Season’s greetings from the SaMnet HQ Team!
Looking for a
keynote or seminar speaker?
Our SaMnet Scholars are fabulous candidates. A select set of abstracts
is in the linked document. Share with everyone! Booklet
versions will be printed in early 2014.
This month's question:
What workshop/conference are you most looking
forward to in 2014?
Share with SaMnet to share with the network.
2. Conferences & publication
3rd
Australasian Universities Geoscience Educators Network Workshop - 23rd-24th January
2014, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. Registration is Free, but
abstract submissions have closed.
Journal of
Chemical Education Special Issue:
Advanced Placement Chemistry – Do you have anything you could publish here? ‘AP’
chemistry is university-level chemistry for high school students in the
US. Manuscripts are due January 6 2014.
Journal of Learning Design
Special Issue: Design for
Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Undergraduate Science Education. Abstracts
due December 20 2013 to SaMnet Scholar, madeleine.schultz@qut.edu.au;
manuscripts due March 14 2014.
IJISME Special
Issue: Inquiry and
Problem-Solving in the Undergraduate Science Curriculum. Abstracts due February
28 to Stephanie.Beames@uts.edu.au
-(SaMnet steering
committee member); manuscripts due April 14 2014.
Past: CUBEnet
Forum – 12-13
December, 2013, Canberra. 3rd national forum of the Collaborative
Universities Biomedical Education network. Discussion of achievements of the
network and consideration of future activities.
See the CUBEnet
website for specifics.
Future: 25 February 2014 - SaMnet Leadership-development
workshops in Adelaide and Melbourne. Dates for other capital cities to be
finalised shortly!
WA Teaching and Learning Forum 2014
– University of Western Australia, 30-31 January 2014. Theme: Transformative, Innovative and Engaging.
SaMnet has a presentation in the
program; bring a colleague.
IISME & FY
in Maths Event: Assumed
knowledge in maths: the impact on student achievement and progression in STEM
programs – University of
Sydney, 13-14 February, 2014. Participants share experiences and develop
strategies for moving the debate forward. Call for presenters: abstracts
due January 10 2014.
Match up:
We are
matching you up with someone you already know!
Have a colleague whom you think would benefit from SaMnet’s
workshop? Invite them to February 2014
workshops on leadership and SoTL. They
are in the capital cities. Now is the
time put the workshop on your colleague’s ‘radar screen’. They are welcome to e-mail samnetaustralia@gmail.com
to register interest.
4. SaMnet activity
Analysis of data and drafting of publications
continues at SaMnet HQ. The Steering
Committee is preparing for 2014, with February workshops planned. We are also publicising select
projects/SaMnet scholars as available for speaking arrangements at conferences
and workshops.
A snapshot summary of the national SaMnet effort
has been prepared. Please share widely this document celebrating our network’s
successes.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
(SoTL)
What is your take on the STEM
“crisis”? (We are not offering an opinion, just two relevant articles).
Each article compares the number of
STEM graduates with the number of STEM graduate positions. Is the investment by
governments throughout the world in generating more graduates misplaced?
Chad Anderson and David Blair in Diversity
and Democracy
The
article outlines processes and outcomes that may look familiar to us, as Australian
science and mathematics educators. This
‘global learning rubric’ resembles the Australian ‘standards’ agenda. Worth
checking on what those overseas see as
key standards.
6. Leadership insights
Looking at successful leaders:
Shane Snow, CCO and
co-founder of Contently (A highly successful US-based startup)
Seven important things from his experience and
the experiences of others. Which one do you need to work on?
Anthony
Scaramucci
Do you find inspirational quotes motivating?
Need one for a new email footer? Is there something you can take from these
quotes from famous “leaders”?
7. Project
in Focus: ARC-funded Project - The online future of science and engineering
education: the essential elements of laboratory-based learning for
remote-access, David Treagust, Euan Lindsay, Anthony Lucey,
Mauro Mocerino, Marjan Zadnik (SaMnet Steering Committee), Sven Esche
Laboratory classes are a critical part of science
and engineering degree programs, but there has been little research into what
actually takes place within them. Remote laboratories, in which students
control equipment via the internet, are one potential solution for accommodating
rising numbers of students, but the interfaces must be developed to effectively
support student learning. This project will investigate how students interact
with equipment, each other, and with laboratory demonstrators in order to
determine the crucial components of effective laboratory learning experiences.
It will identify and characterise the interactions of students in laboratory
classes, and develop mechanisms to support these interactions remotely.
Editor’s Note: One reason to highlight this project
is to show that your T&L projects can lead to ARC Discovery and Linkage
grants. This ARC Discovery grant was the largest grant ($445,000) for the Field
of Research 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy. Congratulations to the project team!
8. Classifieds
Looking for a project officer? – Do you, or someone you know, need to hire an
experienced project officer? Contact SaMnet for details of someone who comes
highly recommended.
Write an article on leadership? - Want to publish on the leadership aspects of your
SaMnet project? Recount the persuasion
strategies that proved to be most effective, for example, or aspects of how
your project team worked and overcame hurdles – insights that others can
benefit from. SaMnet HQ will be
available to offer assistance.
