Arts & Education NeXus
Targeted Professional Learning (Issue 2 - April 2018)
Word from the editor
In this month’s NeXus, our focus now turns to the second half of session and we look towards communication, dialogue and conversations.
To develop our faculty’s understanding and capacity to work with the policies and procedures around teaching practice, the faculty has developed a set of guidelines to assist all teaching staff. These should be the first point staff consult when they are developing subjects, designing learning, and engaging with procedures relevant to assessment and moderation, and the management of procedures relevant to matters such as special consideration, extensions, and dealing with lateness. Staff should also be aware that I am able to provide advice about any assessment matter that goes beyond the general advice in the Guidelines.
The faculty is also looking at standards related to the timeline for the operation of the design, delivery, and finalisation on subjects, as well as the design and use of Interact sites for subjects. Two ‘minimum standards’ documents are currently moving through School Boards for consideration and these – together with any recommendations from the School Boards will be considered for faculty-wide adoption at the next Faculty Board meeting. While these documents relate to several operational and organisational matters related to what staff do in the preparation of teaching of subjects, at their heart is the importance of the relationship between the university and the student.
As the faculty senior lead on teaching and learning I’m very concerned with ensuring that our staff and students have the best possible professional relationship to ensure the best possible learning outcomes. The quality of communication and support provided to students during the learning cycle of the session is of critical importance for the best outcomes in student learning and – unsurprisingly – student satisfaction with the learning experience. How we communicate with and relate to the students we teach is fundamental to the effect of a teacher – sometimes called ‘teacher presence’.
To that end, teaching staff should ensure that, wherever possible, students are provided with opportunities to communicate with them – and, indeed, are encouraged and welcomed to do so. Helping students to know their rights to seek support (for example using our Special Consideration system), reminding them of resources available to them to help with study (e.g., ALLaNs), and taking the time to ‘check in’ regularly with student progress using the many options available to you in Interact messaging and discussion boards makes an impression on students. It is often the difference between a student continuing with enhanced effort in a subject or dropping out prematurely.
I wish all staff teaching (or otherwise working with our students) in the ‘second half’ of this session all the very best as we progress toward session finalisation. Let’s make our communication with students a real focus as we go forward this year, enhancing the quality of the learning experience, increasing the confidence of our students in their studies, and making the relationship between themselves and us a key quality outcome of their university experience at CSU.
Rachel
WIKI Pages: April Spotlight
Mark & Moderate
Difficult Dialogues
Dr Kim Thompson and Harriet Ridolfo introduced this stratetgy at the L&T symposium. This is timely as you consider your feedback to students and your role in forum discussions - click here.
Assessment Dialogues
Dr Lisa Armitage and Paul Parker started this conversation during the L&T Symposium. It explores design of multiple and purposeful opportunities for students to discuss assessment language and expectations with teachers and each other - click here.
Sensational Sessional Showcase
by the Academic Leads |Sessional Staff Support (SSS)
Ros Cox
SOTE & SOE
I can be contacted by phone on 02 6338 6115 and email on: rocox@csu.edu.au
Sam Malloy
I can be contacted by phone on 02 6338 4934 and by email on: smalloy@csu.edu.au
Anne Sparks
As well as being available by phone (02 6051 9362) and by email (ansparks@csu.edu.au). Further assistance can be found through the organisation site (SCCI Sessional Staff), which has links to resources and weekly announcements.
Who we are: Sessional support getting an in-house boost in FOAE
Ten months ago, the Faculty of Arts and Education employed three academics in newly created roles to provide practical and timely support to CSU’s growing number of sessional staff.
Ros says...
The idea of the sessional staff support role is to provide timely support and acknowledge that it takes time to learn the CSU systems. So we help our sessional staff with the immediate problem and teach them things so that they can build their own skills in CSU-specific technologies and platforms – which saves time, stress and energy!
Our work is problem-solving. If we don’t know the answers ourselves, we usually know who to approach or where to go to within the university to find the answers – which saves sessional staff a lot of precious time and frustration. It is really rewarding to be able to help others and share what we know to resolve their issues. That’s the job and we all really love it and enjoy the challenges.
Sam says...
After being a sessional staff at CSU for eight years, teaching history, I am familiar with the kinds of problems sessional staff face. The range of enquiries and requests for help we receive in this role is vast. The idea is to be a first point of contact for sessional staff so they don’t get lost in the complexity of the CSU organisation.
It is rewarding to be able to share what you know and to resolve problems for others. I enjoy the daily communication with sessional staff from varied disciplines in my school, from social work to humanities. I am constantly amazed at the richness of skills and passion that sessional staff bring to their work at CSU, and most importantly, to their students.
Anne says...
Being able to assist sessional staff with all aspects of their work is a rewarding experience. Having worked for several years in this role myself, I can relate to issues sessional staff may be faced with. It is important to have quick assistance with administrative needs related to pay and access to CSU systems, with more academic needs related to teaching and learning, and being aware of professional learning opportunities and other university-wide information which impacts on academic work. Sessional staff do important work and I am very happy to support them.
Around the CSU L&T landscape
- Did you miss the Learning Academy’s feedback and moderation PD sessions? You can revisit them at the FOAE Professional Learning page on the WIKI
- SOTE's BYO Rubric Workshop - face-to-face session in Bathurst: When: Wednesday 2 May 2018, 3–5pm; Where: 1431-131 (Creswell Room). Please contact Paul Parker for more information
- SOTE's BYO Rubric Workshop - face-to-face session in Dubbo: When: Thursday, 3 May 2018, 11am-1pm; Where: 901-121 (Flexible Learning Space). Please contact Paul Parker for more information
- Are you a new staff member or need an L&T refresher - search the many resources available to you via the Professional Learning for New Academics and Sessional Staff site.
WIKI Wave!
- Sam Bowker (SCCI)
- Donna Bridges (SHSS)
- Bernard Doherty (SOT)
- Loraine Fordham (SOTE)
- Simone Gray & Kirsten Locke (SIAS)
- Paul Grover (SOE)
- Zuleyha Keskin (CISAC)
- Kim Thompson (SIS)
The Learning and Teaching Committees are key in promoting the scholarship of learning and teaching within schools. These Committees instigate and help facilitate school-based learning and teaching initiatives. They are also a conduit to the Faculty Curriculum, Learning and Teaching Committee. We acknowledge the work of these Committees in recognising, encouraging and disseminating good teaching practices within their schools.
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Don't forget CSU Recognising Excellence Daily (aka RED) program launched on the 23rd April 2018. The WIKI Wave is proud to be one of many jumping points for staff to be recognised for excellence in Learning & Teaching, and we see the Wave as just one pathway to RED. Take the first steps with us!
The WIKI Wave is an initiative sponsored by the Faculty Leadership and led by Wave Advocate (and our very own super sleuth), Harriet Ridolfo. Please contact Harriet if you would like to hear more.
The survey and mug competition
WIKI'd Mug
Bookmark these websites....
Learning and Teaching WIKI - click here
SCCI's monthly L&T newsletter - click here
Learning Academy’s Teaching Tuesdays @CSU