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Faculties & Schools

Faculty of Education Learning & Teaching Committee

Will Letts, Sub-Dean Learning & Teaching

Carol Burgess, SoTE Bathurst
Deb Clarke, SHMS
Barry Cocklin, SoE
William DeJean, MSE
Wendy Hastings, Sub-Dean Professional Experience
Lyn Hay, SIS
Beveley Lambert, SoE
Damian Lodge, SIS
Mary Marshall, SoTE Ontario
Sarah McDonagh, SoTE Bathurst
Jenni Munday, Faculty On-line Support Coordinator & MSE
Catherine Newell, CELT
Wendy Nolan, Centre for Indigenous Studies
Gabrielle O’Flynn, SHMS
Tracey Simpson, SoTE Dubbo
Erica Smith, SoE
Richard Taffe, MSE
Denise Wood, SoTE Bathurst

Murray School of Education Learning & Teaching Sessions

Co-convenors and Co-designers: William DeJean and Jenni Munday

Events are open to all within the School and from the Albury and Thurgoona campuses

Past topics have included :

The Trouble with Talent
Faculty will be invited to read this two-page article examining the cultural beliefs of intelligence and how those beliefs shape our educational systems. A Socratic Seminar will be conducted to explore the topics of this article and will set the stage for the following Teaching and Learning Sessions.

Possibilities and Potential: A look at the diverse assessment practices found within the MSE
Faculty will be asked to bring in one assessment item that best represents their pedagogical beliefs about assessment. This session will provide time for small group discussions highlihting the various ways faculties utilize assessment practices within the subjects in which they teach.

The Many Ways We Learn: Teaching and Learning in Action
Faculty will be asked to bring one item that best captures their teaching in action. This might be an aspects of specific and creative lecture, an experience students are put through, a specific teaching strategy utilized in a lesson, or some other item that represents the important work being done in the MSE.

School of Education Learning and Teaching Committee

Chair: Beverley Lambert

Co-Chairs: Ros Brennan Kemmis and Barry Cocklin

The committee holds meetings to which all members of the School are invited. Professional development and discussion sessions are held periodically for the whole staff on university learning and teaching issues raised through the meetings.

School of Human Movement Studies Learning & Teaching Committee

Chair: Deb Clarke

Members: All academic staff in the School are welcome to attend these meetings.

Activities: The SHMS L&T Committee has developed a focus each year for its meetings. Each year’s focus supports CSU’s Strategic Plan in regard to learning and teaching. Meetings consist of discussion of Faculty-wide policy documents, specific issues relevant to the SHMS and ways to enhance learning and teaching in general.

In Autumn 2007, the SHMS piloted an “Introduction to Academic Literacy” Workshop Series in which first year students were required to attend five one-hour compulsory workshops aimed at supporting and developing their academic literacy. These workshops were conducted by Jan Manners from Student Services with the support of academics in the SHMS. The five week series included:

As a School we are currently mapping the inclusion of the CSU graduate attributes in each of our subjects throughout our courses. The relevant graduate attributes will be included in our subject outlines from Spring 2007. Each learning and teaching meeting, appropriate pedagogies are showcased that assist students to develop each of the attributes. Staff are trialling these pedagogies in their Autumn semester tutorials. As a final assessment task in the third year Professional Practice subject, students are required to demonstrate evidence of their achievement of each of the CSU graduate attributes and provide a narrative around the subjects and experiences in which they gained these attributes. This task has been trialled in 2005 and 2006 with exceptional results. The aim of this process is to alert students to the CSU graduate attributes and ways in which the SHMS has assisted students to develop these skills. This initiative will hopefully have long term implications for the results of the Student Experience Questionnaire.

School of Information Studies Learning & Teaching Committee

The SIS Learning & Teaching Committee’s role is to support teaching quality and the scholarship of teaching within the School of Information Studies. The Committee achieves this through development and revision of school policy, provision of feedback to the Faculty and other divisions within the university that support teaching and learning; and improve practice through the provision of an annual professional development program for SIS staff.

Lyn Hay (Chair & SIS member of Faculty LTC)
Damian Lodge (SIS member of Faculty LTC)
Joy McGregor
John Mills
Rachel Crease

The Professional Development Program consists of two types of sessions:

(a) Chewing the Fat sessions usually involve one or more presenters tabling innovations and/or showcasing their practice which is then followed by informal discussion with participants; and

(b) Conversations about Teaching which are designed to be more workshop-style sessions where a facilitator encourages participants to table or contribute content for discussion.

The 2007 PD program included two Chewing the Fat sessions exploring wikis in education and issues of quality in the management of casual marking teams, and two Conversations about Teaching sessions examining the integration of Sakai into our teaching, and a 2-day workshop on better assessment design.

School of Teacher Education – Bathurst Learning & Teaching Committee

Co-convenors: Denise Wood and Carol Burgess

L & T Committee meetings are open to all staff in the School.

School of Teacher Education – Dubbo Learning & Teaching Hub

Convenor: Maria Bennet

The Hub convenes meetings to which all members of the School in Dubbo are invited.

Topics to be explored this year include: Current practices re grading for Credit and High Distinction; Assessment and evaluation in the new course; SOTE assignment cover sheet: recommendations from Dubbo campus forwarded to Bathurst for consideration; and Assessment and alternative methods for assessment

School of Teacher Education – Ontario Learning & Teaching Network

Convenor: Mary Marshall

Network events are open to students and staff on the Ontario campus.

Topics explored in 2007 included: strategic planning around course, subject and assessment mapping; articulation of a conceptual framework that both arises out of and guides course development; analysing the results of staff and student surveys about ICT use in learning and teaching; and reconceptualising professional experience and its integration into the rest of the course.