Learning and Teaching Week 2019

11am to 1pm
Alere Function Centre

Join Professor Deborah West, Pro Vice Chancellor (Learning and Teaching Innovation) in the official launch of the 2019 Flinders University Learning and Teaching Week.

This will be immediately followed by a keynote presentation with Professor Sally Varnham, Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney and key architect of the Principles for Student Engagement for Australian Tertiary Institutions (STEPUP for Quality Enhancement).

The morning will be rounded off with a delicious catered lunch.

1pm to 3pm
Alere Function Centre

Engagement of the student voice in decision making in Australian tertiary education – what, why and how?

Professor Sally Varnham (UTS) discusses her consideration of these questions internationally and within Australia which led to a national collaboration and the development of the principles known as Students and Tertiary Education Providers (STEPUP) for quality enhancement.

The Student Voice Australia Pilot Project, managed by Kate Walsh, is now working towards the embedding of these principles within ten participant institutions and across the sector in Australia.

3pm to 4pm
Alere Function Centre

Student and staff partnership work is emerging and growing at Flinders.

This session will provide an overview of some of the current partnership projects that are forming at Flinders in 2019.

4pm to 4.50pm
Studio 2

Twenty years ago, students who had to miss a lecture or two would often ask a friend to record the lecture for them. The student with a tape recorder would go to the lecturer and seek permission to record his or her talk. Now lectures get automatically recorded and posted to FLO. As a result, many students feel like attending lectures is a waste of time and end up with only a substandard lecture by-product. These recordings are also virtually the only resource available to some online students.

This presentation will show that proper design and production of online lectures can improve the quality of online teaching and also be utilised to boost lecture attendance and engagement of face-to-face students.

Rodrigo Praino is Associate Professor in Politics and Public Policy in the College of Business, Government and Law and was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation in Teaching Award in 2018 for designing, developing and delivering a topic that showcases international leadership in education innovation, successfully uses advanced learning technologies, and achieves high student satisfaction as measured through learning analytics.

10am to 10.50am
Studio 2

Inquiry-based learning and actively engaging students in the learning cycle, with Dr Masha Smallhorn.

Dr Masha Smallhorn was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching for innovation in delivery of core biology topics which promote engagement, support student transition, ignite a passion for learning and improve overall student learning outcomes.

Hear Masha discuss effective teaching strategies that engage and inspire students.

11am to 12pm
Studio 2

The Student Voice Australia Pilot (SVA) is currently working with ten tertiary institutions (including Flinders University) to build and implement practices to facilitate systematic student involvement in institutional decision making and governance. Jointly funded through an agreement between ten participating institutions and supported by TEQSA and the national student bodies, it aims to increase an understanding of partnership and embed approaches to student engagement in the participant institutions and across the sector.

Please join Kate Walsh, Project Manager of SVA in a discussion of the SVA activities and the way forward towards developing and sustaining an ethos of partnership as ‘the way things are done’ within our universities.

1pm to 1.50pm
Studio 2

Team Based Learning (TBL) is a highly effective, extremely interactive and hugely enjoyable way to teach. In this presentation, Vice-Chancellor's Award recipient A/Prof Karen Lower will go through the basics of TBL, and explain how to easily transform a standard lecture and tutorial topic into TBL delivery. Presented as a practical how-to guide, Karen will also cover the pitfalls that she stumbled into, so that you hopefully don’t need to! 

2pm to 4pm
Alere Function Centre

Engaging students as partners and co-creators are critical practices for empowering both students and staff in higher education teaching and learning. But in institutions defined by hierarchy, how can we develop an inclusive partnership mindset as a foundation for higher education practices?

Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone from UTS will explore this question and more—guiding participants through the development of their own partnership mindset, challenging assumptions, and exploring opportunities.

Lucy has extensive experience engaging in and researching partnership from individual to programmatic levels in international contexts, including Australia, the UK, the USA, and Canada. She will draw on these diverse experiences and an innate passion for the topic to explore how student-staff partnership, when viewed as a way of thinking, can work across diverse practices and disciplines.

10am to 12pm
Sturt campus

The gestation of an idea or two… Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation in Teaching Award recipient Liz McNeill and the midwifery team invites you to join us and share examples of student engagement and partnership to close the theory to practice gap.

1pm to 1.50pm
Studio 2

A hybrid of SBS’s Insight and the ABC’s Q&A and You Can’t Ask That programs, this daring session will see a panel of staff and students pose and respond to questions we’re too afraid to ask: “What do academics really think of students?” “What’s life like for students of the 21st century?” “How much do students know about what goes on behind the scenes of a university?” “If students ran the University what would it look like?” and more.

2pm to 2.50pm
Central Library

Co-designing the curriculum to enable students to succeed in an information rich world.

Join us for an interactive workshop with our friendly, helpful and knowledgeable Teaching and Learning Librarian team. In an era of information overload, we need them more than ever!

3pm to 3.50pm
Studio 2

The New in Law Program: Working with students as partners to develop and facilitate a skills-based orientation and transition program for first year law students, with Samantha Kontra.

Samantha is the Director of First Year Studies in the Law School and coordinator of the New in Law Orientation and Peer Mentoring Programs. In 2018 she was awarded a College of Business, Government and Law Vice-President and Executive Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2018) For sustained improvement of the New in Law to enhance mentor wellbeing and mentee connectedness; and to inspire students to develop practical legal skills.

11am to 11.50am
Studio 2

Enhancing criminology teaching programs through partnerships with students.

Join David Bright, Associate Professor in Criminology and recipient of a Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation in Teaching Award, as he explores the potential of working in partnership with students to enhance teaching programs.

1pm to 3pm
Studio 2

IRU Fellow Associate Professor Amani Bell will facilitate a session that will draw on the expertise and perspectives in the room to enable a better understanding of student success at Flinders, and how best to support it. By the end of the workshop, we will have some core concepts that will inform the Flinders Strategy for Student Support and Engagement.

To celebrate the end of a rich and informative week of events, join us at The Tavern for a celebratory drink. It's an opportunity to relax, reflect and mingle with your colleagues.