Trimester 2 Load and Atrium

We are just into the second week of Trimester 2, now is the time to try to ‘engage with the unengaged’ through Atrium  – let’s see if we can beat trimester 1’s record student and Atrium engagement figures in the Faculty. While this record engagement did not produce the reduction in attrition we might have hoped, it appears to have resulted in a student cohort with a greater capacity to succeed, with student success in first year in particular up nearly 4% across the institution. As of the last day to add units, the Faculty was slightly up on last year (4%) and on budget (5.2%), with Education up considerably (7.6% on last year, 13.4% on budget), but HASS down slightly on budget (+0.2% on last year, -2.1% on budget).

Good News in Trimester 1 Evaluations

The Faculty continues to perform well in the unit evaluations, with Education averaging 4.0/5 in overall student satisfaction, and HASS averaging 4.4/5 and 62 unit commendations awarded for Trimester 1 teaching delivery (18 in Education and 44 in HASS). Look for details of recipients in the next newsletter. These evaluations are, of course, not unproblematic in terms of latent biases that can emerge, and declining response rates (17.4% in education and 25% in HASS), but this is still a good news story for the Faculty.

Communities of Practice and T&L Symposia

A reminder of the Community of Practice meetings planned for trimester 2:

• Tech and GenAI –  Friday, 10:00, Week 3 of T2, 11 July, 2025.  For academics interested in exploring how to use AI and technology in teaching, or address the challenges AI presents within their units.
• Student Retention & Engagement – Friday, 10:00, Week 4 of T2, 18 July 2025. Focused on strategies to improve student retention and engagement, especially in large first-year units.
• Unit and Course Design – Friday, 10:00, Week 5 of T2, 25 July 2025. For those wanting to understand and implement best practices in pedagogy and governance when developing or redeveloping assessment or entire units and courses.
• Course Coordinators CoP – Friday, 09:00, Week 5 of T2, 25 July 2025. Designed to support course coordinators in building skills, knowledge, and tackling shared challenges.

The plans for the 2025 Learning and Teaching (L&T) Symposium at UNE have been released, with two symposia still to come this year:

• L&T Full day symposium – All Innovative Practices: 17th July 2025
• L&T Half-day symposium – Tech & Gen AI: 16th October 2025

EOIs for the symposium presentation can be registered through the Symposium Website.