~ RSVP by Monday for SaMnet Workshop on 26 Sept. @ ACSME
1. Issue 5 of SaMnet’s monthly newsletter
This month's question: What are good ways
to link your SaMnet project to the national standards agenda?
2. Conferences & publication
It is worth repeating...
26 Sept: 9am-12noon Workshops
12noon-2pm
SaMnet Scholars
meeting
2pm-5pm Discipline
Network workshops
27-28 Sept: All day Conference
We
look forward to seeing you there.
Past: SaMnet August Skype meetings:
10 teams from across the country - talked
about progress on each project.
Other
topics arising: Research ethics paperwork, Visibility due to support of the
associate dean, Rising familiarity among colleagues with threshold learning
outcomes (TLOs).
Current: ACSME – 26-29 Sept: see above.
Match up: Chris Thompson (Chemistry @ Monash) and Stephan Huth
(Chemistry @ La Trobe) connected though the August Skype meetings. They will visit each others’ labs to observe
how they work. Check out their projects at www.samnet.edu.au.
4. SaMnet activity
Specific
SaMnet activities at ACSME:
Wednesday 26th –
SaMnet Workshop 12-2pm
Wednesday 26th –
SaMnet Steering Committee meets
Thursday 27th –
Discipline Network coordinators breakfast
Also look for posters and
talks of SaMnet scholars.
The SaMnet
'new media' community featured in recent gatherings on e-assessments.
Pioneering efforts of 30 Australian science lecturers (including some of
you) were highlighted at a conference in Melbourne and an international
webinar.
Here is an
example: Medical students learned how to do physical examinations more
effectively by making videos: eCAPS
(ALTC funded, 2011 report).
Share what conferences you have
presented at, what responses you received, and what you found interesting.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Using time-on-task
measurements to understand student performance in a physics class: A four-year
study.
Stewart, J., Stewart, G. and Taylor J. (2012).
Phys. Rev. ST Physics Ed. Research,
Vol. 8, Issue 1. Students’ use of time out-of-class explained variance in test
averages and normalised gains for an introductory physics course.
Peer Instruction: From
Harvard to the two-year college, Lasry, N., Mazur, E. and Watkins, J. (2008). American Journal of Physics, Vol. 76, Issue 11, pp.1066-1069. Peer
instruction (PI) at a top-tier 4-year research institution and in a 2-year
college proves effective. PI instruction
is as effective for students with less background knowledge, and student
attrition decreased in introductory physics courses at both four-year and
two-year institutions.
6. Leadership insights
Redesigning for Collaboration within Higher Education Institutions: An
Exploration into the Developmental Process. Kezar, A. (2005). Research
in Higher Education, Vol. 46, Number 7, pp. 831-860. How institutions can change their culture from supporting
individual work to facilitating collaborative work.
Q&A best bits: How do you
promote female leadership in higher education?, Guardian Higher
Education Network 24/5/11: http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/may/24/women-leadership-higher-education-best. Brief compelling insights from senior women
in universities in the UK, Europe, and North America.
7. Team in Focus: “Science
Student Skills Inventory: Zoology students”
The project addresses the following questions: What do we
want our students to know and be capable of, and how do we as educators know
that students have acquired the skills our subjects purport to teach? The
project will begin to dissect these processes from both the students’ and
educators’ perspectives for undergraduates enrolled in the Bachelor of Science
who are taking Zoology Majors. This is an important initial study that will
have broad implications for evaluation of Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) in
various courses across the University of Melbourne. While the project is beginning
with Zoology, the aim is to build on this work in other study areas.
Progress to date:
·
The University of Queensland Science
Student Skills Inventory has been adapted for use in the University of
Melbourne zoology context (see Matthews & Hodgson, 2012).
·
Subject co-ordinators have
been contacted and informed about the project.
·
Protocols for interviews
have been developed, and interviews will be conducted during October.
·
The student survey questions
will be tested with a group of students on Thurs, 13th Sept, and
refined before the survey is open to all third year Zoology students.
·
The
survey will run in the first two weeks of October. Announcements will be made
on subject websites, and students will be contacted by email
·
We
expect to analyse our data during Nov and Dec.
References
·
Matthews and Hodgson (2012). International
Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 20(1), 24-43.
Available at: http://ojs-prod.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/CAL/article/view/5816/6509
Mary Familari – Mary is leading this project and has been lecturing
in the Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne since 2002. Currently, she
is an OLT Project Leader ‘Strengthening alignment between
secondary and tertiary biology education and enhancing student
transitions in the sciences (PP10-1816)’.
She is a developmental
biologist whose research interests revolve around the question of
how does a fertilized egg become a multicellular organism with its incredible
diversity of specialized organs. She co-ordinates Biomolecules and Cells, a
first-year biology subject and several third-year subjects around the theme of
developmental biology. She was Director of First Year Biology (2010-2011) and
President of the Victorian Society for Developmental Biology (2008-2011) and
has a very strong interest in science education with a particular focus on
assessment and evaluation of scientific skills.
Kristine
Elliott is
Senior Lecturer, Medical Education Unit, University of Melbourne and
Coordinator of the Educational Technology Team. She completed a PhD in Plant Bacteriology before
pursuing an interest in biomedical
education, and has 20 years of experience in educational technology research and
development in the health sciences. In 2008, Kristine led an ALTC competitive
project titled, Educational technologies: Enhancing the learning of scientific
inquiry skills for bioscience students in Australian universities. The project examined current teaching
practice in a range of bioscience disciplines in Australian universities and
identified pedagogical approaches that tertiary educators use to teach
scientific inquiry. Kristine’s ongoing research focuses on: enhancing the
learning of scientific inquiry skills for bioscience students; using
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to engage people with healthcare
and biomedical information; and the implications of web and mobile technology
for clinical education and professional practice.
Deb
King is
Director of the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Centre, Senior lecturer in
the Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, and Assistant Dean (Undergraduate
Programs). Her research interests
include combinatorial
dynamics, network assignment problems and mathematics education. She is currently involved in numerous
projects, including leading the OLT project “Building
Leadership Capacity in University First-Year Learning and Teaching in the
Mathematical Sciences”. All of her projects are designed to enhance student
learning and outcomes, either for mathematics in particular or for science in
general. One project is to reinterpret the Science Threshold Learning Outcomes
in the context of Mathematics.
Kelly
Matthews –
Lecturer in Higher Education, Teaching and Educational Development Institute,
University of Queensland. Kelly’s
research involves practical applications into contemporary higher education
issues, including undergraduate curriculum reform and evaluation of teaching and learning initiatives. More on Kelly’s
research and activities at www.tinyurl.com/uqkelly. She is currently leading the ALTC/OLT Quantitative
Skills (QS) in Science project; more at www.qsinscience.com.au.
Michelle Livett is Associate Dean (Undergraduate
Programs) in the Faculty of Science, and Director of the Bachelor of Science at
the University of Melbourne. She teaches in the School of Physics, with a focus on
teaching students whose primary interests are in the life sciences, to foster student interest
and understanding of the relevance of physics. Her project involvements over
the last twenty years have encompassed the use of technology in physics
education, student transition,
and communication
skills in the sciences.
8. Classifieds
Any
requests or notices?
Send
them to SaMnetaustralia@gmail.com and we will include them in
future newsletters.
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