Global Utilities

La Trobe University
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

Edition 4, 2009

6 May 2009

In this edition...

  • La Trobe launches new student feedback forms
  • Green Campus Initiatives: Making Universities More Sustainable
  • Effective Teaching at La Trobe University: Practical, Research-based Strategies
  • Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence
  • Promoting Student Engagement for Learning: Improving Practice with AUSSE Data
  • The Australasian Journal of Peer Learning
  • Higher Education Research and Development Journal
  • Open access - promises and challenges
  • ALTC Updates
  • CTLC workshops
  • Interactive e-Assessment: more than just multiplechoice
  • Conferences

La Trobe Launches New Student Feedback Forms for Teaching

In February 2009, the Academic Board approved new University policies and procedures for Student Feedback on Teaching and Student Feedback on Subjects. To implement those policies, The Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre (CTLC) developed new feedback systems and forms, which are now available for your use.

The new Student Feedback on Teaching (SFTE) form replaces the old Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET), and the new Student Feedback on Subjects (SFSU) replaces the old Quality Assurance of Units (QAU). Parallel forms are available online for postgraduate teaching and subjects. A new Student Feedback on Tutoring (SFTU) form is also available to lecturers who tutor and subject/program coordinators.

To view sample forms, request feedback forms for your use or the use of your tutors, and view the relevant feedback policies and procedures, please visit the CTLC website Student Feedback section.

Green Campus Initiatives: Making Universities More Sustainable

The “green campus” movement is a worldwide phenomenon involving hundreds of higher education institutions that are committed to environmental sustainability.

In this session, Professor Geoff Scott – a leader in the Australian university green campus movement – will provide a quick stocktake of current initiatives around the world.  He will also explore some of the green campus efforts undertaken by the University of Western Sydney (UWS) over the past two years.

Professor Scott will discuss:

The international context – including what is happening in the US where the green campus movement is most developed.

Some effective UWS green campus initiatives, including:

  • The UWS Green Campus Strategy framework
  • The Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Green Expo in late 2008
  • Actively involving UWS students in green campus research and  in promoting the initiative
  • UWS research centres which focus on aspects of social, economic or environmental sustainability, and
  • Results of a March 2009 audit of some 210 UWS subjects which focus on social, economic and environmental options

Professor Scott’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion on La Trobe’s current and future green campus initiatives. The panel will include Professor Belinda Probert, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor Carol Adams, Chair of the La Trobe University Sustainability Taskforce.

Date: Thursday 21st May, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Venue: John Scott Meeting House - Chamber Room
Open to all staff and students - Register online

Effective Teaching at La Trobe University: Practical, Research-based Strategies

  • Bundoora: 22, 29 May & 5 June (9am to 3pm)
  • Bendigo: 12, 19 and 26 June (9am - 3pm)

The purpose of this 3 day short course is to make teaching at La Trobe more effective, rewarding, and efficient for busy academic staff. To those ends, "Effective Teaching" is specifically designed to achieve the seven learning outcomes below.

Those who actively participate and successfully complete this 15-hour short course will:

  • Gain hands-on practice with at least seven research-based, immediately adaptable strategies and techniques for teaching, assessing, and giving feedback;
  • Adapt at least three strategies/techniques demonstrated for trial application in their own teaching;
  • Illustrate at least two of the fundamental research findings presented with examples from their own learning experience and teaching practice;
  • Determine what kinds of available data about La Trobe's students and their characteristics might help inform teaching and learning in their programs;
  • Identify three or four specific University-level academic supports and resources likely to be of most use to themselves and their students in 2009;
  • Meet, work with, and learn from colleagues from a range of disciplines, faculties and campuses; and
  • Identify two or three practical, promising options for extracting further value from/following up on this experience.

Registrations will be accepted online at the CTLC website from 11 May. For further information about the workshop, please email Robyn Hodge.

Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence

Each year, up to three Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching will be awarded to either individuals or teams who have shown excellence in their teaching and have made outstanding contributions to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching at La Trobe University.

Individuals or teams may self-nominate and apply for a Vice-Chancellor’s Award. Application forms and information on the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards are available from the career development section of this website. Please read the VC's Award Guidelines carefully before submitting an application.

Applications for the La Trobe Vice-Chancellor’s Award must be submitted by Friday 29 May, 2009.

Vice-Chancellor’s Award winners may be invited to submit an application for an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Award. Note that ALTC Teaching Award applications also require 30 student feedback questionnaires.

Queries on the Vice-Chancellor's awards for teaching excellence, or ALTC Teaching Awards, can be directed to:
Dr David Hirst
Senior Lecturer
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre
(03) 9479 5348
d.hirst@latrobe.edu.au

Promoting Student Engagement for Learning: Improving Practice with AUSSE Data

Hosted by La Trobe University and the Australian Council for Educational Research, the 2009 Student Engagement Forum focuses on the role student engagement plays in enhancing education and learning in Australian universities.

Date: 2 July 2009
See webpage for details on how to register.

The Australasian Journal of Peer Learning

The Australasian Journal of Peer Learning meets a need in higher education for the sharing of research and practices that utilise and enhance peer learning. The Editors have sought to publish a wide variety of examples of peer learning scholarship and practice. One of the great advantages of peer learning practices is the flexibility of the method. Within the pages of the Australasian Journal of Peer Learning, readers will discover examples of peer learning in contexts as varied as medical education and online environments.

Submissions can be made at any time up to and including 1 July 2009.

Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Journal

FINAL call for contributions to its special edition on "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning". This special issue aims to focus on how the Scholarship of Teaching is enacted at the institutional level. This could include papers for instance on:

  • institutional supports for SoTL and their impact
  • rewards for SoTL and their impact
  • criteria for SoTL
  • standards for SoT
  • impact of national teaching awards on SoTL
  • implications of SoTL for mentoring and academic development

All papers need to adhere to HERD requirements as outlined at http://www.herdsa.org.au/?page_id=188

Contributions are due by 15 May 2009 and are to be submitted directly to Dr Iris Vardi, Guest Editor for this special issue, at i.vardi@curtin.edu.au

ALTC Updates

The following reports and resources are now available on the ALTC website:

Open access - promises and challenges

A recent online article from University World News asks "Why do we give away our work and contribute free labour to refereeing for journals that put restrictions and price barriers on access? Should copyright laws designed to protect the entertainment industry govern the way researchers share and exchange ideas and how they make use of their work for teaching?" Read full article at University World News.

CTLC Workshops

The Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre (CTLC) at La Trobe offer a range of workshops and seminars throughout the year. Workshops currently accepting registrations are:

Interactive e-Assessment: more than just multiplechoice

This session will explore some of the opportunities afforded by online assessment to improve student outcomes and the quality of the assessment tasks. The work is based on the ALTC Associate Fellowship project. The aim of the project is to assist teachers to move beyond simple multiple choice questions in an online environment to provide much richer, authentic and meaningful assessment tasks for students.

Swinburne University
20 May 2009
11.30 am - 12.30 pm

To register for the seminar please email your name, university and the date of the session you would like to attend to spl@swin.edu.au.

Conferences

Please refer to the conference webpage for an extensive list of Australasian and International teaching and learning conferences.