This is one of a
series of colloquiums for projects funded by Ako Aotearoa. This one, is for the
projects overseen by the Ako Aotearoa Southern hub. Notes from last week's colloquium of projects funded nationally can be found here.
The colloquium begins with a welcome from Dr. Joe Te Rito,
Kaihautu matauranga Maori, Helen Lomax, director and Bridget O’Regan, Southern
hub project manager. Jennifer Leahy MCs the event. Sessions run for 30 minutes
with 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes for questions.
First presentation is with Stuart Terry from Otago
Polytechnic on Student perceptions of student evaluations: enabling student
voice and meaningful engagement. Questionnaire and student focus groups used to
gather perceptions on the various evaluations used to gather students’ point of
view on teaching and learning. Both Otago Polytechnic and Otago University
second year degree students involved. The project still in early stages and
follows on from another on teacher perceptions. The objective in the current project is to focus on
the student experience to inform the future with an emphasis on enhancement
over assurance. Provided overview, rationale and initial findings. Students
often aware evaluation is important but do not know how the data will be used
and are not aware of the affect. Initial findings – 95% have participated, 57%
prefer online but 22% still prefer paper. 92% thought it was important to
complete evaluations. Preference of 83% to evaluate each course and 82% feel
there is an effect on quality but 94% do not see the results of the feedback!!
Then with Dr. Rob Wass and Dr. Tracy Rogers from the
University of Otago with ‘mentor and peer observation to improve / enhance thepractice of casual, short-term teachers’. Short-term teachers play a important
role but are often under-supported. Pilot of 6 tutors and 12 mentees
participated from education, classics, management and the university college.
Video (using a mobile phone) was used to record sessions of tutorials. These
were used for reflective conversations which were audio recorded. Mentors and
mentees came from different discipline area so that the emphasis was on
teaching, not content. TurboNote used to annotate
the video. The process and the evaluation was shared in the presentation. Focus
groups with mentors and mentees (separately) was held. There was good interest
and engagement through the project. Both mentors and mentees learnt from the
process.
Followed on with, Work-active- supporting the ‘forgottenlearners’ in their journey to work' is a joint project with John Grant and
Tracey Anne-Cook from Skillwise and Dr. Maria Perez-y-Perez from the University
of Canterbury. This project works towards trialling a new teaching and learning
approach for adult learners with intellectual disability. Shift to facilitated
and learner centric focus to prepare learners within an internship based
employment programme. Participatory action research project with disability
support provider (teaching and employment support), employers (internship) and
tertiary institution (teaching resources and research). Focus through the 12
week programme to develop soft skills including team work, communication,
planning, taking initiative and problem solving. Data collected though focus
groups and interviews, student learning diaries, workplace and class
observations and the student presentations. Shared the programme details and
initial findings.
The next 7 projects are from researchers at the University
of Canterbury and Dr. Erik Brogt provides an overview and shared the strategic
considerations for engaging with the fund. The academic development strategy is
to utilise a distributed model of teaching development. The goal is to support
good teaching and evidence based scholarship on teaching and learning.
Discussed challenges including the work towards moving forward after projects
end and increasing impact of the findings on teaching and learning.
The presentations from UC begin with Professor Lynne Taylor and
Natalie Baird on ‘the making of lawyers: A longitudinal study’ which was also
presented at last week’s Nationally funded projects colloquium. Provided
greater detail as presentation time was longer. Study collected and analysed
data from 4 universities from 2014 and running through 2019. Allowing for the
tracing of students’ journey from 1st year to beyond graduation.
Data also collected from employers. Provided an overview of the analysis of
data from students who completed the surveys for 4 years. Intrinsic motivations
remained stable across 4 years but after 3rd year, level of interest
in pursuing legal career has dropped. Attendance high, increase of
participation in active learning, less time spent and little change in
self-study approaches. There was little f2f contact with teaching staff. Grades
were consistently good, increased levels of confidence, workload was high and
perceptions of knowledge and skills gained did not change. Reported on
improving student experiences now put in place and plans for future. Programme
and course learning outcomes reviewed. Student well-being plan in place.
Changed assessment practices as much as possible within regulatory
requirements. Staff development programme begun. Working on Council of Legal
Education to make relevant changes. Next year, introduce a first year mentoring
programme; introduce capstone skills based course as a bridge between
university and work; and work on reducing class numbers to decrease lectures
and increase tutorials.
Dr. Julia Wu then presents on ‘optimising complex casestudies as teaching tools in accounting and law education’. The project also
involves Sascha Mueller and Erik Brogt. Rationalised the approach, especially
the selection of case studies which reflected challenging circumstances instead
of the more traditional practice of using ‘ideal’ scenarios. 3 phases so far.
Began with literature review of the value of the case study approach and the
implementation of ‘messy’ case studies. The second stage evaluated, through
interviews with lecturers, application of case study pedagogy and through student
surveys, their engagement with the case study method. Shared some of the raw
data of lecturer and student perspectives, the barriers and challenges. The
third stage was to develop relevant case studies and the teaching practice to
support these. Final data analysis and implementation now progressing with
outcomes to be completed next year.
Professor Philippa Martin presents on professional
engineering cohorts. The project was to support students to develop good cohort
support groups and is part of a 4 year transformation project. Presented
rationale on the need to change the university culture to be more inclusive. The
project was to find out the current ‘non-intervention’ socio-cultural
associations for 1st and 2nd year electrical and computer
engineering students. Data analysis has just begun. The findings feed into the
IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity and awareness) initiative set up in August.
The goal is to create an inclusive atmosphere for minority groups, women and
LGBTQIA+.
Then a ‘BYO – bring your own device – to field class:integrating digital and mapping in the field-based coursework’ with Dr. Timothy
Stahl and Dr. Heather Purdie. The context is geology and geography. Drew on his
own experiences as a geologist, doing post-doctoral field work, to ensure
students learnt the practice of traditional field mapping methods. Need to make
this learning visible, and for students to learn the important aspects of
spatial awareness and a sense of place. Students used the ArcCollector app to
record GPS points with photos and videos, analyse data and track their progress
in comparison with their peers. Reports on the 5 field trials to date, student
feedback through survey and informal staff feedback. Shared progress of
refining the approach and tools and ways forward.
After lunch, two UC projects with a focus on teacher
education.
Firstly, we have Dr. Paul Docherty and Associate Professor
Wendy Fox from University ofWaikato with ‘investigating of initial education student views of engineersand engineering practice’. An initiative to improve the perceptions of school
students (aged 11-13 – key time for career decisions) of careers in
engineering. Sought to try to work on the root cause for low participation
rates from females, minorities etc. Apart from family, friends, and culture,
teachers play a role in decisions and perceptions. Were there false perceptions
from teaching staff that coloured students’ career choices and especially those
of female, Maori and Pasifika students on STEM careers. The participants were
final year education students. Reported on first phase to determine views of
teachers; then provide workshops to address; and hopefully lead to some change
in perceptions.
Followed
by Dr. Cara Swit and Dr. Christoph Teshers with ‘professional learningopportunities for postgraduate specialist teachers’. The project is to add to
pre-service mentoring and to augment aspects of teaching a specialists subject.
Data gathering is in progress with analysis beginning early next year. Field advisors
are assigned to assist early childhood teachers, completing a post-graduate
programme, to develop goals around early-intervention competencies. Presented
on details of early-intervention which is one of 6 endorsements being supported
at UC and Massey. Students complete a 2 year programme and usually complete
this while working full-time as teachers. The programme includes 150 hours
practicum which is where this project comes in. The aim is to apply the
findings from the project, to develop a coaching framework to support the process.
Final presentation of a busy day with Professor Tanja
Mitrovic on ‘supporting engagement during active video watching with
personalised nudges’. It is a collaborative college with Otago and University
of Leeds. This is a follow up project from a 2016 project which developed a
controlled video-watching environment – AVW-space. This project added
interactive visualisations and personalised nudges in an adaptive way for
students to write comments at certain points through video watching. There
seems to be an increase in notes being taken through the use of prompts (micro-scaffolds)
which help students learn reflective skills. Then learners allow commenting and
to are able to rate comments written by others. Extension in future to study
further the connection between learner profiles, personalised nudges and
addition of interactive visualisations (comment timeline and histogram) to
share with the learner how they are doing compared to their peers.
I provide a brief ‘reflections on the day’ presentation with
a quick think-pair-share activity. The colloquium closes poroporoaki /
farewell.
Poroporoaki and farewell follows.All in, a good range of projects, each seeking to enhance learning experiences for students.
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