1.
Issue 37 of SaMnet’s monthly newsletter
This
Month’s Question:
Following up on last month’s question, we are
inviting SaMnet Scholars who have not yet completed the survey by Dr Beth
Beckmann (ANU) on the professional recognition of university teachers to
complete the survey.
We would be grateful for your participation, which
explores the kinds of outcomes individuals gained from SaMnet participation and
the level of recognition you achieved within your institution.
The
survey can be found here: https://apollo.anu.edu.au/default.asp?pid=8720
Any
questions about the survey, the National Teaching Fellowship or professional
recognition can be addressed to Beth at elizabeth.beckmann@anu.edu.au
Support
for this activity has been provided by the Australian Government Office for
Learning and Teaching. The views expressed in this activity do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and
Teaching.
Beth has also recently had the journal article “The
Plant Detectives: innovative undergraduate teaching to inspire the next
generation of plant biologists” published in the Frontiers of Plant
Science journal. This is one of, if not, the first education-focused papers
published in the journal. This will be of great interest to SaMnet Scholars
looking to publish education papers in a science-focused journal.
Congratulations to Beth and her team!
Congratulations to SaMnet Scholar
Maria Parappilly (Flinders) for being named as the Early
Career STEM Educator of the Year – Tertiary Teaching at the 2015 South
Australian Science Excellence Awards on Thursday 13
August.
2. Conferences &
publication
Call
for Abstracts and Papers – Special Edition: International
Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (IJISME)
“The
Link Between Tertiary Science Education and Employability”
Interested
authors should submit a 250-word abstract for consideration to s.beames@uq.edu.au. The deadline for abstract submissions has been
extended until Monday 21 September.
Call for
Expressions of Interest to Prepare Good Practice Guides for Agriculture – AgLTAS Project
LaTrobe
University, Melbourne, 4-5 December, 2015
This is the
inaugural Australian regional conference of HAPS, the largest society of human
physiology and anatomy teaching professionals.
Poster and
workshop submissions are open until Friday 20 November.
Regular
registrations are open until Thursday 12 November.
Future:
Curtin University and Murdoch University, Perth,
30 September – 2 October, 2015
This is the main gathering and sharing event
on the SaMnet calendar each year.
Online registrations are open until Friday 25
September.
Flinders
University, Adelaide, 28 September – 1 October, 2015
The
event includes a public lecture by Professor Terence Tao (UCLA) on Monday 28
September 2015.
Online
registrations are still open for the meeting.
Flinders University, Adelaide, 2 October, 2015
This workshop will focus on the experiences of
“individualised study plans” in the US and potential options for implementation
in the Australian environment.
Registration is free, but required for
catering.
Monash
University, 25-27 November, 2015
Online
registrations are open until Monday 26 October.
Shine Dome,
Canberra, 8-10 December 2015
This forum will
see the launch of the Bioscience Education Australia Network, the new umbrella
network combining CUBEnet and VIBEnet; as well as hosting the Mathbench
Symposium, which will launch and demonstrate the Mathbench-Australia website.
For more
information, please contact Phil at philip.poronnik@sydney.edu.au
4. SaMnet activity
ACSME is coming
up at the end of the month! This year’s conference is focused on the theme of
“Transforming Practice: Inspiring Innovation”.
It is not too
late to register
for the conference and we look forward to seeing many of
the SaMnet Scholars in attendance in Perth.
The next ASELL
Science Workshop will take place in November at Monash University. While EOIs
are closed for the submission of laboratory experiments to be evaluated at the
workshop, registration for attendance
to the workshop is still open.
5. Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning (SoTL)
Michael S.
Harris for Inside Higher Ed
How
do you approach a ‘revise and resubmit’ request to your journal submission? A
systematic approach to the comments provided by editors and reviewers is
outlined here, which can help those initially overwhelmed by feedback from the
first submission. An important point to
draw from this approach is ensuring that your response to the editor’s letter
and comments should fully address their issues.
Joshua Kim for Inside Higher Ed
The
way in which tertiary education evolves and adapts to the future will depend on
a confluence of a number of different trends and the ways they interact with
each other. The author outlines 3 trends associated with the American context
which they believe will play an important role in the future of higher
education. Will these same trends affect the Australian approach to tertiary
education? How do you see tertiary education adapt and evolve into the future?
6. Leadership Insights
Catherine Fox for Qantas Travel Insider
How do we define
the transition between a manager and a leader? Many different perspectives on
the transition from a manager to a leader appear throughout the article.
However, the presence of a strong emotional intelligence, understanding how
people interact and the strength of your communication are identified as vital
factors. What do you think distinguishes a great leader from a great manager?
Daniel Allington for The Open University
(UK)
What do we
actually mean by leadership in an academic sense? Are they merely influential
researchers and teachers, or are they required to take on managerial style
positions and manage academic workers and institutions? The author looks at the
merging of academia and management in the British context and concludes that
‘management has become the model for academic success.’ Do you feel that these
ideas are being conflated within Australian institutions? Is this necessarily a
negative outcome for research?
7. Classifieds
The SMART
Directory indexes useful websites relevant to teaching and learning in science
and mathematics, with annotated resources and a rating system indicating the
usefulness of the resources. The Directory is ready for testing, and the
developers welcome feedback and comments on the site, which is available in beta
here.
The School of
Mathematics and Statistics is seeking to expand its expertise in Pure
Mathematics. Successful applicants will be required to lead research programs
and have a strong commitment to the teaching and supervision of research
students at undergraduate, MSc and PhD levels. Candidates with a background in
Analysis are strongly encouraged to apply, with applications closing Sunday 11
October 2015.
For mathematics
educators with an interest in undergraduate mathematics education for secondary
school teachers, mathematicians, academics in other discipline areas and
teachers in maths support classes, state groups have been formed to consider
state based issues, facilitate more frequent contact and encourage new members
to participate in the FYiMaths network.
