This news is a welcome relief to staff at universities worried that HE would lose a vital resource to support the transformation of teaching and learning practice.

DEEWR will maintain the current suite of programs for at least the next 3 years. The next call for submission of grant applications is expected to be announced later this year or early next year, once ALTC activities have been transferred to DEEWR. Staff interested in applying for grants are advised to contact Melanie Fleming on ext 2922 or Alicia Zikan 5190.

Cathryn McCormack

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) aims to improve the student learning experience by supporting quality teaching and practice. It does this through a range of programs including teaching awards and grants. UNE has had considerable success with 28 out of 29 successful Citations between 2006 and 2010. In terms of grants, in 2010 UNE achieved a success rate of around 60% (compared with 15% across the sector), with success for:

Carina Bossu (DEHub) $220,000 for: Adoption, use and management of Open Educational Resources to enhance teaching and learning in Australia

Sue Gregory and Yvonne Masters (DEHub and School of Education) $220,000 for: VirtualPREX: innovative assessment using a 3D virtual world for pre-service teachers

Laurence Tamatea and Keita Takayama (School of Education) $220,000 for: TKNe: a transnational knowledge network in education that facilitates internationalisation

Stephen Colbran, out of round funding of $250,000 for: ReMarks Stage III

UNE as Project Partner:

Jennifer Clark (School of Humanities) $170,000 for: After Standards: Engaging and embedding history’s standards using international best practice to inform curriculum renewal. Project Lead: University of New South Wales

Graham Webb and Robyn Muldoon (TLC) for: Teaching Standards Framework. Project Lead: Macquarie University

Considering applying in 2011 or 2012?

The Teaching and Learning Centre is organising support sessions (starting in November) for potential teaching award and grant applicants. Preparing an application can be challenging and time consuming, and applicants need to start well in advance. The support sessions will assist those aiming for a 2011 or 2012 submission.

Teaching Awards

UNE is eligible to submit up to 10 applications for Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Applicants submit a four page written application demonstrating excellence in a particular aspect of their teaching such as supporting students’ learning, curriculum development, or assessment or feedback. This year ALTC have added details to encourage excellent HDR supervisors to apply. Citations are recognised by a $10,000 prize. Team and individual applications are welcome. Further information is available at http://www.une.edu.au/altc/citations.php.

Grants

ALTC funds projects which address its mission and objectives. Internal UNE deadlines for the programs are 7 March or 7 September, which allows a full month to obtain institutional endorsement. Further information is available at http://www.une.edu.au/altc/grant.php.

For further information please contact Cathryn McCormack on cmccorm2@une.edu.au or x3480.

UNE is currently involved in the Pilot International Inter-Institutional Benchmarking Project which is being facilitated by the University of Southern Queensland. The exercise will use the ACODE Benchmarks to conduct a self-assessment of technology use at the university.

The benchmarks that UNE will be assessing are:

Benchmark 1: Institution policy and governance for technology supported learning and teaching

Benchmark 5: Professional/staff development for the effective use of technologies for learning and teaching

Benchmark 7: Student training for the effective use of technologies for learning

The project will enable UNE to compare and contrast with participating universities and identify best practice in the use of technology.

If you require further information please contact Brian Landrigan by email blandrig@une.edu.au or phone 6773 2123.

Robyn Muldoon

UNE is one of seven universities participating in the Teaching Standards Framework Project. This is an ALTC funded project being led by Macquarie University. Its aim is to test a framework developed at Macquarie designed to identify the relationship between institutional structures and practices and improving learning outcomes.

The Framework defines a list of criteria which can be used to assess practice. Criteria are grouped under Culture, Governance and Practices. Each criterion is matched to sample performance indicators, and a list of suggested sources of evidence is provided. For each criterion, five different levels are defined in order to represent differing levels of achievement. The standards aim to be comprehensive and to cover all aspects of university teaching.

Each participating institution is carrying out a detailed evaluation of the Framework in terms of its quality, appropriateness and comprehensiveness; its usability as a tool for assessing plans and sub-plans, policies, procedures and practices; and its usefulness as a basis for reporting learning and teaching performance. It is anticipated that the Framework will be used by institutions in the higher education sector to self-assess their institutional structures and practices that impact on student outcomes; and as a tool that can be used in policy development, appointments and promotions, and quality assessment. The ultimate aim is to see if the Framework could be used as a tool by government agencies such as TEQSA and for inter-institutional benchmarking.

Project Officer, Deborah Martin has commenced a desk review of the Framework and the Schools of BEPP and Humanities are participating in a ‘drill-down’ testing of the Framework. The Project Sponsor is Professor Graham Webb and the UNE team leader is Dr Robyn Muldoon.

Ingrid Wijeyewardene, Academic Skills Office

If you are struggling with the English language and academic literacy needs of international students in your units, the Academic Skills Office may be able to help. We offer a range of programs that international students can take advantage of to enhance their English language proficiency and academic literacies.

Before students begin their studies at UNE, they can register for the tUNEup International University Preparation Course. This is a three-week online program providing students with an introduction to the online learning management system, to the university resources, and to academic writing and referencing.

All new students are advised to take the Tertiary Literacy Assessments (TLA). This is a diagnostic test in four tertiary literacies (academic writing, information literacy, numeracy and computer literacy). ASO staff follow up with any students who need assistance in any of these areas.

FNDN300 Advanced Academic Skills and Professional English is a 6-credit point unit offered by the ASO that consolidates and enhances English language and academic skills for successful higher education study. This unit is available only to international students and covers English language skills in professional contexts, critical thinking and academic integrity with a particular focus on the disciplines that the students are majoring in.

We have also worked successfully with lecturers from a range of disciplines to provide assistance with international students. We can help you with one-off assignment preparation tutorials, intercultural communication skills for your students, discipline-specific writing tutorials, or we can collaborate with you to embed academic literacy tasks into your units.

We also coordinate the “red-amber” early intervention strategy for international students who have been identified as at risk of failing in one or more units. These tutorials focus on discipline-specific language and study skills. Students are contacted early in the semester by the ASO. You can also refer your students to these tutorials if you have any concerns.

Individual or group consultations are also available for international students to identify and address their English language and academic skills needs. Students should contact the ASO either by email (asohelp@une.edu.au), phone (6773 3600), or call in to the Teaching and Learning Centre to book an appointment.

We also maintain a comprehensive set of online resources and interactive tutorials on English language and academic literacy. You can access these from www.une.edu.au/aso.

Finally, you are welcome to attend our workshop, “Working with International Students” in the Teaching & Learning Centre’s “Teaching Flexibly at UNE” workshop program to discuss ideas to ensure a more satisfying teaching and learning experience for you and your students.

Marcia Devlin

Earlier in September the T&LC organised the highly successful University Learning and Teaching Futures Colloquium. With the theme of Rethinking learning in your discipline, contributions came from across UNE as well as the Universities of Canberra, Newcastle, South Australia, and Bond University. Presentations included five minute case study or research ideas, concise papers, reviewed papers and workshops/roundtables. If the conversation in the lunch room was a guide, the Colloquium certainly got people talking about their teaching learning.

The two keynote speakers, Marcia Devlin and Angela Brew were highly interesting. Marcia Devlin, Chair of Higher Education Research at Deakin University, spoke about teaching and learning as a site of scholarship and research and outlined some of the activities being undertaken at Deakin to support staff in this regard. Angela Brew, an ALTC Fellow and Professor at Macquarie University, spoke about engaging undergraduate students in research and inquiry in different disciplines and provided thought provoking examples.

As a goal of the Colloquium was to assist participants to take the next step in their scholarship of teaching and learning, and to progress papers toward journal publication, a writing retreat is currently being organised by TLC. All UNE Colloquium participants will be sent a personal invitation when details are finalised.

The ULT-Futures Colloquium was funded through the Promoting Excellence Initiative, an ALTC grant.

Hands-on tutorials, demonstrations and information sessions for groups.

Note: Sessions are all one hour in duration unless otherwise indicated

Blackboard Workshops

Effective Online Discussions – 5^th October, 10am

The aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to the basic features of creating, editing and managing discussions in Blackboard. In this session, you will be able to:

• Create discussion topics and categories
• Edit messages
• Set discussion goals
• Set up groups & sign up rules
• Outline discussion charters and etiquette
• Explore the benefits of online discussions for both internal and external students
• Ask questions
• Share your experience and ideas

Other Workshops

Blogs in Context – 19^th October, 10am

While most people are aware of blogs, many people aren’t sure what the point is or what they would write. This session is an easy, hands-on introduction to blogging for research, promotion and professional networking, and covers strategies for writing, management and building a research tool in an RSS reader.

Quizzes: Another Take – 27^th October, 10am

Blackboard quizzes are frequently used for summative assessment in units, but it’s not always easy to use closed formats like multiple choice to assess for higher order thinking and critical analysis skills. This workshop takes you through simple techniques for quiz design using embedded media, wording and regular expressions to create richer assessment experiences for your students.

One-on-one

Arrange a time to work with specialist assistance on an aspect of teaching with technology, or book a space in the Commons to pursue your own interest in developing online teaching features.

Bookings

To enrol: Contact Kerryn Reeves, kreeves3@une.edu.au, ext. 2339

For further information: Sarah Thorneycroft, sthorne5@une.edu.au, ext. 3996

If you are creating a PDF file to provide to students either on CD or online there are some things you should consider.

When creating a PDF from a Microsoft Word document using Acrobat on a PC, bookmarks are automatically created from the table of contents. Automatic bookmark creation is not possible using Acrobat on a Mac. Small documents generally do not require bookmarks. Bookmarks for longer documents, such as Topic Notes can be manually added that will assist users navigate through the document.

Links will automatically be created when creating your PDF using Acrobat on a PC. However, if you are using a Mac, you will find that a link behind text will not work, i.e. the url link https://my.une.edu.au/ will work, but myUNE will not work. The converted text will be blue and underlined but will not contain a link e.g. myUNE. If you will be creating the PDF on a Mac, ensure that the any link is a url.

TLC has produced guides for both PC and Mac users to assist in creating consistent user friendly PDF files. These include how to add bookmarks, merge multiple PDFs and set how the document will appear when initially opened. These guides are available from the Production of learning resources page

This is a two year project that began at the start of 2009. The aim of project is to explore the experience of students from equity backgrounds of the online learning and teaching environment at UNE. The project is being implemented in four phases: Scoping and Data Gathering, Development and Review, Student Experience Survey and Analysis and Project Write-up. The project is currently in its final phase with a final report due later this year.

Central to the project was the creation and delivery of a survey of student experience online. Over 700 students across a range of equity groups responded to a survey of their experiences of the UNE online learning and teaching environment. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the survey results has almost been completed. However, some preliminary findings can be reported here.

One survey question asked students with a disability to identify what they considered to be the greatest barriers to accessing the online learning resources at UNE. In total, 95 students answered this question with 119 unique responses being identified and coded for analysis. The barrier identified by the largest proportion of students (16%) was gaining access to fast, reliable and cost effective Internet services. This is an issue that is especially relevant in the light of current political circumstances.

Although such an issue may be largely out of the control of the university there are implications for students, particularly as more of the university’s core business moves online. The emerging evidence suggests that sensitivity is required when making decisions or implementing practices that impact upon the amount of data UNE students might be expected to download. Such practices have the potential to impact upon our students because Internet Service Providers tend to charge for Internet access by the amount of data downloaded.

So how can you make a difference? It’s important to be sensitive to the size of files you make available for students to download. It is relatively easy to reduce file sizes if you know how. Staff at the TLC and the Educational Developers situated throughout the Faculties can provided advice on how you might make your files (particularly image and audio files) smaller. This will not only help reduce the cost burden on students but will also help reduce frustration – no one wants to sit there watching their life ebb away waiting for a large file to download.

Tuesday September 7

12.30-2pm, with light lunch provided

Letters Room, Dixson Library.

Professor Marcia Devlin holds the inaugural Chair in Higher Education Research at Deakin University, Victoria.  Marcia’s research interests and expertise span higher education policy, equity, Indigenous higher education, university teaching improvement and student engagement and learning. Current and recent national work includes convening the 2010 HERDSA conference; contributing to federal policy development in Indigenous higher education and equity, sitting on the National Advisory Group of the Australian Survey of Student Engagement (the AUSSE) and serving as an Assessor for the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. An active researcher, holding current ARC and ALTC grants, Marcia is frequently invited to deliver national and international keynote addresses, lectures, workshops and seminars to provide advice on a range of topics related to higher education policy, practice and quality. The author and co-author of a large number of reports, articles and studies, she is an Associate Editor of Higher Education Research and Development.  Marcia also writes regularly on higher education matters for national, state and local newspapers including The Australian and Campus Review.

RSVP: Contact Kerryn Reeves, kreeves3@une.edu.au, ext. 2339.