particularly challenging to do. Then, when they are examined on similar
problems, they will actually perform better.
Meg
Bernhard in The Chronicle of Higher Education discussing a recent paper of Carl
Wieman
How do you evaluate your teaching? Wieman
argues that “The ultimate measure of teaching quality... is the extent to which
professors use practices associated with better student outcomes”. Over the
last two years the SaMnet Action-Learning project teams have been evaluating
their teaching to this measure. How can you do this over the coming semester?
6. Leadership insights
Jay
Schalin and Jenna Ashley Robinson in The John William Pope Center for Higher
Education Policy
In the student transition from “learning
for learning’s sake” to more practical outcomes such as employment and
vocational pursuits at university, how can academic institutions respond? How
can academia instil lifelong-learning practices in an era where access and “opportunities abound for life-long learning”?
Dan
Berrett in The Chronicle of Higher Education
Harvard University and the University
of Michigan announced in 2012 $40 and $25 million dollars in funding respectively
to encourage faculty members to “experiment in the service of learning”. The
question arises, what can happen when so much money is offered to projects? Will
the money spark change when other attempts have failed?
7. Classifieds
This is a teaching-focussed role; the
Department is undertaking a major, multi-year revision of its undergraduate
pedagogy and curriculum with the goal of producing a truly superb undergraduate
experience in physics. They are looking for candidates with a strong background
in university teaching who are familiar with current developments in physics
education research.