Leveraging the online environment to remove barriers to student learning in large first year foundation subjects

This work is part of a larger three year project aimed at disseminating good practice in online learning and teaching throughout the Faculty of Science at The University of New South Wales (UNSW). Dissemination is based on a template Blackboard Vista site created for a large first year Materials Science course (Allen, Crosky, McAlpine, Hoffman and Monroe, 2006). A project group comprising members of several schools in the Science Faculty has been formed to manage the overall project and project funds have been used to employ an educational developer to work with academic teaching staff to modify and implement the template into courses from different schools across the faculty. The focus of the group is on large classes with a view to getting maximum impact (improved outcomes for the largest number of students). Fundamentals of Physics is one of the first courses to modify and implement the template as part of this project

Champions or helpers: Leadership in curriculum reform in science

Elizabeth Johnson1, Fiona Bird2, Jeanette Fyffe3 & Emma Yench1 Presenting author: Fiona Bird ([email protected]) 1 Faculty of Science Technology and Engineering 2 Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences 3 Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre Abstract This study describes the perceptions of embedded teaching and learning leadership teams working on curriculum reform in science teaching departments. The teams combined a formally recognised leader, School Director of Learning and Teaching, with a project-based, more junior academic, Curriculum Fellow, to better leverage support for curriculum reform. Teams were established on the principles of localizing support and maximising credibility with discipline staff. The core teams were supported by a larger Faculty team of Associate Dean Academic, academic developer, educational designer, first year coordinator and project manager. Key themes emerging from the collected data were the complementary roles of members of the team, different perceptions of leadership between the School Directors of Learning and Teaching and the Curriculum Fellows, the importance of acting locally within the disciplines and the synergistic value of working in a team. The combination of formal and informal leadership aggregated into the FSTE School teams offers a model to support sustainable improvement in science teaching and learning in higher educatio

Champions or Helpers: Leadership in Curriculum Reform in Science

This study describes the perceptions of embedded teaching and learning leadership teams working on curriculum reform in science teaching departments. The teams combined a formally recognised leader, School Director of Learning and Teaching, with a project-based, more junior academic, Curriculum Fellow, to better leverage support for curriculum reform. Teams were established on the principles of localizing support and maximising credibility with discipline staff. The core teams were supported by a larger Faculty team of Associate Dean Academic, academic developer, educational designer, first year coordinator and project manager. Key themes emerging from the collected data were the complementary roles of members of the team, different perceptions of leadership between the School Directors of Learning and Teaching and the Curriculum Fellows, the importance of acting locally within the disciplines and the synergistic value of working in a team. The combination of formal and informal leadership aggregated into the FSTE School teams offers a model to support sustainable improvement in science teaching and learning in higher education

Change process for a laboratory program

An approach to develop a skills-oriented laboratory program for 2nd- and 3rd-year chemistry at La Trobe University is presented. In addition to the educational principles underlying this approach, practical aspects of its implementation and preliminary data from student surveys will be discussed. The redeveloped laboratory program aims to systematically build students’ laboratory skills, ranging from basic manipulation and safety skills to more complex inquiry and problem solving capabilities, over the course of years 2 and 3. This project is embedded in an ongoing university-wide curriculum restructure (Design for Learning), which aims to align the curriculum with the University’s graduate capabilities. It has also been accepted as a SaMnet action-learning project. The changes will be implemented in three stages (reorganisation; development of new activities; consolidation and evaluation) over a three-year period, starting in 2012 for 2nd year and 2013 for 3rd year. Key challenges of this process including strategy development, obtaining support from stakeholders, efficient use of limited resources and evaluation will be discussed