Workshops

Prof Bill Maher

Professor in Environmental Chemistry, School of Resource, Environmental and Heritage Sciences, Division of Health, Design and Science, University of Canberra

Professor Maher has worked as a university lecturer and postgraduate supervisor for 25 years. During this time he has organised many workshops to examine and improve postgraduate supervision, made a significant contribution to the development of the University of Canberra 's administrative framework for postgraduate research degrees. Prof Maher is also an active researcher. In 2002 he was awarded the Royal Australian Chemical Institute Analytical Chemistry Division Medal for excellence in pure or applied scientific work in analytical science in Australia and in 2004 the Environmental Chemistry Division Medal for excellence in scientific work in environmental chemical science in Australia. His research interests include environmental chemistry, water quality and biogeochemical cycling of trace metals, nutrients and organometallics in marine and freshwater systems.

Exploring postgraduate student, supervisor and institutional expectations. Enhancing generic skills or more administrivia?

Postgraduate students approach their research experience with great enthusiasm, are passionate about their topic and seek to make a difference by creating new knowledge. When they arrive on campus they are confronted by requirements to complete ‘on-time', to ‘acquire' generic or employability skills, and to attend research education programs. As they begin their work they can experience tensions, stress, contradictions and even self-doubt. How can institutions support students to retain the initial excitement, enthusiasm and naivety in a way which does not stifle their creativity, while at the same time meeting the external drivers of institutional practices? To support research students the University of Canberra has adopted student personal learning plans.

This workshop will:

• explore the tensions described above from the perspectives of students and supervisors
• integrate the perspectives revealed
• discuss the use of personal learning plans at the University of Canberra in the light of these perspectives.

Participant Activities:

1. Introduction - What is to be explored? (10 mins)
2. Exploring Expectations (30- 40 min)
   Divide attendees into small groups 8-10 people to explore either students or supervisors perspectives/expectations
   
   Student perspectives on enhancing generic skills, small group exploration and discussion
   Place yourself in the position of a postgraduate research student who has just commenced their studies and has been informed by their supervisor that while enrolled, they need to acquire and improve their generic skills. What would be your response as a student to this requirement?
   
   Supervisors' perspectives on enhancing generic skills, small group exploration and discussion.
   You are a supervisor who has a postgraduate research student, who has just commenced, and you must guide them in enhancing/improving their generic skills. How would you approach this?
3. Integration (15 mins)
   Students and supervisors perspectives will be integrated
4. Close (10 mins)
   Uni of Canberra learning plans for higher degree by research students as a tool to match expectations will be introduced.

Dr Gary Poole

Gary is the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth and the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Gary has won a 3M Teaching Fellowship, which is a Canadian national teaching award, an Excellence in Teaching award from Simon Fraser University, and a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for contributions to Higher Education. Dr. Poole was the President of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from 2000 to 2004. He is the co-author of "Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education," and "The Psychology of Health and Health Care: A Canadian Perspective."

His research interests in higher education include the identification of valid measures of educational impact at the institutional level and understanding students' experiences in community service learning environments and self-directed projects.

Further information: http://www.tag.ubc.ca/about/institute/ISoTL.php

SoTL Workshop

To complement the keynote event, this workshop will provide participants who may be relatively new to SoTL with an opportunity to develop and discuss pedagogical research questions in some depth. Gary will also present samples of outcome measures often used in pedagogical research along with a way of categorizing them to facilitate decisions regarding their use.

In the Teaching Showcase keynote, Gary Poole will take participants through an exploration of the movement in higher education commonly referred to as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).