2018 Educator Scholar Conference

The 2018 Educator Scholar Conference was held in Fremantle and Sydney on the 12^th and 19^th of October respectively, with the goal of nurturing a culture of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) across Notre Dame. In particular, it was a unique opportunity to share in a multi-disciplinary manner individual and team SoTL practices and the impact of the practices on student outcomes.

We were blessed to have Professor James Arvanitakis, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Graduate Studies), University of Western Sydney, as the keynote speaker. In addition to lecturing in the Humanities and working as part of the University’s Institute for Culture and Society, James is also internationally recognised for his innovative and engaging teaching style. His keynote address truly embodied this approach, with conference participant Christine Gietz (School of Education, Sydney) reflecting:

James is clearly a proponent of “practice what you preach” as he presented his message that our teaching must be engaging and relevant if we are to reach our students… James also made us laugh, frequently; and his joy and our enjoyment of that reminds us that teaching and learning is a gift and gifts should be treasured for what they bring us – both to us educators and to our students.

James’ presentation explored the transformative potential of learning, with a particular emphasis on service, social justice and using contemporary issues to situate learning in the classroom. Furthermore, James reminded us that by engaging in active rather than passive learning, students more successfully retained knowledge and achieved their learning outcomes. See below for the highlights of James’ presentation.

• Students are Diverse: an example of Professor James Arvanitakis’ personal history
• Blended Learning: five emotions we feel when dealing with an LMS (Blackboard)
• Transformative Learning: co-development and co-design of lectures with students
• Transformative Learning: managing student attention span
• Transformative Learning: a feedback rich environment
• Transformative Learning: make it a phased introduction
• Transformative Learning: embrace your most boring lecture
• Transformative Learning: let go of your fear and loathing in the classroom

The panel discussions at the end of each conference proved to be fruitful for both presenters and conference attendees. A key message was that we can learn from our ‘failings’, i.e. we don’t necessarily get it right the first time. This also means that data regarding our teaching needs to come from multiple sources including peer feedback/review.

The Conference also saw the presentation of a number of awards, based on the nature of the research and quality of presentation.

Below is a list of Notre Dame Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Presentations and Award Winners.

Click on the links to view the SoTL Presentations given by Notre Dame academic staff.

Prof. Frank Bate and Effie Mangharam
Title: Two worlds collide: finding a way in which constructive alignment and Problem Based learning can both work
Award for a Presentation of a Project Demonstrating Student Engagement through the use of Technology Enhanced Learning

Dr Lorna Davin, Dr Kylie Russell, Prof. Frank Bate and Dr Dylan Griffiths
Title: Peer Review of teaching – Preliminary Findings

Lorraine Day and Dr Derek Hurrell
Title: School Re-imagining Mathematics Educations (RiME)

Daniel Griffiths
Title: Creating opportunities for student engagement through timetable construction in the Tertiary Pathway Program
Award for a Presentation by a New or Less Experiences academic fostering SoTL
Award for a Presentation that Successfully Communicates a SoTL Project in an Engaging and Compelling Manner

Michelle Gorzanelli, Lesley McNab, Louise Johnston and Dr Kathie Ardzejewska
Title: A ‘hands-on’ curriculum: Building capacity in academic literacy skills

Mark Hornshaw
Title: Introduction of modular video in a first year economics course, and its impact on teaching performance evaluations

Dr Shannon Kennedy-Clark and Prof. Boris Handal
Title: Embedding Data Literacy in Pre-Service Teacher Education

A/Prof. Glenn Morrison
Title: The Affectivity of Otherness and Good Teaching: Towards the Transformative Practice of Possessing a Thinking Heart

Dr Ainslie Robinson, Michelle Gorzanelli and A/Prof. Kathie Ardzejewska
Title: Setting a standard for standards: Conducting teaching evaluations in a standards-based environment

Dr Thuan Thai, Kate Hartup, Adelle Colbourn and Dr Amanda Yeung
Title: An online approach to improving teacher education students’ numeracy skills development
Award for a Presentation of a Project Demonstrating Student Engagement through the use of Technology Enhanced Learning

Dr Anna Williams, Lynn Thompson and Prof. Sally Robertson
Title: Designing nursing curriculum to meet the changing workforce needs of the Australian health care system

Meredith Willmott, Dr Heidi Waldron, A/Prof. Angela Alessandri and Dr Katherine Gardiner
Title: Experiential and Inter-professional learning: Transforming an Assessment Task
Award for a Presentation that Successfully Communicates a SoTL Project in an Engaging and Compelling Manner

Dr Kate Winchester, Anthony Lewry, Darcy Gilroy and Kylie Kam
Title: “Try looking at it like this”: Connection, authenticity and Visual Art as an act of reconciliation
Award for a Collaborative SoTL Presentation by an academic and student