June 2024 Update 

Atrium and the Student Support Policy

As we commence Trimester 2, I’d like to remind everyone of UNE’s Student Support Policy, and the value of Atrium in helping Unit Coordinators to meet their obligations under that policy. Again, I want to encourage everyone to review that policy carefully and familiarise yourself with UNE’s Student Support Model. In short, Unit Coordinators are required to monitor their units for signs of student non-engagement, and respond with appropriate action. Atrium can help with both the monitoring and responding aspects. T1, 2024, saw the highest rate of staff use of Atrium ever, but we’re mindful that there are still some gaps in usage. In particular, Unit Coordinators who are either new staff or casual staff may not be familiar with these requirements, and I’d like to encourage everyone to help share this information, and guide those staff through Atrium if needed.

UNE Teaching Symposium – 22 July

It’s not too late to ‘Register Your Interest’ for UNE’s Teaching Symposium! EOIs to present a paper close on 30 June!!! This year, the symposium will focus on the theme of AI in Education [however, papers will be welcome on a broader range of themes]. For information, please visit: https://symposium.une.edu.au/

Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity

Our Academic Integrity cases around the use of Artificial Intelligence continue to grow, and I want to encourage Unit Coordinators to critically reflect on the nature of their assessment tasks. For example, if we were to ask ‘What were the causes of the First World War?’, AI would quite easily produce a relatively convincing response. We could thus take some alternative approaches, for example, we might ask them to prepare for an essay addressing that same question, but to write a reflective paper focusing on the steps they took to prepare. They might explore how they located sources, how they identified the more valuable/relevant sources, and how they would use those sources within their writing. AI struggled to produces convincing responses to these types of tasks.

New Policies Suite

There are a suite of important policies making their way through the approval process, such as the Academic Quality Assurance Policy, the Course and Unit Policy [replacing the current Course and Unit Design and Approval Policy – CAUDAP], and the Course and Unit Procedures [replacing the Course Design Framework – CDF]. In general, as I’ve previously reported, the changes in these policies reflect a broader change from a ‘rules-based approach’, to a ‘principles-based approach’. I believe this will see a stronger and more versatile suite of policies that will enable use to support diversity in teaching, and to focus on areas of strength and growth. It will also remove the risks associated with rules-based approaches [which often require unusual modifications to courses or rules exemptions]. As always, please keep your eye on the UNE Policy Bulletin Board to review and provide feedback on policies as they are developed.