Lightning & Practitioner Workshops Term 2 2024

1pm Wednesday 12 June

Oral assessments such as viva voce and interactive orals are becoming increasingly common in higher education to promote academic integrity, authenticity and to foster communication skills. This workshop will explore different models of oral assessment and offer practical strategies for planning, scaffolding, and implementing this mode. At the end of the workshop, you’ll have some time to workshop your ideas with your peers and education developers.

Speakers

Meredith MacAulay (ADA) is an experienced English language teacher and curriculum writer, passionate about facilitating engaging, goal-focussed learning experiences. She has designed and delivered a range of oral assessments, notably in UNSW university pathway programs. She is also a trained speaking examiner for international English language proficiency exams including Cambridge and IELTS. In her current role as an educational developer in ADA, as part of Nexus, she is interested in how oral assessments can be harnessed to build and assess discipline-based knowledge and skills.

Dr Pranit Anand (Business) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Systems and Technology Management in the Business School. He currently teaches various networking and cybersecurity courses. He is passionate about students’ engagement and success and recognises the important role assessments play towards this. He attempts to design assessments that are meaningful, transferrable, and flexible. Pranit will share his own experience designing and implementing the Interactive Oral Assessment in his post-graduate course.

1pm Tuesday 23 July

Designing Rubrics that Work is a comprehensive workshop aimed at equipping educators with the expertise to develop robust assessment tools that drive student success. Through this immersive session, participants delve into the principles of effective rubric design, learning how to construct clear, criteria-based evaluation frameworks tailored to their specific teaching contexts.

Attendees explore the importance of aligning rubrics with learning outcomes, ensuring that assessment practices are transparent, fair, and conducive to meaningful feedback. The workshop guides educators through the process of crafting rubrics that promote both accountability and student empowerment, fostering a culture of self-assessment and continuous improvement.

Furthermore, participants discover strategies for optimising rubrics to streamline grading processes and enhance instructional efficiency. By the workshop's conclusion, educators emerge equipped with the knowledge and skills to design rubrics that serve as powerful tools for assessment, communication, and instructional differentiation, ultimately fostering a dynamic and inclusive learning environment.

Speaker

Sean Maloney (Law & Justice) is a forward-thinking Educational Developer within the Faculty of Law and Justice, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to the realm of higher education. With over 15 years of dedicated service as a primary school teacher and assistant principal, Sean has honed their skills in pedagogy, leadership, and student support.

Sean's commitment to fostering inclusive learning environments is seen through their advocacy for effective communication strategies that cater to diverse learning needs. Recognising the importance of tailored approaches to education, they advocate for strategies and methods aimed at enhancing the student experience and achieving meaningful learning outcomes.

Drawing upon their extensive background in primary education, Sean brings a unique perspective to their role, infusing innovation and best practices into engaging students, supporting their learning and teacher instruction.

10am Tuesday 16 July & 1pm Wednesday 24 July

Transparency in Learning in Teaching (TiLT) prioritises student learning by ensuring that assessments are accessible to all students, regardless of their educational background. TiLT helps students to understand what they need to do, why they are doing it, what they will gain from it, and how to succeed in an assessment task. It has been shown to benefit all students, but particularly disadvantaged and underrepresented students. In this workshop, participants will apply TiLT principles to one assessment task, without redesigning the task itself.

Speaker

Dr Alex Bannigan is a biologist by training, with a background in cell biology research, microscopy, teaching and course design. She left academia in 2014 when she came to UNSW to establish the Women in Engineering Program. Since 2017, Alex has been dedicated to supporting UNSW academics to be the best teachers they can be with initiatives including the Course Design Institute and is now Head, Academic and Education Focussed Development in the PVCESE Portfolio. 

1.30pm Tuesday 21 May

In this workshop, we will explore how teachers can proactively create a context for learning that supports student wellbeing. Participants will explore how they can create feelings of safety and overcome their own teaching anxieties to better support students. Staff will leave having developed a plan to use observation and intervention skills utilising an authentic teacher persona. This session will be hands-on and interactive. Feel free to bring your colleagues and teaching team!

Speakers

Dr Benjamin Phipps (PVCE) is a musician turned academic (PVCE Nexus Fellow). Teaching world music to students from many cultural and musical backgrounds and interests was a huge spur to developing his truly inclusive practice that opens learners’ minds to the way knowledge is shaped by individuals, society and broader global contexts. Using evidence-based teaching actively involves learners in developing critical thinking skills through activities in listening and analysis, but Ben found this development must be scaffolded to encompass the diversity of musical and other literacies as well as composition and performance skills. By having students analyse, reflect, practice and create in learning sequences, education builds transformative skills across practical real world applications. These same approaches and principles apply in different disciplinary contexts with different cohorts of learners, as Benjamin is now finding with academics as his learners in teaching development programs.

Dr Chris Maloney (Medicine & Health) is a senior lecturer and an Education Focussed (EF) co-lead of the Student Wellbeing Community of Practice and Lead Student Support School of Health Sciences UNSW. Chris has been a teacher in higher education since 2000 with 12 years of experience at UNSW as a convenor, lecturer and tutor for two courses, teaching communication and research skills to Exercise Physiologists. Chris has over 20 years of experience as a medical researcher in the fields of nutritional programming of diabetes and obesity & Epigenetics, with 33 publications and > 3000 citations. Chris has two school awards for Enhancing Student Experience 2012, 2022 and Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence 2021 at UNSW. Chris is passionate about building communities to support both staff and students, enhancing their wellbeing to achieve academic excellence, and research into the process to achieve this.

10am Tuesday 18 June

Unlock the potential of your teaching practice with our workshop focused on communication strategies that empower diverse learners and build quality relationships fostering a more inclusive and supportive learning experience.

Speaker

Sean Maloney (Law & Justice) is a forward-thinking Educational Developer within the Faculty of Law and Justice, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to the realm of higher education. With over 15 years of dedicated service as a primary school teacher and assistant principal, Sean has honed their skills in pedagogy, leadership, and student support.

Sean's commitment to fostering inclusive learning environments is seen through their advocacy for effective communication strategies that cater to diverse learning needs. Recognising the importance of tailored approaches to education, they advocate for strategies and methods aimed at enhancing the student experience and achieving meaningful learning outcomes.

Drawing upon their extensive background in primary education, Sean brings a unique perspective to their role, infusing innovation and best practices into engaging students, supporting their learning and teacher instruction.

10am Wednesday 17 July

Scaffolding Learning for Diverse Student Needs is a transformative workshop designed to equip educators with dynamic strategies tailored to meet the unique requirements of their diverse learners. In this interactive session, participants delve into the art of scaffolding – the systematic support provided to students as they engage in complex tasks or learn new concepts. Through a blend of theoretical insights and practical applications, attendees explore how to create a supportive learning environment where every student can thrive.

The workshop delves into understanding various learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and individual needs, empowering educators to adapt their teaching approaches effectively. Participants gain invaluable tools to differentiate instruction, provide targeted interventions, and foster inclusive classroom communities. By the workshop's conclusion, educators emerge with a toolkit to scaffold learning experiences that cater to the diverse strengths and challenges present within their student body, ultimately promoting academic success and fostering a love for lifelong learning.

Speaker

Sean Maloney (Law & Justice) is a forward-thinking Educational Developer within the Faculty of Law and Justice, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to the realm of higher education. With over 15 years of dedicated service as a primary school teacher and assistant principal, Sean has honed their skills in pedagogy, leadership, and student support.

Sean's commitment to fostering inclusive learning environments is seen through their advocacy for effective communication strategies that cater to diverse learning needs. Recognising the importance of tailored approaches to education, they advocate for strategies and methods aimed at enhancing the student experience and achieving meaningful learning outcomes.

Drawing upon their extensive background in primary education, Sean brings a unique perspective to their role, infusing innovation and best practices into engaging students, supporting their learning and teacher instruction.

12pm Wednesday 22 May (In-person only)

Are you an educator or education designer looking to navigate the evolving world of Education Technology? Whether you're grappling with student engagement, administration, feedback, assessment, staff development, etc.… you've probably wondered if you could acquire or build a piece of Education Tech to make life easier. As education becomes increasingly intertwined with technology, understanding and leveraging this relationship is crucial. This interactive session will help you demystify your specific problem, enhance your understanding of the solution, and aid you in planning your next steps. 

You will engage with the design thinking process in the context of higher education and learn about the School of Clinical Medicine's custom-built Ed Tech tools made using the Microsoft Power Platform. Bring the problems you want to address and collaborate at our activity stations to define your educational challenges, brainstorm innovative solutions, and devise a practical action plan. 

You will leave the session with a deeper appreciation of design thinking and a strategy tailored to your teaching context. Don't just keep up with the digital evolution, be at the forefront!

Speaker

Jen Xiang (Medicine & Health) is an Education Designer in the School of Clinical Medicine, where she collaborates with her team to improve learning and teaching experiences across clinical campuses and learning environments. Her journey in higher education began with frontline teaching and moved into cross-disciplinary staff development, leading a team to design and implement university-wide programs to empower educators to teach across modalities and environments. Her ethos is "pedagogy first, enabled by technology, and grounded in human-centred design". Jen is deeply committed to designing environments and tools that foster genuine engagement. As a creative who's passionate about science and technology, she loves combining pedagogy with sound design and development processes to devise fit-for-purpose education solutions. She classifies herself as a generalist with specialist skills and is always looking for the next challenge. 

11am Tuesday 4 June

How can Star Wars help you to deliver a more engaging lecture? Unlike "The Force", storytelling is something you can readily harness to deliver a more engaging and structured student experience in your courses. In this workshop, Poon demystifies the idea of "storytelling", shares his story-centred process for designing engaging classes, as well as some evidence that supports the success of this approach.

Finally, he will eventually stop talking, and facilitate a hands-on activity to guide attendees on implementing this storytelling framework in their own practice.

Speaker

Dr Poon Leung (Business) is an EF academic from the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies in the UNSW Business School. He describes himself as the "mad (but still ethical) scientist of education.