VicTeach events 2014

14 May

Flipped teaching

Topics covered in this session included:

  • What is flipped teaching? (Lachlie McLaren).
  • The truth about flipped teaching: experiences from Victoria University of Wellington staff who have tried flipping their classrooms.
  • How to flip your classroom: what tools to use and who to talk to.
  • Webinar: Flipping without Flopping, a three-year study.

4 and 13 June

Active Teaching

Wednesday June 4: Go Soapbox

This session featured GoSoapBox, a web-based student response system (clicker tool) that can be both an active learning tool in itself or can complement other active learning strategies. This was an interactive workshop where people who have been using GoSoapBox talked about how it works, why it works, who it works for, and things you should know if you want to use it.

The Wednesday session was recorded and can be viewed at GoSoapBox VicTeach Seminar.

Friday 13 June

The session featured:

  • Lorena Gibson: 'Active learning techniques in large first-year introductory cultural anthropology classes' including use of videos, discussions and quizzes. Includes student feedback.
  • Kate Dallenbach: Using a 'live case study' with an arts marketing class.
  • Greta Snyder: Use of handouts or video clips to generate discussions in an international relations programme—what has worked and what has not.
  • Stuart Brock: Using Notable in first year Philosophy classes.
  • Gillian Turner: 'Half-flipped lectures'—an experiment in progress on how to get students doing physics during in their lectures. Includes what seemed to work and what didn’t, and what changes are planned for the next class.
  • Suzanne Boniface: 'Worksheets, quizzes and problem solving in first-year Chemistry classes'.

2 and 11 July

  • Technology: 7 x 7 format.
  • Jonny Flutey and Beth Smith.

6 and 15 August

Should lecturers be able to turn wifi off?

3 and 12 September

Action Learning: internships and placements

This session focused on “Connecting the University to the Wellington economy: opportunities and issues”, and included the following speakers from our Victoria University of Wellington community:

  • Richard Norman: How sufficiently is the University connected to potential employment? What is the role of universities in preparing for future employment? How does this connect with the new strategic plan and other related opportunities?
  • Jane Fletcher, Liz Medford, and Amber Walters: Extracurricular leadership programme for students
  • VicPlus, Victoria International Leadership Programme, and Alumni as Mentors Programme
  • Carine Stewart: BA Internship description, goals, and challenges
  • Karen Smith: Lessons learnt from the Tourism practicum, TOUR320
  • Annie Mercer: Museum and Heritage Studies: developing relationships with the sector and matchmaking to find the best fit for each student

1 and 10 October

Culturally responsive pedagogy

Supporting Māori and Pasifika students.

5 and 14 November

Preparation for the Graduate Attributes UnConference on Thursday 20 November

Developing Graduate Attributes in our students

We had two speakers in the first half of the session. The final part of the session was an interactive discussion involving all participants.

Stuart Brock addressed the questions “Why do we have a Graduate Profile? How, and why, did Victoria select communication and creative and critical thinking to be some of the attributes within the Graduate Profile?”

Bernadette Knewstubb discussed “Are Graduate Attributes and the Graduate Profile something separate from academic content?”

We often think of graduate attributes, and the graduate profile as something separate from academic content—a kind of add-on which needs to be squeezed into our already overcrowded disciplinary curricula. However, graduate attributes such as communication, critical and creative thinking and independent learning are actually vital parts of that very disciplinary content. Bernadette will briefly presented a framework for viewing the relationship between the attributes in the Graduate Profile and the disciplinary knowledge and skills we value, and talked about an approach to reviewing and refine our curricula so they develop the graduates both we and employers want.

For more information, see Bernadette’s recently published paper on Gestalt and figure-ground: reframing graduate attribute conversations between educational developers and academics.

Demonstrating and assessing Graduate Attributes in our students

The session began with four short presentations:

  • Gayna Vetter (ePortfolio co-ordinator): answered the question “What is an ePortfolio?”.
  • Sara Kindon: discussed how she integrated the ePortfolio into a course, the impact of the ePortfolio on student learning, and her plans for using the ePortfolio in 2015.
  • Steffi Paul: shared her experiences using the ePortfolio tool. Steffi has used this tool toshowcase her development of three Graduate Attributes.
  • Liz Medford will discussed results from the Graduate Destinations Survey.

The session concluded with a half hour interactive ePortfolio workshop.

20 November

Graduate Attributes UnConference

This UnConference was organised by the Centre for Academic Development in conjunction with VicTeach and it was a great opportunity to explore any topic around learning and teaching that you’d like to know more about–as well as spin up new ideas for topics that we can explore in greater depth next year.

Unconferences ditch the formality of academic conferences and the pressure to publish, instead focusing on the important networking, sharing and engagement that can inspire great learning and teaching. At an Unconference, the agenda is created by the attendees online and then at the beginning of the event. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Sessions can be talking, making, teaching, playing or showing–whatever excites you and the other participants.