Showcasing Innovation 

30th November University Centre University of Tasmania 

Organising committee Teaching Matters 2007 has been organised by the following Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) staff:

• Natalie Brown • Patricia Hosking • Jane Skalicky

The organising committee wishes to thank all CALT staff and Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) leaders for their contribution to Teaching Matters 2007.

Contents

Welcome 3 General information 4 Program overview 5 Keynote speaker 9 Citations and awards 11 Faculty posters 12 Symposia and workshops 14 Presentation abstracts 15 Posters 27

3

Welcome

Welcome to country The University of Tasmania wishes to acknowledge the Mouheener (pronounced Moo­he­nah) people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land upon which the Sandy Bay campus was built. Welcome to the sixth Teaching Matters conference Teaching Matters is an important opportunity to meet with colleagues from across the university, exchange ideas and establish and strengthen the connections that are essential to creating and maintaining a high-performance culture in university teaching and learning. I encourage you to bring your intellectual curiosity to the conference and look for ideas and approaches that let you see your own work in a new light.

I am delighted that Teaching Matters is the forum where some of our exceptional teaching staff will be recognised and celebrated. The five winners of the Teaching Excellence Awards for 2007 together with the five winners of Carrick Institute Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning will be acknowledged at the conference. These awards are an essential part of the university’s strategies for fostering excellence in teaching and learning. I would like to welcome the keynote speaker, Assoc Prof John Dyson, who in keeping with the "Showcasing Innovation" theme, will present his experience of integrating all disciplinary areas into a single innovative curriculum within the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Hong Kong.

I offer a special welcome to the staff of the Australian Maritime College, who will be involved in the conference for the first time this year. Professor Daryl Le Grew Vice-Chancellor

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General Information

Lunch and Refreshments Morning tea and all day tea and coffee will be provided in the University Centre foyer. Lunch and post-conference drinks will be served in Lazenbys. All catering is provided free of charge to presenters and registrants. Toilets The University Centre toilets are located outside the Flexible Learning Space and opposite the Classics Museum. Name tags All delegates will receive a name tag on registration. The Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) staff have red dots on their name tags. Please feel free to ask them about CALT’s activities. Special dietary requirements If you have advised the organisers of a special dietary requirement, this information has been forwarded to Lazenbys. Please identify yourself to catering staff and they will ensure that you receive your specially prepared meal. Email access The computers in the Morris Miller Library are available to UTAS staff. Music We thank the members of Adelante, Amy Boadle, Anneliese de Groot, Tahnee George and Andrew Morrisby, for the music. These musicians are either current or past students of the Conservatorium of Music. Refereed conference papers In 2007, refereed conference papers from Teaching Matters will be published in on-line Conference Proceedings. The editorial process is currently underway and it is envisaged this will be completed in February 2008. The URL for the Conference Proceedings website will be circulated to all Teaching Matters registrants, as soon as it becomes available.

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Notes

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Keynote speaker

Associate Professor John E. Dyson The University of Hong Kong Assoc. Prof. John Dyson is Associate Dean, (Undergraduate Education), in the Faculty of Dentistry at The University of Hong Kong. He has played a key role in a significant change process within the Faculty that integrated all disciplinary areas into a single innovative curriculum. The change was driven by a need to develop student-

centred learning experiences, aimed at embedding both generic and discipline-specific graduate attributes, within the curriculum. This undergraduate program is now internationally regarded as exemplary. Recently, Assoc. Prof. Dyson has received a number of teaching development grants for developing e-learning, to support a more flexible learning environment, for the innovative curriculum. An experienced and respected educator, Assoc. Prof. Dyson has published widely in his discipline area and has been an invited speaker at conferences around the world. Abstract Integrating disciplines: conceptualisation to actualisation Integrated learning focuses on helping students to make connections across disciplines and prepares them for a society in which the knowledge base is vast and ever-changing. The advantages of integrating disciplines in curricula are seen as: improved learning; better appreciation of connections between concepts; increased ability to apply concepts to real-life situations; increased motivation to learn; and increased use of higher thinking skills. The challenge for curriculum designers is to construct curricula which can achieve these goals. In the late 1960s, problem-based learning (PBL) was introduced in the clinical health sciences as a student-centred approach to integrated learning. It is now being applied in a wide spectrum of programs from primary science to undergraduate engineering. In higher education the implementation of PBL has taken various forms in curriculum design, with many adopting hybrid structures.

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In 1998, The Faculty of Dentistry at The University of Hong Kong introduced a five-year undergraduate curriculum, fully grounded in the principles of PBL. Carefully designed, real-life clinical problems, facilitate the integrated learning of biomedical, behavioural, sociological and clinical dental sciences. Small-group, student-centered, problem-based learning is emphasized throughout the curriculum and no traditional-style lectures or seminars are given. Ongoing refinements and innovations have included measures to provide increased opportunities for reflective learning; the introduction of multi-disciplinary polyclinics with group briefing and debriefing discussions to share clinical learning experiences; the introduction of a web-based system for support of self-directed learning; and the creation of new staff positions involving cross-disciplinary roles. In developing and implementing this curriculum, a number of challenges have been faced. These have included: staff engagement and development; student orientation; developing appropriate methods of student assessment; and establishing the necessary logistical support including facilities and administrative infrastructure. A range of methods have been employed to evaluate the curriculum in the period since its implementation. These have included various formal student assessments of courses and facilitators, the review of student personal learning journals, regular meetings to collect staff feedback, as well as external review by invited consultants and external examiners. This presentation will review the development, implementation and evaluation of this curriculum, highlighting how the integration of disciplines has been actualized in our Faculty. The approaches taken to challenges met along the way and factors which may have contributed to the project’s success, will be discussed. An outline will be given of ongoing work to extend the undergraduate dental curriculum for 2012, to meet the needs of Hong Kong’s forthcoming educational reforms.

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Citations and Awards

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2007 Carrick Institute Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning and the UTAS Teaching Excellence Awards. Carrick Institute Citations Dr Chris Burke, School of Aquaculture, for sustained enthusiasm and commitment to student-centred learning of the scientific method in order to achieve positive learning outcomes in undergraduate microbiology. Dr John Purser, School of Aquaculture, for facilitating links between the University and the aquaculture industry to create high quality work-integrated learning experiences for students. Dr Catriona McLeod, School of Architecture and Design, for innovative, holistic approaches to student learning in Years 1 and 5, leading to architecture students demonstrating and applying more sophisticated levels of functioning knowledge. Assoc Prof Pam Allen, School of Asian Languages and Studies, for exemplary guidance of student learning through the use of authentic and engaging strategies designed to facilitate students’ deep understanding and appreciation of culture and language. Assoc Prof Sue Jones, School of Zoology, for championing and supporting teaching development and improving the student learning environment at the level of the school, faculty and university. Citation winners received their awards at a presentation ceremony in Melbourne in August 2007.   UTAS Teaching excellence award winners (individual) Mr Yogi Hashimoto, School of Asian Languages and Studies Dr John Purser, School of Aquaculture Assoc Prof Sue Jones, School of Zoology UTAS Teaching excellence award winners (new academic staff) Dr Sara Booth, Faculty of Education Dr Margaret Baguley, Faculty of Education Teaching Excellence Award winners will receive their awards at the appropriate Graduation Ceremony in December.

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Faculty Posters Australian Maritime College – The creation of team-based projects, integrated with industry partners, for the teaching of ship design Giles Thomas and Paul Furness

This poster presents the creation of an innovative and effective unit to teach ship design to naval architecture students. The unit consists of the following key components:

• Industry supplies real design problems and acts as clients for the student teams

• Industrial representatives give guest lectures to provide scaffolding on relevant topics to students

• The industry clients provide regular feedback to students on their design. They also form a specialist judging panel for end-of-year oral presentations

• Students work on the design throughout the year in teams of three or four members. The teams are established with the aid of a Belbin Self-Perception Test

• A broad assessment strategy has been adopted including individual oral assessment of each team member

Faculty of Arts – The Conservatorium and “Cats” Heather Monkhouse

This poster illustrates how the Conservatorium of Music worked with ExitLeft Productions to produce the musical CATS, thereby enhancing its reputation and increasing its profile in the community. Faculty of Education – Diagnostic testing within education: why and how? Sharon Pittaway A significant challenge in engaging students, is addressing diverse levels of academic preparation. Students may be dealing with difficulties that include fundamental issues such as the levels of literacy, numeracy, or information and communications technology (ICT) proficiency required of them at tertiary level. Within the Faculty of Education, the Catalyst Project was aimed at identifying ways in which first year students could be provided with appropriate support to increase their capacity to succeed at University. A goal of the Education Catalyst Project was to address students’ learning needs, specifically those

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relating to literacy, numeracy and ICT. These areas of proficiency are particularly important in a professional discipline such as teaching, where students are expected to, not only have high levels of personal literacy/numeracy/ICT competence, but must also be able to model and teach these skills when on practical placements. As such, achieving adequate levels of proficiency in the above areas is essential for students in teacher education, in order to facilitate their engagement in university, and in their professional context. In an effort to assess students’ literacy, numeracy and ICT capabilities, and thus provide adequate support for students with low levels of skill, early diagnostic assessments were incorporated into Orientation Week during 2006 and 2007 and then repeated before the first practicum placement in the middle of the year. This poster details the tests used and the supports put in place to address areas of weakness in the 2007 first year Bachelor of Education cohort. Faculty of Health Science – Innovative learning resources: incorporating fun into first year cell biology Tracy Douglas and Susan Salter First year students require a variety of resources to challenge and encourage effective learning. In 2006 we introduced a CD-based cell biology resource, with multiple learning styles embedded within it. This was utilised by first year Human Life Science students (in 2006 and 2007), as an independent learning resource, initially introduced during a didactic teaching session. An additional teaching session, involved students engaging in a game-based platform, was linked to this resource. The effectiveness of the resource as a whole, was demonstrated by personal feedback and unit results. In particular, the game resource was the most highly rated of all the formats: 84% of students rated the resource’s ability to engage learning as higher than average, while 97% of students stated that the game was a fun learning experience. Library – CrossSearch Karmen Pemberton UTAS Library staff will be giving a sneak peek at the Library's new user-friendly and intuitive CrossSearch interface which will allow you to:

• Search as many databases as you wish, at once • Search as many subject categories of databases as you wish, at once • Search without having to log in first

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Symposia

Session 1 11.45am-12.50pm Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre Recognising and rewarding teaching (Chair: Neil Trivett) Session 2 1.30pm-2.40pm Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre Interdisciplinary innovations (Chairs: Gail Hart and Neil Trivett) Workshops

Session 1 11.45am-12.50pm Flexible Learning Space Incorporating PASS in UTAS units to enhance student learning and interaction Tracy Douglas (School of Human Life Sciences), Tim Moss (CALT) and Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) leaders from the School of Human Life Sciences and the School of Psychology Session 2 1.30pm-2.40pm Flexible Learning Space Using student work to inform the development of a criterion-based assessment rubric Jane Skalicky (School of Education/CALT) Session 3 2.45pm-3.45pm Flexible Learning Space A faculty-wide collaborative approach to developing and implementing a generic attributes curriculum Julian Dermoudy, Chris Evans, Greg Hannan, Sally James, Sue Jones, Jon Osborn and Brian Yates. (Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology) Session 3 2.45pm-3.45pm Studio Theatre Innovations in assessment David Johnston, Natalie Brown, Lisa Butler, Greg Hannan, Noel Meyers, Heather Monkhouse, Jo Osborne (Assessment Working Group)

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Presentation abstracts

Listed by session Symposia include a presentation on one of the conference themes by an invited Chair and panel, followed by discussion. Paper presentations address current or recent work conducted at UTAS and/or by UTAS staff. Papers that are undergoing peer review are identified by the symbol ® Workshops are interactive activities and heavily involve the participants. Session 1. 11.45am-12.50pm. Concurrent presentations and workshops Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre Symposium - Recognising and rewarding teaching Chair: Neil Trivett Lecture Theatre 2 Natural resource management: exploring the potential for an interdisciplinary approach at UTAS Emma Pharo and Kerry Bridle Degrees majoring in natural resource management (NRM) exist, both as internal and external courses, in universities around Australia. While NRM is a component of many units within schools at UTAS, currently there is no unified approach to teaching NRM across schools. Our investigation responds to calls from our own senior management team and the general education literature, for more interdisciplinary teaching in tertiary education. We both teach components of NRM within our respective schools. We believe that NRM lends itself to an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, providing greater context, for the issues surrounding land management, on private and public land. This paper reports on our approach to determining academic staff attitudes and experience, with interdisciplinary teaching, as a starting point in examining the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary teaching at UTAS. We interviewed 18 academic staff from the School of Geography and

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Environmental Studies and the School of Agricultural Science, to find out the following: what their perception and experience of interdisciplinary teaching (IDT) was; whether they could see a role for IDT; and, what they thought the barriers to IDT might be. This paper presents our results and provides a focus for further discussions on this topic. The enhancement of generic attributes through assessment tasks and reflective learning ® Kerry Howells, Sara Booth, Natalie Brown, Noleine Fitzallen and Donna Satterthwait Although generic attributes should be incorporated into the teaching and assessment of each unit, a common challenge is how to address these in explicit ways that are relevant to both the student and their field of study. Another challenge is that unless students are encouraged to become aware of the kinds of generic attributes they have acquired and their level of development of these, they will focus more on their performance of a particular task and corresponding marks or grades, rather than skills that they have acquired, that can be applied to other situations. This paper shows how, in a first semester unit of the Bachelor of Teaching course, these challenges were addressed. The unit incorporated an innovative assessment task that was constructively aligned with reflective learning activities, to promote meta-cognitive awareness of how specific graduate attributes were attained. The assessment task was used as data for analysis of students’ development of the generic attributes of problem-solving, social responsibility and communication. Outcomes of this analysis will be reported, along with examples students gave of these generic attributes. A model and rationale for unit design that effectively embeds graduate attributes into assessment tasks, will also be presented. E+S=DM: using science to teach social science and build critical thinking skills ® Melissa Nursey-Bray Developing critical thinking skills, is a core part of ensuring graduates are able to perform effectively once in the workplace, a generic attribute ranked highly by employers. For those working in the field of marine resource management, critical thinking and problem solving skills are vital when trying to manage and reconcile contesting cultural paradigms and competing economic, social, and political imperatives. These skills, not content knowledge per se, are ultimately tested and mediate outcomes in the workplace overall. However, when attempting to teach a course called Marine

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Environment and Society, a course moreover that specifically aims to build such skills, I found that students, not being familiar with a social science approach to learning, either discounted or were not able to undertake the critical thinking needed. A learning environment must enable student learning of goals and activities consonant with disciplinary practices. This paper outlines my journey to create an effective interdisciplinary learning environment for students, within what is essentially a mono-cultural teaching and learning context. This was done by applying familiar paradigms and practices within teaching practice to convey unfamiliar concepts and thus enable students (eventually) to accept new forms of learning and stimulate their critical thinking facilities. Flexible Learning Space Workshop - Incorporating PASS in UTAS units to enhance student learning and interaction Tracy Douglas (School of Human Life Sciences), Tim Moss (CALT) and PASS leaders from the School of Human Life Sciences and the School of Psychology Studio Theatre Journals: their role in creative teaching ® Mary Scott In art and design, learning is primarily experiential in nature and comprises both active and reflective states. Insight occurs through investigative practice and through rigorous deliberation on its processes. Students are educated within a three-pronged structure: thinking in materials, thinking in language and thinking in a context. The first and second combine method with form and the later contextualise these through identification of the broader socio-cultural frameworks. Students learn that intellectual flexibility is central to creative learning and to value process, as much as outcome. This paper will discuss the value of process in learning and in comprehension and, in particular, will focus on the role that journals play in expanding ideas and building method. This will be contextualised through discussion of recently developed drawing units that promote journal-work as a central, and assessable, component of learning. It will demonstrate how students use journals to generate and work though ideas, record insights and to detail thoughts about their learning experience, as revealed through practical work. It will argue that this process extends capacity for creative response, advances understanding and learning outcomes and is applicable across many disciplines.

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Typotastic: a collaborative teaching and learning model ® Neal Haslem and Margaret Woodward Typotastic is a design journal published by the Visual Communication Studio at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania, as part of the curriculum for third year graphic design students. Typotastic is an award winning, unique collaboration between design educators, students, industry professionals and commentators, working together to produce Australia's first publication dedicated solely to the critical writing and exploration of typography. Typotastic is an innovative pedagogical model in its use of collaborative design practice, and the real-world nature of the project. Through Typotastic, students learn to produce a published international design journal, collaborating both on content and layout. Lecturers take the role of editor and creative director, guiding the publication through to finished printed outcome. Typotastic also generates research, conceptual frameworks, written and visual content and contact with scholarly networks. Typotastic is not a seamless design project. Instead, it is vulnerable to the usual compromises, timelines and budget pressures of any normal publication. Students are exposed to a high level of professional practice experience and learn what it takes to create a publication from initial vision through to finished work. This paper presents the project Typotastic as an example of innovative teaching through collaboration, and argues that many of the benefits of the project come from its high-risk and collaborative nature. Mixed mode flexibility: an innovative alternative to traditional lectures Leonie Ellis and Kristy de Salas

Over a 6-year period, we have incrementally reformed the development of our curricula and resources from traditional asynchronous lecture-based information transmission, to a highly interactive workshop-based model, supported by online technologies. Our innovative model of learning has earned acknowledgement both within UTAS, and across external Higher Education contexts. It has resulted in the increased flexibility of our course offerings and enhanced cognitive development of students across several Universities.

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Session 2 1.30pm-2.40pm. Concurrent presentations and workshops

Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre Symposium - Interdisciplinary innovations

Chairs: Gail Hart and Neil Trivett

Lecture Theatre 2 The EDGE Award

Gaon Mitchell, Peter Tatham and Colin Jones

The EDGE Award concept was developed to provide UTAS students with access to a personal development program that engages their current abilities and future aspirations, with the needs and opportunities of our local, national and international environs.

The Award focuses on students’ personal development and career management skills, graduate attributes and employability skills.

See website for more information: www.studentservices.utas.edu.au/careers/edgeaward.html

The Carrick Institute Forums: a briefing on the teaching-research nexus and cross-campus teaching

Julian Dermoudy and Brian Yates

The Carrick Institute has recently run two forums as part of the discipline-based initiative (DBI): on the teaching-research (T-R) nexus, and on cross-campus schools. Each forum was open to only a few people from each institution. This presentation will summarise the content of each forum for all of those interested and will highlight the issues raised and report on the activities to be undertaken following the forums. Topics from the T-R nexus forum include the DBI pilot initiatives, inserting learning into the nexus, and the nexus in practice; cross-campus teaching topics include: pedagogy, technology, campus distinction, policy and planning.

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Catering for high achieving students: The BA (Advanced Honours) program in the Faculty of Arts ® David Malone, Elizabeth Freeman, Joanna Vince and Maggie Walter This paper showcases a new program in the Faculty of Arts that enhances the appeal of the Bachelor of Arts for high achieving students and allows graduates direct entry into the Bachelor of Arts (Honours). Introduced in 2006, the program is open to applicants with interstate transfer index (ITI) scores of 90 or above and to continuing students who achieve a place on the Dean’s Roll of Excellence. It endeavours to enrich the students’ experience of the BA, to introduce students to the research culture of the University, and to motivate and reward students who maintain high academic results. The paper will outline the activities of the program and will discuss the response of students in the first two years of its operation. Flexible Learning Space Writing assessment criteria and developing standards Helen Bound The increasing demand for assessment to be criterion-based, requires lecturers to have well developed skills in writing assessment tasks and criteria. In the Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education (BAVE), we were concerned about ensuring we built in increased standards from one year level to the next and whether or not we were marking appropriately. This paper provides an account of how BAVE lecturers built in increased complexity from level 200 units to level 300 units, not only by using criterion referenced assessment, but by developing standards for the different levels. The processes that we undertook, provided us with moderation tools. Workshop - Using student work to inform the development of a criterion-based assessment rubric Jane Skalicky This workshop will outline an action research project that involved the development of a new assessment task and the associated assessment criteria. The aims of the project were to develop a task that allowed students to demonstrate their understanding of specific learning outcomes, to develop assessment criteria that linked explicitly to the learning outcomes, and to

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provide an opportunity for students to gain an understanding of how assessment of their work can support their learning. The task involved the creation of a poster and the assessment criteria developed covered three main areas: artistic components, mathematics content, and generic components. In the early stages of the project, students contributed to the development of the assessment criteria. Reflection upon and evaluation of the student work led to the refinement of the assessment criteria and the construction of an assessment rubric. The project highlighted the benefits of applying criterion-based assessment in terms of the management of assessment of student work, the way in which it supports students when undertaking an assessment task, and the positive contribution to the overall learning process. Although the context of the project is pre-service teacher mathematics education, the insights gained from this project will have application to other courses. Studio Theatre Working with Wikipedia Kaz Ross The online collaborative encyclopaedia Wikipedia, is very popular with students because of its wide range of free, easily accessible, structured, introductory information. For many teachers, Wikipedia's open collaborative nature rules out any possibility of using it as an authoritative and accurate source. Banning the use of Wikipedia does not work, as research conducted at the School of Asian Languages and Studies shows. This paper discusses student perceptions of Wikipedia and presents a range of practical suggestions regarding engaging with Wikipedia in the university environment. The vanishing student trick: the problem with recording lectures ® Nigel McKinlay The recording of live lectures for online delivery to students is now common practice in the Faculty of Arts. A key concern for lecturers is the resulting decline in lecture attendance. Will the 'vanished' have a comparable learning experience to students attending live lectures? Given that lectures are likely to continue to be a significant form of teaching in tertiary education, and given that online lectures can prove valuable in promoting student learning, this paper considers the question of when to deliver recorded lectures - and when not to. Approaches for increasing student participation through interactive lecturing, where deep learning is encouraged, are discussed.

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Implementation of a Teaching Innovation at the Rural Clinical School ® Brynley Parry This paper describes a pilot project undertaken to investigate the use of an innovative IT tool in the case-based learning (CBL) program at the Rural Clinical School (RCS), Burnie. The IT tool, an electronic voting system, was introduced to address perceived issues in interaction between students and lecturers, with the ultimate aim of improving student learning. Taking into account the cultural context of the RCS, together with Hannan and Silver’s (2002) pre-conditions for successful implementation of IT innovations, the electronic voting system was trialed over second semester of 2007. The data collection feature of the electronic voting system enabled quantitative measurement of improvement in student knowledge during CBL sessions, as well as feedback from students regarding the use of the system. Teaching staff attitudes towards the innovation and its impact on teaching were qualitatively assessed. The degree of success of the innovation, in terms of increasing student-lecturer interaction, and the factors contributing to this are discussed.

Session 3 2.45pm-3.45pm. Concurrent presentations and workshops Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre The creation of team-based projects, integrated with industry partners, for the teaching of ship design Giles Thomas and Paul Furness This poster presents the creation of an innovative and effective unit to teach ship design to naval architecture students. The unit consists of the following key components:

• Industry supplies real design problems and acts as clients for the student teams

• Industrial representatives give guest lectures to provide scaffolding on relevant topics to students

• The industry clients provide regular feedback to students on their design. They also form a specialist judging panel for end-of-year oral presentations

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• Students work on the design throughout the year in teams of three or four members. The teams are established with the aid of a Belbin Self-Perception Test

• A broad assessment strategy has been adopted including individual oral assessment of each team member

“What an idiot!” Building better working relationships between architects and engineers ® Louise Wallis and David Wood The working relationships between architects and engineers can often be fraught and perpetuated by the professions and educators. The typical process of engagement between the disciplines is sequential. However, the demand for environmental buildings, has fostered a new level of collaboration, as more integrated solutions are required. The dislocation between the Schools of Architecture and Engineering at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), allows popularly held beliefs to remain, as the students have no experience to alter their perceptions before entering the work force. At the end of the 20th century, a number of reports highlighted the importance of professions and trades working together in the construction industry. As a result, interdisciplinary student projects were strongly recommended (Egan 1998, RIBA 1999). In 2007, a pilot project between the Schools at UTAS was undertaken to develop students’ interdisciplinary communication and teamwork skills, as well as applying their discipline specific knowledge. The joint project involved 90 students working in teams over a 6-week period (face-to-face meetings, ‘skype’ and messenger). This paper will highlight the opportunities and problems generated by the project through four different lenses: unit coordinators, student experiences, project outcomes and the literature. The paper concludes by proposing future improvements for the project in 2008. Engaging engineering students to encourage deeper learning Bernardo León de la Barra This presentation outlines the ongoing development and implementation of practical strategies that seek to increase the motivation and engagement of undergraduate students in the School of Engineering. Influences of classroom teaching style and both formative and summative assessment regimes, on student engagement, will be discussed. A survey of (Engineering) student

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engagement that has been prepared by the speaker and used at the School of Engineering, will be shared with participants. Lecture Theatre 2 Writing and learning in international business ® Dipu Sebastian and Craig Zimitat The purpose of the study was to improve student learning outcomes in a first year international business unit. Anecdotally, it was observed that a student’s performance in an academic task did not necessarily reflect their level of knowledge. As the majority of academic tasks involve a written component, we focused on improving a range of skills associated with academic writing within normal classroom activities: concept mapping, argument development and formation of linkages within written work. Student successes were not uniform. We believe that students who benefited most from these interventions, were those with greatest commitment to learning. Keeping them interested: defining the problem of student retention Megan Alessandrini In 2006 the School of Government experienced worryingly low retention of students from first year to subsequent years of study. This was despite extensive and concerted efforts to enhance the first year program through review of the content and also improved organisational arrangements and pastoral care. A research project funded by CALT was undertaken in 2007. There were two components: the first was action research based on feedback and student evaluation of teaching and learning (SETL) data from 2006; the second was field research to identify first-hand precisely why students did not remain attached to the School of Government. The Kalahari approach to inter-cultural community engagement ® Rob Andrew and Brian Sweeney This paper examines the extension of a service learning process that has grown out of University of Tasmania’s Bachelor of Education. From the seeding support of a University community engagement grant, a series of community consultations sought the desires and requirements of community groups using the Kalahari opportunity and of provider

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organizations which are related to the University, in their settlement and education services to new migrant communities. The voices of “mutual learners” inform this paper: students, members of emerging new migrant communities, and those like the University and its partners who are collaborating to help overcome marginalization and disadvantage. The authors are co-sponsors of the community engagement seeding grant. Flexible Learning Space Workshop - A faculty-wide collaborative approach to developing and implementing a generic attributes curriculum Julian Dermoudy, Chris Evans, Greg Hannan, Sally James, Sue Jones, Jon Osborn and Brian Yates. What do generic attributes mean for your discipline? How might your curriculum be structured to ensure that all students receive an appropriate level of generic attributes training during their degree? To what extent is the teaching of generic attributes currently integrated into your curriculum? How well is your current course structure, meeting your aspirations with respect to the integration of generic attributes into the curriculum? What specific changes would bring you closer to your goal?

This workshop will help to answer these questions.

The process presented in this guide is equally suitable for use in the review of, or planning for, a major, a degree, or all offerings of a school/faculty. You will be guided through the same process undertaken by disciplines that took part in the FSET Generic Attributes project. By using the series of forms, developed through the project and provided to guide planning and consultation between academics, you will generate (or make progress towards generating):

• A list of exemplar statements that define the specific meaning of each of the UTAS generic attribute areas for your discipline;

• An outline of aspirations for the teaching of each of the generic attribute exemplars over the course of your degree, where levels of desired student attainment for each year are defined; and,

• A map of the current teaching of the generic attribute exemplars at unit level, allowing for easy comparison with the outline of aspirations.

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Once these outcomes have been achieved, you will be in an excellent position to make informed decisions concerning the review or modification of a single course or a series of courses that together cover the study of an entire discipline. All relevant staff will be able to provide input into the definition of generic attributes relevant to their discipline area, and of reasonable aspirations concerning the teaching of these generic attributes in future course design.

A major strength of this approach is that it allows you to see how all the units within your discipline mesh together to guide the teaching and learning of all the generic attributes deemed valuable to all students in that discipline. This can be easily compared to the teaching aspirations so that any necessary changes can be identified. All the forms and processes described and utilised are designed so that they can be used incrementally, allowing for efficient and ongoing course or school reviews.

Participants of this workshop are invited to bring along a unit outline for one of the units they teach, so that we can work through the process for developing discipline specific exemplars, defining aspirations and mapping current practice.

Studio Theatre Workshop – Innovative Assessment David Johnston, Natalie Brown, Lisa Butler, Greg Hannan, Noel Meyers, Heather Monkhouse, Jo Osborne Assessment is as an integral part of the learning and teaching cycle. This workshop will give participants an opportunity to experience the assessment process, in particular its role in developing deeper understanding of the learning outcome/s being assessed.

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Posters

Awards and Grants The Awards and Grants Team, within the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), work to ensure that appropriate mechanisms are in place to support staff to collect evidence about their teaching, identify staff who are achieving at a high level and support them in the development of applications for University of Tasmania and Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education awards, grants and fellowships. What's new in MyLO MyLO is the new name for the upgraded learning management system at UTAS (previously WebCT Vista). You will have the opportunity to take a look at the new learning tools available in MyLO and to talk with staff about the changes. Assessment working group posters: Exploring assessment issues in a ‘common learning approach’ developed for the Faculty of Health Science

Jo Osborne What are the assessment challenges faced in an interdisciplinary learning environment and how can these be best met to benefit the student experience as well as meet institutional and professional requirements? The UTAS Faculty of Health Science is adopting a flexible approach to sharing curriculum content across its professional courses, initially for the introduction of emerging health issues and demographic trends. This ‘common learning approach’ can be characterized as different models for providing common curriculum content across the health disciplines to achieve Faculty objectives of: increasing teaching and learning efficiency in a climate of expansion in course offerings; and, where this can logically be included: improving opportunities for inter-disciplinary learning (i.e. teamwork activity and improved understanding across the disciplines modelling inter-professional practice in primary health care). As the common learning approach is a new focus in the Faculty some implications for assessment are yet to be explored. Questions outstanding include: When a curriculum resource is shared, how will different disciplines interpret and assess a common learning outcome, and could this have application for inter-professional learning? How do different disciplines define and assess concepts such as ‘professionalism’ and ‘inter-professional activity’? If these competencies are assessed in an inter-disciplinary context, should their different professional roles affect assessment expectations?

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Supporting Assessment in the Professional Experience Context

Natalie Brown In a pre-service teaching program, Professional Experience brings together the different disciplines of Education into a real-world setting. Helping pre-service teachers see theory in practice and begin to put theory into practice requires a close and explicit linkage between the coursework and practicum. A shared discourse accessible to pre-service teachers, field-based colleague teachers and university lecturers is an essential element in this process. This project involved the development and evaluation of a rubric providing indicators that articulate the sequential development expected of pre-service teachers from orientation through to Internship. This was to assist colleague teachers with both formative and summative assessment of pre-service teachers undertaking Professional Experience. Concurrently, it clarified the expectations for each practicum for the pre-service teachers and allowed greater opportunity for self assessment. The rubric was also designed to make explicit the goals for sophisticated practice. An evaluation of the rubric was conducted during 2007. The data indicated that the rubric has been positively received by all stakeholder groups. It was particularly successful in clarifying expectations of student performance and ascribing appropriate field based learning experiences for each successive practicum. A number of colleague teachers commented on the use of the rubric as a starting point for supportive and focused feedback. Both colleague teachers and university supervisors found the rubric very useful in highlighting specific areas for further development for students at risk. A further expansion of its role for this purpose was suggested.

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