Last month’s question: Have
you had any success introducing undergraduates to discipline based education
research?
Answer from The University of Sydney: Four
students in 1st year have completed research projects with the
Sydney University Physics Education Research Group with Matt Hill (PhD Student,
Trainee Supervisor) and Manju Sharma (Trainer). These included projects on
teaching diagrams, understanding student responses in an online environment,
the ability to use tabular data and learning multiple representations online.
Advantages: Real (publishable) education research has been completed, and 1st
year students have been able to experience it themselves and learn from the
process.
Difficulties: A high level of understanding was asked of the students in a very
short period of time. Limited time for data collection so 3 out of the 4 made
use of existing data.
For more information contact m.hill@physics.usyd.edu.au.
2. Conferences & publication
The 8th Australian NZ Mathematics Convention – The
University of Melbourne. 8-12 December, 2014
The conference is building in a Mathematics Education session and
they are looking for a significant group of participants. Talks in the session
will be 25 minutes.
Abstracts are due on November 17
Other discipline conferences in September and December:
The annual conference for the Australian Society for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology (ComBio2015) | 28
September-2 October, Canberra
Australian Institute of Physics Congress | 7-11
December, Canberra
Royal
Australian Chemical Institute National Congress | 7-12 December,
Adelaide
3. Connections/Events
The main annual
gathering of the SaMnet Australia Community.
Future: SaMnet Leadership Development Workshops – February 2015
(Brisbane/Melbourne/Adelaide/Perth/Sydney)
4. SaMnet activity
SaMnet HQ is preparing for the 2015 SaMnet
Leadership Development to be held in capital cities in February. Leaders from
amongst the community are being contacted to take on the role of hosting a
workshop. Should you wish to assist in the co-ordination of a 2015 SaMnet
Leadership Development Workshop, please contact samnetaustralia@gmail.com.
5. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) (Edited
by - Emma Bartle, UQ & Matt Hill, USYD)
Susan
Rowland and Paula Myatt
“In this article we provide a guide
intended to help natural-science faculty initiate SoTL projects while they
negotiate the mechanics and politics of developing and maintaining a SoTL
research program in a science department”
Compiled
by the Research & Evaluation Team, the University of Minnesota
A two page “brief” summarising the
paper “Active learning not associate
with student learning in a random sample of college biology courses” (2011).
Make sure you read until the end for the implications!
6. Leadership insights (Edited
by Matt Hill & Will Rifkin, USyd)
Bernard Marr
Finding the end of the teaching year
stressful? Do you know how to manage emotions in times of stress to “remain
cool, calm, and able to do what needs to be done”?
Phillip Brown
What would you expect the most common answer
to be to the following question: What are the qualities, skills and
competencies you want in your leaders? What are people looking to you for? (How
to actually develop this trait – now that’s for another time)!
7. Initiative in Focus:
Report on Chris Creagh’s (OLT
National Teaching Fellow) ACSME Discipline Day Workshop
During the workshop Chris led the
participants through two engaging tutorials designed to support student
learning of diagrams and formulas. These tutorials (designed for university
physics students) were highly interactive and included a range of learning
experiences including discussion and teamwork, hands on exercises around the
room and multimedia presentations. You can see two of the videos yourself here
and here.
And for more information contact C.Creagh@murdoch.edu.au.
8. Classifieds
Soon
SaMnet will be sending out a survey constructed by Beth Beckmann (ANU) to
continue to investigate the impact of the SaMnet community on you and your
work. Look for this in your inbox later this year!
