Day 1
In Qingdao for the inaugural Sino-NZ Vocational Education Research forum. Opens with formal welcome from Professor Qin Chuan, President of Qingdao Technical College.
Then a short speech from the vice-mayor of Qingdao Municipal Government, Liu Mingjun.
Followed by a series of speeches from various signatories of the MOE between China and NZ.
Alexandra Grace, Education NZ Regional director in China.
Gao Yong, deputy director for Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education (CIVTE), China and Shao Wei, secretary general of China International Association for International Exchange (CEAIE).
all provide background on the formalised relationship between China and NZ to share knowledge on Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) and to learn from each other. China is placing priority in TVET due to its potential to increase economic and social levels. There are over 14000 TVET colleges on China with over 10 million students. it is important to improve teaching and learning in TVET to enhance student learning and in turn contribute to China's progress.
After morning tea, two keynotes.
one from Liu Yufeng, director of comparative education research, CIVTE on 'building a modern vocational education: China's path selection. goal of china to become more competitive, as measured on global competitiveness scales. China is on second stage of development but NZ in stage 3. TVET seen as one way to lift competitiveness through improving science, technology through improvement of human capital. Path for constructing modern VET include connection between secondary and higher VET, cooperation between school and enterprise, and improving social justice.
Then Prof. Qin Chuan from QTC with 'learning teaching and doing in one: let every student be the best of him/herself'. Students in VET weak in abstract and logic ability but good at operations, imagination and other intelligences. Move to supply appropriate learning resources, guide students to learn, motivate students to be the best. learning, teaching and doing need to become integrated.
Third keynote from Mark Flowers, CE of Wintec on 'internationalisation of vocational education and training - learning from each other'. Need to change teaching practice, meeting needs of employers / industry, and focus on our students. Skills of workforce need to lift to cope with China and NZ becoming exporters and the process of internationalisation.
Last keynote with Dai Yuwei, President of Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical College, speaks on 'relying on industry guidance and innovating educational system to achieve effective vocational college education of school enterprice cooperation. Three strategies used. Understand and form a school and enterprise cooperation system, derive a model to improve and evaluate the school and enterprise cooperation system, and effective personnel training through and by the system.
After lunch, two streams present around the theme 'excellent vocational teaching'. I present in the 'science' stream. Summaries of presentations follow. Other NZ educators present in the other stream, including Aidan Bigham, Peter Bilious, Sam Honey, Dr. Karen Vaughan, Adrian Woodhouse and Dr. John Clayton.
I am first up to provide a quick overview of the 'learning through apprenticeship' project. Basically, how to assist apprentices to become more metacognitive about their learning. Learning as becoming through learning how to do, be, feel and think like a trades person.
Zhang Yi from Baotou Vocational College on 'strengthening knowledge application by inverted teaching, improving cognitive competence by innovation of evaluation system. Focus on introducing authentic learning in the form of project based learning. Steps include introduction (connecting theory to practice, working out learning objective), exploration, practice (through project based teams where students play actual production roles), assessing (teacher, self and peer).
Jo Thomas from Wintec with 'English language teaching for a changing world' two concepts, what English should be taught?' and the learnings from a case study. Important to recognise English learning needs of students, what are they learning English for? Task based learning important. shared experiences of a blended distance learning programme for English teachers in Kwangtung.
Shao Ningping from Ningxia Vocational Technical College of Industry and Commerce on 'applications of various teaching methods on logistics management courses'. A practice / task based approach with problem and case study based learning. Requires teachers to take active role in preparing appropriate resources to support the various learning activities. Role plays often used to replicate real world practice to enhance other approaches. Modelling used to help students learn complex tasks. Enterprise cooperation (often work placement) and competition orientated learning also used.
After morning tea, Kelly Pender from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic shares 'empowerment and compassion,enhanced through experiential learning'. Shared approaches used on Certificate of Fitness (level 4). Importance of teachers setting an example. Learning concepts made easier by applying learning through 'learning by doing', improves empathy with others (clients) and understanding why they have to learn certain things.
Chen Xiaofeng from Xinjiang Institute of Light Industry Technology, on 'the teaching innovation of the chemical engineering unit operation and maintenance'. Went through understanding of curriculum planning using a job orientated curriculum. However, employers found graduates to still be under prepared. Therefore, shift to development of students' 'personality' development. Undertook an analysis of the curriculum to increase emphasis on students' 'professional' development. included practising through use of simulation software, then students discuss operation, school competitions motivate students, theory and practical now integrated, use of formative assessments and content extension becomes students' responsibility.
Julia Bruce then presents on 'engaging challenging learners'. Described her work with hairdressing students using a 'living consensus' model. Process of teachers and students sharing responsibility for creating learning environments through group agreements, on-going discussion and shared understanding. Teaching and sharing strategies include ongoing ethical practice discussions, discussions on shared cultural practice (culture share activity), shared group management. Code of practice and shared ethics understandings form the basis of the living consensus. Video diary used to record the evolution of the living consensus so teachers and students are able to reflect on their transformation. Project based learning is the underpinning learning approach.
Malcolm Doidge from Wellington Institute of Technology on 'collaboration as a teaching tool'. Mahi tahi - working together. Provided an overview of work with level 1 - 3 design programme over 3 years. Learning how to help oneself leads to helping others. Used 3 Maori principles, family (whanau), working together (mahi tahi) and principles / guidelines (tikanga) to follow. Using technology (evernote) to record project based learning (developing a board game).
A panel closes the day, followed by conference dinner.
A very packed day but heartening to see the similarities and aspirations between Chinese and NZ current teaching practice and learning focuses.
Day 2
Today there is a series of 3 class room demonstrations.beginning with Du Xiao Ni teaching a session on 'primary hall sensor'. A lesson plan provided in Chinese and the 40 minute session is to showcase 'problem based' teaching approach. the class views an introductory video and then answer a series of questions (in groups). Individual students answer questions using flip carts or diagrams. the teacher clarifies points and revises main features of the lesson. Lesson is teacher directed but good teaching shown in how the teacher draws the aswers out of the students, reinforces correct answers and using 'teaching moments' where appropriate to clarify understanding.
Second demonstration lesson is with Li Qin and a lesson on 'group analysis and modification on the draft of particulat commodities display'. A retailing course whereby students design a display and substantiate their choice. Teacher and other students provide feedback and critique. Questions are mostly from students and team members take turns to answer. Teacher provides a comprehensive critique.
The NZ contribution from Julia Bruce with a group of volunteer students. Julia based her session on helping students understand their learning style preference through completing a short questionnaire. Then discussing ways in which to enhance their learning through the understanding of how they preferred to learn.
Two Chinese and two NZ representatives provided feedback / critique on the three sessions.
The forum closed with short speech from Professor Qin Chuan.
Day 4
Five of us (Jo Thomas, Julia Bruce, Adrian Thomas, Kelly Pender and myself) along with Stewart Brougham (Wintec Offshore project manager) take the fast train (travels at 300km plus an hour) from Qingdao to Tianjin on Day 3. A chance for us to see some of rural Shandong and to debrief the experiences of the previous two days.
On Day 4, we visit the Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical College which is one of 8 educational institutes that make up stage 1 of the Haihe Educational Park. When completed, the park supports educational and residential needs of over 300,000 people!! The physical spaces are impressive and we have another opportunity to observe a few classes in the engineering, art / design, commerce and electronics areas.
Overall, a good experience to observe the challenges China faces and their focus at developing infrastructure and human capital through TVET. There is support from the highest officials for vocational learning to become more learning focused. The sheer numbers of vocational educators to shift from content to learning focus is a particular challenge. However, there are movements from 'sage on the stage' to 'guide on the side' from the presentations and class observations. Small steps in the right direction, although the Chinese will need to contextualise Western models of learning to their culture and social needs.
Link to newspaper article on the conference published late October.
Showing posts with label ako aoteoroa academy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ako aoteoroa academy. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Spotlight on Tertiary Teaching and Learning - 14th June
Presented and assisted with the organisation of the Spotlight on Tertiary Teaching and Learning event organised by Ako Aotearoa and the Ako Aotearoa Academy. A gathering of 90 tertiary educators from across the tertiary sector, mostly Christchurch but presenters from Dunedin and attendees from Nelson as well. Ako Aotearoa Academy members form a core of presenters with Supreme award winners, Dr. Rhiannon Braund, Selene Mize and myself and award winnners Eric Pawson and Stephen Hickson.
The Friday afternoon event was held at University of Canterbury (UC) with nibbles and drinks provided through Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and catering industry sponsorship.
The Friday afternoon event was held at University of Canterbury (UC) with nibbles and drinks provided through Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and catering industry sponsorship.
The event opens with a mihi and short welcome from Bridget O'Regan, southern hub manager and then brief welcome from Dr. Rhiannon Braund, 2012 Prime Minister 's award for tertiary teaching excellence. Rhiannon spoke about her passion for teaching and how it is important to share that passion with students and help them gain an interest in their work as well.
The first stream is on student engagement, chaired by Jennifer Leahy.
First up, CPIT's teacher education programme leader, Lyn Williams on 'embedding teacher professional development as business as usual'. Connecting things new teachers learn while learning how to teach. Teacher education is not at the centre of the new teachers' universe, they are workplace learners, with many challenges associated with changing from one occupational culture to another. So teacher education is making sense of current understanding of how learning occurs and how they as teachers can help students learn. Need to recognize the diversity and multi literacies in various disciplines and how to help new teachers learn how to be learner centered teachers. Agency - access and negotiation by individuals and the work environment. What are more experienced teachers doing to assist new teachers to ensure they are able to apply their agency in a supportive work environment.
Jen Halliday Lincoln University on 'engaging students in active communication'. Modelling an engaging presentation On how to involve students and how to elicit responses from students. To educate is to draw out. She then went through the structure do the presentation - to grab attention, use what learners already know and then make it participative.
Then, Dr. Richard Manning ,UC with presentation with 'place based education- pathways to partnership'. Presented on why a placed based education course about the Treaty? Cultural differences between Pakeha and Maori means that both do not have similar understanding of the Treaty and why the treaty negotiations took place. Most schools still have a Eurocentric focus and therefore NZ young people not exposed to NZ history from both sides of the story. Using place as a starter for both cultures to share the history and understand each others perspective.
Dr. Rhiannon Braund presents on 'beyond dispensing knowledge: how to engage pharmacists in training'. How do we view teaching? Empty containers, pre- formulation or ready to use. Some students find ways to take shortcuts through Flip learning requirements. How do we make sure students do the work before workshops? Use peer activities as other students are less tolerant of students who do not prepare. Having to answer to peers is more effective.
John Morgan presents CPIT work on 'innovative teaching style for kinesthetic learners'. Changing original programme to emphasize the learning of practical skills. Literacy, numeracy and theory concepts were embedded and integrated around practical workshop practice. Projects used to provide a focus for students learning.The presentation is based around the manufacturing team's IGNITE project.
After a short break, two streams commence. Professor Eric Pawson chairs and presents in the learner centered learning stream with 6 presentations.
I present on 'situated technology enhanced learning' and chair the second stream on technology enhanced learning. Brief notes from presentations in TEL include:
Jocelyn Howard from UC takes us through 'online polling and collaborative note taking using google docs'. Used Socratic to demonstrate how online polling can be used to engage students, have a sense of level of understanding of a topic and review learning.
Stephen Hickson, UC, shares some things to do with iPads. Presented on how to capture worked problems as per using overhead projector. Using a special scribe from adonit. Notes are then emailed to self and posted on moodle for students to access. Also introduced a few other useful apps. App hits, speak up and good notes.
Mary Kensington, Lorna Davies, Julie Richards and Rea Daellenbach share CPIT midwifery section work on their blended programme with 'birthing a new programme: hearing a new heartbeat'. Provided structure of programme before and after. In blended deliver, there is f2f, online , practice and portfolio. Online with tutorials using adobe connect, learning packages and discussion for which are student led but tutor directed. Important to support the social side of learning. Weekly tutorials have become the most important learning space for student to share, reflect on and review practice.
The official programme ends with short overview by Dr. Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa director and De. Hamish Cochrane, academic director at University of Canterbury.
Networking session closes the event.
All in a well-attended event, moved along by short, sharp 15 minute presentations. The majority of attendees were from the Adult and community education (ACE) and private tertiary education (PTE) sector, signalling a need for professional development events for these two sectors.The Academy will need to encourage and support more applicants from these two sectors to apply for the tertiary teaching awards to widen it's representation and support of all tertiary educators.
All in a well-attended event, moved along by short, sharp 15 minute presentations. The majority of attendees were from the Adult and community education (ACE) and private tertiary education (PTE) sector, signalling a need for professional development events for these two sectors.The Academy will need to encourage and support more applicants from these two sectors to apply for the tertiary teaching awards to widen it's representation and support of all tertiary educators.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Ako Aotearoa academy symposium day 2 afternoon
After lunch, three more round table discussions:
Working with small groups with Sam Honey
Students with disabilities with Tracy Riley
Accommodating baby boomer to gen x with Judy Magee
most academy members are baby boomers but students tend too span the generations. 'Generational gap' between students seems to be narrowing
and each brings challenges and rewards. In some programmes, 'mature' students are 'valued' as resource centres. utilising students as resources requires some planning and tact although spontaneous class relationships between inter-generational learners can be rewarding. challenges revolving around students' formal or informal use of social networking sites. Piazza recommended as a discussion forum that is more intuitive to use than LMS supported options.
we had a 'return home' session to share with others round table discussions.
Alison Campbell took us through a brief session on the international biology olympiad - lobbying for support for 2014 event hosted by University of Waikato.
Last session was official welcome to new members, and introduction to the new committee. Overall, good to touch base with familiar faces and meet this year's academy members. it is a good opportunity to find out how things are in the different tertiary sectors, share good practice and celebrate the entry of new members. Each sector has challenges and sharing solutions is a good route towards improving learning for NZ students.
Working with small groups with Sam Honey
Students with disabilities with Tracy Riley
Accommodating baby boomer to gen x with Judy Magee
most academy members are baby boomers but students tend too span the generations. 'Generational gap' between students seems to be narrowing
and each brings challenges and rewards. In some programmes, 'mature' students are 'valued' as resource centres. utilising students as resources requires some planning and tact although spontaneous class relationships between inter-generational learners can be rewarding. challenges revolving around students' formal or informal use of social networking sites. Piazza recommended as a discussion forum that is more intuitive to use than LMS supported options.
we had a 'return home' session to share with others round table discussions.
Alison Campbell took us through a brief session on the international biology olympiad - lobbying for support for 2014 event hosted by University of Waikato.
Last session was official welcome to new members, and introduction to the new committee. Overall, good to touch base with familiar faces and meet this year's academy members. it is a good opportunity to find out how things are in the different tertiary sectors, share good practice and celebrate the entry of new members. Each sector has challenges and sharing solutions is a good route towards improving learning for NZ students.
Ako Aotearoa academy symposium day 2 morning
Day begins with a discussion of academy future with John Hoskins. Each regional group summarized their plans on how they will respond to Ako aotearoa's call for academy members to contribute.
Then two sessions to choose from
I attended Mike walker's session on Growing undergraduate success with Maori and pacific island students. Began by defining the Maori phrases in his title. Te whenua, the tangata, the aronui, the maramagata. Nzs young people are predominantly non-pakeha but concentrated in low decile schools where likelihood of progressing to university is low. Need to support Maori pasifika students due to small numbers moving through with most being the first in their family to enter university. attrition rates high in first year. Tuakana programme provides a structured introduction to university life and helps students make initial contact with each other. Newer putaiao is a pre-university academic and professinal skills prograame.
The other session was 'Integrating Kaupapa Maori into teaching' with Kelly Pender
After morning tea round table sessions begin, session including
Large class teaching with alison campbell
Gifted and talented with Christine Rubie-Davies
equitable assessment practices with Kevin Gould - ensuring students are treated fairly with regards - university of Alberta 7 guidelines to assessments - similar to David Boud's work. Good discussion with contemporary assessments supplied as examples eventuated. Text/paper based assessments predominate but aspects of peer marking etc. also discussed.
Then two sessions to choose from
I attended Mike walker's session on Growing undergraduate success with Maori and pacific island students. Began by defining the Maori phrases in his title. Te whenua, the tangata, the aronui, the maramagata. Nzs young people are predominantly non-pakeha but concentrated in low decile schools where likelihood of progressing to university is low. Need to support Maori pasifika students due to small numbers moving through with most being the first in their family to enter university. attrition rates high in first year. Tuakana programme provides a structured introduction to university life and helps students make initial contact with each other. Newer putaiao is a pre-university academic and professinal skills prograame.
The other session was 'Integrating Kaupapa Maori into teaching' with Kelly Pender
After morning tea round table sessions begin, session including
Large class teaching with alison campbell
Gifted and talented with Christine Rubie-Davies
equitable assessment practices with Kevin Gould - ensuring students are treated fairly with regards - university of Alberta 7 guidelines to assessments - similar to David Boud's work. Good discussion with contemporary assessments supplied as examples eventuated. Text/paper based assessments predominate but aspects of peer marking etc. also discussed.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Ako Aotearoa symposium day one afternoon
After lunch, we participated in a series of 'PeArLS' - Personally arranged learning sessions
CHoice of:
audio visual teaching with Margaret Henley
used analogy of providing 'readings' to the use of video in teaching - often used badly, students do not know why they have to watch video, struggle with critical reflection and evaluation and assumes a whole range of student skills (digital natives?). Provide questions to consider and strategies to leverage the use of audio visual material to help students improve visual literacy skills.
Feedback with Dawn Garbett
using feedback from students to improve students. Begin with a diagnostic to find out what they expect to attain from the course. Prime students after to become independent learners. Mid-course use Stephen Brookfield's (1995) student feedback - critical incident (5 questions) to ensure students are on the right track. then use standard institutional tutor and end of course/programme evaluations.
other sessions from :
students in trouble with Donna Buckingham - used scenario to open up discussion on how to support students when they are faced with challenges.
transitioning to levels 1-3 with Sam Honey
sensitive topics with Heather Kavan - sharing session on various contributions from participants as topics different in each context.
supervising workplace learning with Dale Sheehan
All the groups returned to 'debrief' each other so that everyone could catch up on all the individual sessions.
After afternoon tea, we had a session centred around the 'Canterbury Experience: shaking up teaching and learning. Jason Pemberton from the student volunteer army on student experiences over the course of this year. Covered the formation of the student volunteer army (SVA), formal and informal learning through participation in SVA and the student experience in 2011. Jason presented an inspirational message on how students decided to do something to help and get it done!
An interesting day with symposium dinner to get in more networking time.
CHoice of:
audio visual teaching with Margaret Henley
used analogy of providing 'readings' to the use of video in teaching - often used badly, students do not know why they have to watch video, struggle with critical reflection and evaluation and assumes a whole range of student skills (digital natives?). Provide questions to consider and strategies to leverage the use of audio visual material to help students improve visual literacy skills.
Feedback with Dawn Garbett
using feedback from students to improve students. Begin with a diagnostic to find out what they expect to attain from the course. Prime students after to become independent learners. Mid-course use Stephen Brookfield's (1995) student feedback - critical incident (5 questions) to ensure students are on the right track. then use standard institutional tutor and end of course/programme evaluations.
other sessions from :
students in trouble with Donna Buckingham - used scenario to open up discussion on how to support students when they are faced with challenges.
transitioning to levels 1-3 with Sam Honey
sensitive topics with Heather Kavan - sharing session on various contributions from participants as topics different in each context.
supervising workplace learning with Dale Sheehan
All the groups returned to 'debrief' each other so that everyone could catch up on all the individual sessions.
After afternoon tea, we had a session centred around the 'Canterbury Experience: shaking up teaching and learning. Jason Pemberton from the student volunteer army on student experiences over the course of this year. Covered the formation of the student volunteer army (SVA), formal and informal learning through participation in SVA and the student experience in 2011. Jason presented an inspirational message on how students decided to do something to help and get it done!
An interesting day with symposium dinner to get in more networking time.
Ako Aotearoa academy symposium day 1 morning
Ako Aotearoa symposium day 2
Official start of symposium with mihi with Dr. David Jansen and a the singing of the academy waiata followed by welcomes and official address by Dr. Peter Coolbear.
Peter challenged academy members to reflect on the symposium's title ' celebrating diversity'. What is diversity? If it is for students, the NZ tertiary sector completion rates are a call for more work to be done as large sectors of students have poor completion rates when compared to the mainstream culture. Call for academy to be proactive in encouraging pursuit of excellence in tertiary teaching so as to enhance learning for ALL students.
How can we foster excellence in teaching as an academy, can the academy assist with setting up standards of tertiary teachers, need to think forward.
The morning begins with panel discussions with Marc Wilson coordinating.
David Jansen on Maori learners. Provided an overview how to better engage with Maori communities. Even though 23% Maoris speak Maori, still important to engage in Maori. There is diversity in Maori due to geographical distribution, urban/rural shifts away from tribal boundaries and need to recognize achievement. In general Maori value working in groups, using the Maori language.
Sandy Morrison on asia pacific association for adult and basic education (ASPBAE) - has the goal to build leadership and capability. Cultural depth and integrity valued in one context and perhaps not in another. Connecting pacific cultures by helping them to articulate their on 'ako' pedagogical model is one approach. Assisting migrant pacific workers when they come to NZ to value their culture and provide environments for further learning - learning in place, learning in context.
Ksenij Napan on second chance learners - discussed how derogatory the term may be and how it is important to establish another term -- 'interesting people'? Potentials include opportunity to explore peer learning, cultural / racial, religious, sexual orientations perspectives, social expectations of disabled, mature, differently literate etc.
Tracey Riley on gifted and talented students - generalisations as presented by others reflect the way in which gifted/talented students. Students often not identified when they proceed to tertiary education. Important to establish personal choice so that individuals able to choose how to learn, be assessed, maximising on their strengths but also guidance to identify skills, literacies to work more on.
Discussion followed with Marc eliciting searching questions from the audience.
Importance of engaging with students as individuals, with 'generalisations' as a beginning and then working with students to help them learn. helping students construct/engage with intercultural dialogue. Need to perhaps follow up on Ausse data (survey of university students) to unpack whether diversity is addressed (although just capturing ethnicity is too broad a brush).
Then concurrent workshops then proceeded. introduced by Dawn Garbett and consisted of having home groups (colour coded) for us to report back to.
multicultural arts with Jill Smith and Marty Vreede. Jill began with overview of research informing practice and her work with encouraging students to increase learning about cultural diversity. With an example of helping mainly pakeha student teachers use art to explore Asian viewpoints through art. Marty's session revolved around 'a paper on learning' with us participating in making paper from harakeke (flax) as we discussed aspects of philosophies of learning.
other sessions on :
Research supervision with John Hoskins and Marc Wilson
Sara Kindon with New New Zealanders
and will hear from others in the group on the content of these later in the day when we do the group debrief.
Official start of symposium with mihi with Dr. David Jansen and a the singing of the academy waiata followed by welcomes and official address by Dr. Peter Coolbear.
Peter challenged academy members to reflect on the symposium's title ' celebrating diversity'. What is diversity? If it is for students, the NZ tertiary sector completion rates are a call for more work to be done as large sectors of students have poor completion rates when compared to the mainstream culture. Call for academy to be proactive in encouraging pursuit of excellence in tertiary teaching so as to enhance learning for ALL students.
How can we foster excellence in teaching as an academy, can the academy assist with setting up standards of tertiary teachers, need to think forward.
The morning begins with panel discussions with Marc Wilson coordinating.
David Jansen on Maori learners. Provided an overview how to better engage with Maori communities. Even though 23% Maoris speak Maori, still important to engage in Maori. There is diversity in Maori due to geographical distribution, urban/rural shifts away from tribal boundaries and need to recognize achievement. In general Maori value working in groups, using the Maori language.
Sandy Morrison on asia pacific association for adult and basic education (ASPBAE) - has the goal to build leadership and capability. Cultural depth and integrity valued in one context and perhaps not in another. Connecting pacific cultures by helping them to articulate their on 'ako' pedagogical model is one approach. Assisting migrant pacific workers when they come to NZ to value their culture and provide environments for further learning - learning in place, learning in context.
Ksenij Napan on second chance learners - discussed how derogatory the term may be and how it is important to establish another term -- 'interesting people'? Potentials include opportunity to explore peer learning, cultural / racial, religious, sexual orientations perspectives, social expectations of disabled, mature, differently literate etc.
Tracey Riley on gifted and talented students - generalisations as presented by others reflect the way in which gifted/talented students. Students often not identified when they proceed to tertiary education. Important to establish personal choice so that individuals able to choose how to learn, be assessed, maximising on their strengths but also guidance to identify skills, literacies to work more on.
Discussion followed with Marc eliciting searching questions from the audience.
Importance of engaging with students as individuals, with 'generalisations' as a beginning and then working with students to help them learn. helping students construct/engage with intercultural dialogue. Need to perhaps follow up on Ausse data (survey of university students) to unpack whether diversity is addressed (although just capturing ethnicity is too broad a brush).
Then concurrent workshops then proceeded. introduced by Dawn Garbett and consisted of having home groups (colour coded) for us to report back to.
multicultural arts with Jill Smith and Marty Vreede. Jill began with overview of research informing practice and her work with encouraging students to increase learning about cultural diversity. With an example of helping mainly pakeha student teachers use art to explore Asian viewpoints through art. Marty's session revolved around 'a paper on learning' with us participating in making paper from harakeke (flax) as we discussed aspects of philosophies of learning.
other sessions on :
Research supervision with John Hoskins and Marc Wilson
Sara Kindon with New New Zealanders
and will hear from others in the group on the content of these later in the day when we do the group debrief.
Ako Aotearoa Academy symposium workshop day
In Wellington, the rest of the week to attend the annual Ako Aotearoa academy symposium. The academy is a networking and professional development base for winners of the NZ excellence in tertiary teaching awards (now just over 150 strong), with about a third or so of members attending each year.
Great to touch base with many familiar academy members and meet this year's inductees.
Yesterday, day one insisted of a half day of workshops before the formal symposium starts.
After brief welcome from Jon Hoskins, the academy president, we break up into regional groups to discuss how to contribute towards helping tertiary teachers improve practice. The Otago and Canterbury groups met together and after batting several ideas to hold Another spotlight on teaching event, decided on organizing a series of roadshows to the various south island cities/towns. So watch out for these events for next year.
Then two streams of workshops began. I ran a session to introduce the ideas gained from the net tablet project at cpit. A hands on session with some good input during the discussion wrap up.
In the other room, various projects seeking to garner academy members participation proceeded. Including worthwhile projects from Ksenjia Napan on co-inquiry learning, Sara Kindon on educational equity for refugee-background students and Marc Wilson and Dawn Garbett on extending our award portfolio into a publication.
Great to touch base with many familiar academy members and meet this year's inductees.
Yesterday, day one insisted of a half day of workshops before the formal symposium starts.
After brief welcome from Jon Hoskins, the academy president, we break up into regional groups to discuss how to contribute towards helping tertiary teachers improve practice. The Otago and Canterbury groups met together and after batting several ideas to hold Another spotlight on teaching event, decided on organizing a series of roadshows to the various south island cities/towns. So watch out for these events for next year.
Then two streams of workshops began. I ran a session to introduce the ideas gained from the net tablet project at cpit. A hands on session with some good input during the discussion wrap up.
In the other room, various projects seeking to garner academy members participation proceeded. Including worthwhile projects from Ksenjia Napan on co-inquiry learning, Sara Kindon on educational equity for refugee-background students and Marc Wilson and Dawn Garbett on extending our award portfolio into a publication.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Ako Aotearoa Symposium 2010 day 3
Day 3 dawns fine and sunny for the last day of the Ako Aoteaora Academy Symposium.
First up – Christine Rubie-Davies presents ‘G + T on the rocks’ – the experience of gifted /talented undergraduate students in a tertiary environment. No systematic or planned approaches towards fostering ‘A’ students in NZ primary / secondary and tertiary systems. However, this leads to an ‘untapped’ resource. Funded by Ako Aotearoa Northern hub and run across 4 faculties with 2 staff and 4 student focus groups. Research questions on ‘how talented students defined / identified’ and support provided. Definition of talented included ‘schoolhouse giftedness’ (school grades, creativity, innate, quick learners); multiple talents; personal qualities (people skills, work ethics, leadership, initiative). Talented students identified by staff mostly intuitively/informally. Support of students included individual lecturers; early identification; providing facilitation and leadership opportunities; providing specific provisions; and importantly for students, recognition. Issues included unsupportive individual lecturers; difficult to fit in; lack of opportunity; and assessments. Plans for future include piloting a ‘intervention’ study based on findings – identify at end of first year; differentiate assignment tasks; recognition for talented students; invitation to department and staff seminars; advice on scholarships; inclusion of mentoring scheme; and talented students to act as tutors. I suspect investigation of 'talented' in the trades area will reveal different definitions.
Secondly, ‘scholarly peer review of teaching’: returning ‘quality’ to teachers - with Mark Brown. Who is defining quality and for what purpose? Played video ‘we are the people we are waiting for’ as a challenge to academy members to consider their roles as educators. Challenges to enhancing quality include the tensions inherent in education. E.G. clear standards: creative flow; externally imposed requirements :internally owned commitments; central quality police: local professional responsibility; quality compliance: quality culture and quality assurance: quality enhancement. Introduced the concept of using a ‘scholarly peer review’ to form a quality enhancement framework. Need for academics to ‘own’ quality and the process – not just imposed by institution.
After morning tea, group discussion facilitated by Paul Denny on ‘did I jump or was I pushed – capitalizing on opportunities’ with Julia Bruce, Roger Nokes, Tracey Poutama-Mackie and Marc Wilson. Each presented on how they had moved on (usually through connections fostered through the academy) beyond their award. Julia talked about her journey since the award and support provided by academy (local and committee) on her growth as a staff developer. Also provided 4 videos produced as part of the ‘good practice’ grant. Roger spoke on leading and learning as Head of Department, member of academic board and acting chair of teaching and learning committee and the challenge of representing teaching but also wearing a ‘management’ hat. Tracey presented on the history of her institute – People Potential – as it played a big part in how she has developed as a teacher and now as academic leader and staff developer as manager of youth transition services in Whangarei. “my success should not be bestowed on me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective”. Marc presented on his experiences on how the award has contributed to his academic life. Teaching and researching can be very isolating and preparing portfolios for awards provides opportunities to introspection. Also, accepting positions of responsibility within institution should be taken as it widens perspectives and leads to connecting and contributing to the wider university community. Including how to deal with media in a structured way.
After lunch, a session on ‘the academy and YOU: your chance to contribute’. John Hoskin presented on what has been achieved by the academy thus far and workshopped the session to work out future direction for the academy. Also provided background on the separate roles / synergistic relationships between Ako Aotearoa and the Academy. Academy is an independent voice and how can we leverage on this. For next year, encouragement to bring forward more project;, establish ‘regional champions’ to strengthen links between academy and hubs and convene more regional events; establish a ‘teaching day/week/month?’; and portfolio mining. Committee to work on creating a voice for the academy (guide to media relations, training etc).; portfolios volumes; lobbying (internal/external) – how to do this as academy members within and without our own organisations; encourage collaborations; mentoring of PBRF; commission research – effect of PBRF?; finding our kaupapa. Good discussion followed on direction forward for the academy.
The symposium brought to a close with an adapted pecha kucha session organized by the Canterbury team led by Tim Bell.
Official conference closing with mihi Tracey Poutama-Mackie.
First up – Christine Rubie-Davies presents ‘G + T on the rocks’ – the experience of gifted /talented undergraduate students in a tertiary environment. No systematic or planned approaches towards fostering ‘A’ students in NZ primary / secondary and tertiary systems. However, this leads to an ‘untapped’ resource. Funded by Ako Aotearoa Northern hub and run across 4 faculties with 2 staff and 4 student focus groups. Research questions on ‘how talented students defined / identified’ and support provided. Definition of talented included ‘schoolhouse giftedness’ (school grades, creativity, innate, quick learners); multiple talents; personal qualities (people skills, work ethics, leadership, initiative). Talented students identified by staff mostly intuitively/informally. Support of students included individual lecturers; early identification; providing facilitation and leadership opportunities; providing specific provisions; and importantly for students, recognition. Issues included unsupportive individual lecturers; difficult to fit in; lack of opportunity; and assessments. Plans for future include piloting a ‘intervention’ study based on findings – identify at end of first year; differentiate assignment tasks; recognition for talented students; invitation to department and staff seminars; advice on scholarships; inclusion of mentoring scheme; and talented students to act as tutors. I suspect investigation of 'talented' in the trades area will reveal different definitions.
Secondly, ‘scholarly peer review of teaching’: returning ‘quality’ to teachers - with Mark Brown. Who is defining quality and for what purpose? Played video ‘we are the people we are waiting for’ as a challenge to academy members to consider their roles as educators. Challenges to enhancing quality include the tensions inherent in education. E.G. clear standards: creative flow; externally imposed requirements :internally owned commitments; central quality police: local professional responsibility; quality compliance: quality culture and quality assurance: quality enhancement. Introduced the concept of using a ‘scholarly peer review’ to form a quality enhancement framework. Need for academics to ‘own’ quality and the process – not just imposed by institution.
After morning tea, group discussion facilitated by Paul Denny on ‘did I jump or was I pushed – capitalizing on opportunities’ with Julia Bruce, Roger Nokes, Tracey Poutama-Mackie and Marc Wilson. Each presented on how they had moved on (usually through connections fostered through the academy) beyond their award. Julia talked about her journey since the award and support provided by academy (local and committee) on her growth as a staff developer. Also provided 4 videos produced as part of the ‘good practice’ grant. Roger spoke on leading and learning as Head of Department, member of academic board and acting chair of teaching and learning committee and the challenge of representing teaching but also wearing a ‘management’ hat. Tracey presented on the history of her institute – People Potential – as it played a big part in how she has developed as a teacher and now as academic leader and staff developer as manager of youth transition services in Whangarei. “my success should not be bestowed on me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective”. Marc presented on his experiences on how the award has contributed to his academic life. Teaching and researching can be very isolating and preparing portfolios for awards provides opportunities to introspection. Also, accepting positions of responsibility within institution should be taken as it widens perspectives and leads to connecting and contributing to the wider university community. Including how to deal with media in a structured way.
After lunch, a session on ‘the academy and YOU: your chance to contribute’. John Hoskin presented on what has been achieved by the academy thus far and workshopped the session to work out future direction for the academy. Also provided background on the separate roles / synergistic relationships between Ako Aotearoa and the Academy. Academy is an independent voice and how can we leverage on this. For next year, encouragement to bring forward more project;, establish ‘regional champions’ to strengthen links between academy and hubs and convene more regional events; establish a ‘teaching day/week/month?’; and portfolio mining. Committee to work on creating a voice for the academy (guide to media relations, training etc).; portfolios volumes; lobbying (internal/external) – how to do this as academy members within and without our own organisations; encourage collaborations; mentoring of PBRF; commission research – effect of PBRF?; finding our kaupapa. Good discussion followed on direction forward for the academy.
The symposium brought to a close with an adapted pecha kucha session organized by the Canterbury team led by Tim Bell.
Official conference closing with mihi Tracey Poutama-Mackie.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Ako Aotearoa Academy Symposium 2010 - day 2
Day two opened with address from Hon. Steven Joyce, Minister of Tertiary Education with an introduction provided by Academy committee president, Dr. John Hosking. The minister reiterated his support for the work of teachers. In particular for the academy to contribute to fostering networks and strategies to improve learning opportunities for students. This comes from continued interface between institutions / teachers and industry to work on cost effective good quality education. He introduced plans for next year given financial constraints, the usual focus on completions being linked to funding.
Key note for the day from Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington on 'curriculum by design' or 'how to reduce the number of courses offered by your institution'. Presented the different ways 'curriculum' is understood by different sectors within the institution but also perceived in different ways by the students. One approach may be to use a ‘learning spaces’ platform to move curriculum re-visioning and perhaps an ‘ethnographical’ research approach to investigate curriculum design to ‘reframe curriculum’. Need to understand only the ‘formal curriculum’ but also the informal ‘co-curriculum’. So curriculum by design may be through understanding ‘flow’ (what does it feel like to move through the curriculum?); entry /exit (where do I go in, where do I go out?); formal and informal (what to ‘take on board and when do I ‘wind down’?). Strategies include course and unit reduction and/or renewal; timetabling and movement; recognition of formal and co-curriculum (the Monash Passport) and enhancing coursework approvals. Interesting concepts to take into account as CPIT moves towards ‘constructive alignment’ approach to programme design.
After morning tea, Selena Mize presented on 'not just a qualification: getting students to integrate what they learn into their lives'. Provided overview of ‘motivating students’ for a legal ethics course; using clickers; and influencing values of students. Need to ‘motivate students’ as legal ethics course was made compulsory! And change in student’s perception from ‘wanting to do it (intrinsic) to ‘having to do it’ (extrinsic motivation). Went through strategies to use to engage students in intrinsic motivation. Covered introduction to using ‘clickers’ effectively to enhance student’s intrinsic motivation including going through the various types of ‘questions’ possible and advantages/disadvantages of each type. Lastly, when through guidelines on how to ‘influence values’ and whether it is actually ethical to ‘instill’ values. In sum, to try to develop students’ self-reflection by exposing students to multiple viewpoints and difference methodologies; use examples that bring injustice and suffering from immoral behaviour into focus and include a real world focus (not just an ‘ivory tower’ perspective); make value challenges feel relevant and personal to student; encourage class participation; consider use of literature and narratives; guest speakers can also serve as role models; in some situations develop morality through doing; encourage reflection, introspection, deep thought; take a long-term perspective; be open and non-judgemental.
Lighter session introducing the new academy committee followed by a session with Professor Sally Kitt on 'quality and standards in higher education: recent Australian developments'. Presented the Australian context with parallels to NZ situation. Detailed the journey of developing the ‘threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) by using the case study of LAW as an example. Good overview of the various ‘fish hooks’ involved in trying to produce ‘generic’ learning outcomes for a range of disciplines.
After lunch three session on IT in the classroom. Beginning with my session on ' alternatives to powerpoint'. I provided 7 web 2.0 alternatives with 4 useful in f2f and 3 for online environments for everyone to play with and evaluate. Also included brief discussion on how to use powerpoint as a tool to enhance student learning.
Then 'fun with panopto - student feedback and teacher reflection' with Alison Campbell. Panopto allows lectures etc. to be recorded and then put on to a CMS to be available to students. Video of lecture, powerpoint, screen capture of board work and embedded videos etc. available. User friendly system with lecturer only having to turn things on before lecture commences and then turn off and download into repository. Especially good for improving teaching practice for reflective teachers and for identifying students who may be struggling and are uploading and watching the video.
Followed by seesion on using 'AVS video editor 4 in Teaching' with Christine Rubie-Davies. Showed process of uploading video clips from TV programme, how to select and trim the video and use these clips for learning activities.
After afternoon tea, an introduction to the new members of the academy, the 2010 winners of tertiary excellence award winners. TTE award past winners who are buddies of each of this year’s winners introduced the winner they supported and each winner provided a brief presentation and were given a copy of this year’s TTE booklet (fresh off the press).
Lisa Emerson and Ngahiwi Apanui then went through changes/revisions to the tertiary award criteria so that members may support potential applications to the award. Lisa also provided insight into the process from her perspective as being a member of the TTEA selection committee. All selectors do a quick scan of all applications and then have a telephone conference. Then committee meets to do the shortlisting by matching applications to criteria. At end of day 1, 12 shortlisted and on day 2, the list is finalised and then a ballot is done to chooses the Prime Minister’s awardee. Day after the awards, a debrief takes place.
Day ended with drinks and a convivial and entertaining symposium dinner.
Key note for the day from Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington on 'curriculum by design' or 'how to reduce the number of courses offered by your institution'. Presented the different ways 'curriculum' is understood by different sectors within the institution but also perceived in different ways by the students. One approach may be to use a ‘learning spaces’ platform to move curriculum re-visioning and perhaps an ‘ethnographical’ research approach to investigate curriculum design to ‘reframe curriculum’. Need to understand only the ‘formal curriculum’ but also the informal ‘co-curriculum’. So curriculum by design may be through understanding ‘flow’ (what does it feel like to move through the curriculum?); entry /exit (where do I go in, where do I go out?); formal and informal (what to ‘take on board and when do I ‘wind down’?). Strategies include course and unit reduction and/or renewal; timetabling and movement; recognition of formal and co-curriculum (the Monash Passport) and enhancing coursework approvals. Interesting concepts to take into account as CPIT moves towards ‘constructive alignment’ approach to programme design.
After morning tea, Selena Mize presented on 'not just a qualification: getting students to integrate what they learn into their lives'. Provided overview of ‘motivating students’ for a legal ethics course; using clickers; and influencing values of students. Need to ‘motivate students’ as legal ethics course was made compulsory! And change in student’s perception from ‘wanting to do it (intrinsic) to ‘having to do it’ (extrinsic motivation). Went through strategies to use to engage students in intrinsic motivation. Covered introduction to using ‘clickers’ effectively to enhance student’s intrinsic motivation including going through the various types of ‘questions’ possible and advantages/disadvantages of each type. Lastly, when through guidelines on how to ‘influence values’ and whether it is actually ethical to ‘instill’ values. In sum, to try to develop students’ self-reflection by exposing students to multiple viewpoints and difference methodologies; use examples that bring injustice and suffering from immoral behaviour into focus and include a real world focus (not just an ‘ivory tower’ perspective); make value challenges feel relevant and personal to student; encourage class participation; consider use of literature and narratives; guest speakers can also serve as role models; in some situations develop morality through doing; encourage reflection, introspection, deep thought; take a long-term perspective; be open and non-judgemental.
Lighter session introducing the new academy committee followed by a session with Professor Sally Kitt on 'quality and standards in higher education: recent Australian developments'. Presented the Australian context with parallels to NZ situation. Detailed the journey of developing the ‘threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) by using the case study of LAW as an example. Good overview of the various ‘fish hooks’ involved in trying to produce ‘generic’ learning outcomes for a range of disciplines.
After lunch three session on IT in the classroom. Beginning with my session on ' alternatives to powerpoint'. I provided 7 web 2.0 alternatives with 4 useful in f2f and 3 for online environments for everyone to play with and evaluate. Also included brief discussion on how to use powerpoint as a tool to enhance student learning.
Then 'fun with panopto - student feedback and teacher reflection' with Alison Campbell. Panopto allows lectures etc. to be recorded and then put on to a CMS to be available to students. Video of lecture, powerpoint, screen capture of board work and embedded videos etc. available. User friendly system with lecturer only having to turn things on before lecture commences and then turn off and download into repository. Especially good for improving teaching practice for reflective teachers and for identifying students who may be struggling and are uploading and watching the video.
Followed by seesion on using 'AVS video editor 4 in Teaching' with Christine Rubie-Davies. Showed process of uploading video clips from TV programme, how to select and trim the video and use these clips for learning activities.
After afternoon tea, an introduction to the new members of the academy, the 2010 winners of tertiary excellence award winners. TTE award past winners who are buddies of each of this year’s winners introduced the winner they supported and each winner provided a brief presentation and were given a copy of this year’s TTE booklet (fresh off the press).
Lisa Emerson and Ngahiwi Apanui then went through changes/revisions to the tertiary award criteria so that members may support potential applications to the award. Lisa also provided insight into the process from her perspective as being a member of the TTEA selection committee. All selectors do a quick scan of all applications and then have a telephone conference. Then committee meets to do the shortlisting by matching applications to criteria. At end of day 1, 12 shortlisted and on day 2, the list is finalised and then a ballot is done to chooses the Prime Minister’s awardee. Day after the awards, a debrief takes place.
Day ended with drinks and a convivial and entertaining symposium dinner.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Ako Aotearoa Academy Symposium 2010 - day 1
In Wellington for the annual Ako Aotearoa Academy symposim, with about 50 plus academy members attending and with many presentations from academy members. Began with short welcomes from Dr. Peter Coolbear, Helen Dobson and Dr. Sally Kitt as the symposium convened at 2 pm.
First keynote from Prof. Marnie Hughes-Warrington from Monash University on 'writing 'I' makes me ill: assessment and self assessment. Covered assessment policy - shift towards criterion based assessment; emphasis on 'authentic' assessment; and recognition of early, formative assessment. Came about because her peers did not see importance of assessments. Embarked on a project to find out where, how and from who students learnt history and found out most did not know how they would make use of their history studies! Introduced 'self-assessment' as a way to try to share with students, the learning process for history.
After afternoon tea, 3 concurrent sessions with one on 'putting the T into the PBRF' from John Hosking and Tracy Riley and a 'funding clinic' with Kirsty Weir, to keep up to date with various funding streams availed for projects, research etc. I attended , 'Teaching practically' with Sam Honey, Kelly Pender, Adrian Woodhouse and facilitated by LIz Fitchett. Adrian presented on some of the strategies used to engage his learners. For instance how to teach students the parts of a hogget or pork cuts. So project evolves from purchasing a pig to maximising the use of the pig by ‘adding value’ and having the pig become part of a ‘commercial venture’ i.e. selling the pork products with it’s accompanying relishes, breads etc. at a farmers market Students took ownership of the project, leading to much self-directed learning and responsibility for their own learning and assessments. Kelly and Sam presented on how to incorporate Kaupapa Maori into tertiary education (within a Certificate in Fitness (level 4) and preparation for a law enforcement career). Need to fully integrate so that it becomes enmeshed into the culture of the programme. Presented a good range of strategies provided to engage students, incorporating aspects of kaupapa Maori and enable students to explore their own beliefs and set future goals.
Good to meet up with many from the last symposium and to welcome the 2010 academy members (all of whom are attending). Look forward to a full and busy day tomorrow.
First keynote from Prof. Marnie Hughes-Warrington from Monash University on 'writing 'I' makes me ill: assessment and self assessment. Covered assessment policy - shift towards criterion based assessment; emphasis on 'authentic' assessment; and recognition of early, formative assessment. Came about because her peers did not see importance of assessments. Embarked on a project to find out where, how and from who students learnt history and found out most did not know how they would make use of their history studies! Introduced 'self-assessment' as a way to try to share with students, the learning process for history.
After afternoon tea, 3 concurrent sessions with one on 'putting the T into the PBRF' from John Hosking and Tracy Riley and a 'funding clinic' with Kirsty Weir, to keep up to date with various funding streams availed for projects, research etc. I attended , 'Teaching practically' with Sam Honey, Kelly Pender, Adrian Woodhouse and facilitated by LIz Fitchett. Adrian presented on some of the strategies used to engage his learners. For instance how to teach students the parts of a hogget or pork cuts. So project evolves from purchasing a pig to maximising the use of the pig by ‘adding value’ and having the pig become part of a ‘commercial venture’ i.e. selling the pork products with it’s accompanying relishes, breads etc. at a farmers market Students took ownership of the project, leading to much self-directed learning and responsibility for their own learning and assessments. Kelly and Sam presented on how to incorporate Kaupapa Maori into tertiary education (within a Certificate in Fitness (level 4) and preparation for a law enforcement career). Need to fully integrate so that it becomes enmeshed into the culture of the programme. Presented a good range of strategies provided to engage students, incorporating aspects of kaupapa Maori and enable students to explore their own beliefs and set future goals.
Good to meet up with many from the last symposium and to welcome the 2010 academy members (all of whom are attending). Look forward to a full and busy day tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Spotlight on Tertiary teaching in Canterbury and beyond - some presentations now available
Our ever efficient Ako Aotearoa Academy manager, Helen Dobson has now put up various presentations and submissions generated at the Ako Akotearoa Academy / Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub event in Christchurch held on 26th March.
Especially fortuious is that all the presentations which I missed in the conconcurrent sessions are now available :) Helen has also collated the feedback from the event for the organisers, the Canterbury chapter of the Ako Aotearoa Academy, to assess. The feedback was overwhelmingly in support of the event, so it looks like there is consensus for another similar event next year.
Especially fortuious is that all the presentations which I missed in the conconcurrent sessions are now available :) Helen has also collated the feedback from the event for the organisers, the Canterbury chapter of the Ako Aotearoa Academy, to assess. The feedback was overwhelmingly in support of the event, so it looks like there is consensus for another similar event next year.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Ako Aotearoa - Spotlight on tertiary teaching in Canterbury & beyond
The Ako Aotearoa Academy (Canterbury chapter) organised a 'Spotlight on Tertiary Teaching' funded by Ako Aotearoa and Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub. Over 160 tertiary educators from Universities (Canterbury (UC), Lincoln & Otago), Polytechs (CPIT, Nelson, Southland) and various provide providers attended the event.
Ako Aotearoa was also represented by Dr. Peter Coolbear & the academy represented by president, Donna Buckingham. The event was fully sponsored so there were no registration fees, which assisted many part-time educators and teachers working in private training institutions to attend. In all, a grand celebration of the diversity of educational offerings available in NZ plus a showcase of educator's student centred teaching philosopies.The event was opend with a welcome from Ngahiwi Apanui (Kaijautu Maori for Ako Aotearoa) & Dr. Juliet Gerard representing the organising committee.
Dr. Tim Bell and Dr. Angus McIntosh convened the first session which was a dual stream session of presentations. I attended the sessions in Stream A which included Derek Chirnside's entertaining presentation on Vygotsky: A physicist encounters the world of educational research. Dr. Ruth Zanker from CPIT on immersive learning environments for Broadcasting communications students, Dr. Ben Kennedy from UC using clickers & presenting on Carl Weiman's science education iniative, Haani Huata's (CPIT) wonderful presentation on using song and dance to 'transmit' intergenerational knowledge and Carol Acheson (Otago) on academic skill development for mature post-graduate students.
In the other stream, there were presentations from Dr. Niki Davis (UC) on using blended learning, Dr. Catherine Moran (UC) on tertiary teaching from classroom to community, John Grant on tertiary education opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities, Dr. Glen Koorey (UC) on engaging the engineering industry as students and teachers and Dr. Simon Kingham (UC) on service-leanring.
Dale Sheehan and myself then faciitated a sesssion on 'lifting your game' which focused on unpacking individual teachers' philosophies on teaching. Dr. Marjorie Manthei (retired from CPIT) provided the background. Four panel members provided examples of their teaching philosophies. They were Dr. Tim Wilkinson (UC) on teaching doctors, Phil Healey (tutor of the year for the NZ private education providers association) presented on teaching digital literacy skills, Te Rita Paphesh presented a good overview of Maori pedagogy and Stephen Byers (CPIT) on teaching level 2 students on a pre-trade electrical industry supply programme. The audience then worked in groups to distill and discuss their own philosophies.
The last session was a panel discussion brought together by Dr. Eric Pawson & Dr. Roger Nokes. Each panel member responded to a question which would then be discussed by the audience. A summary of responses will be collated & sent to CEOs of the institutions represented by the participants to the event. Anna Boyd (student at UC) responded to the question ' what should a student-centred institution look like?', Alan Walker (principal of Early Childhood School) responded to the question 'what would you do to enhance teaching with a large financial windfall!' Dr. Jan Cameron (UC) presented a thought provoking response to 'How should we incentivise teaching?' & Mary Kensington (CPIT) responded to the question "what do you do to lift your game as a teacher' with examples of how midwifery had to work to incorporate distance/flexible delivery into their programme.
The event closed with a short summary from Dr. Peter Coolbear and a farewell song from Haani Huata.
All in, informal feedback indicate there is a space for this event on the tertiary teachers' calendar for next year (and for as long as funding is available). I was especially encouraged by the many educators from private providers who attended. Many are keen to network and events like this provide a good opportunity for people from the diverse sectors of tertiary education to share ideas, challenges and solutions.
Ako Aotearoa was also represented by Dr. Peter Coolbear & the academy represented by president, Donna Buckingham. The event was fully sponsored so there were no registration fees, which assisted many part-time educators and teachers working in private training institutions to attend. In all, a grand celebration of the diversity of educational offerings available in NZ plus a showcase of educator's student centred teaching philosopies.The event was opend with a welcome from Ngahiwi Apanui (Kaijautu Maori for Ako Aotearoa) & Dr. Juliet Gerard representing the organising committee.
Dr. Tim Bell and Dr. Angus McIntosh convened the first session which was a dual stream session of presentations. I attended the sessions in Stream A which included Derek Chirnside's entertaining presentation on Vygotsky: A physicist encounters the world of educational research. Dr. Ruth Zanker from CPIT on immersive learning environments for Broadcasting communications students, Dr. Ben Kennedy from UC using clickers & presenting on Carl Weiman's science education iniative, Haani Huata's (CPIT) wonderful presentation on using song and dance to 'transmit' intergenerational knowledge and Carol Acheson (Otago) on academic skill development for mature post-graduate students.
In the other stream, there were presentations from Dr. Niki Davis (UC) on using blended learning, Dr. Catherine Moran (UC) on tertiary teaching from classroom to community, John Grant on tertiary education opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities, Dr. Glen Koorey (UC) on engaging the engineering industry as students and teachers and Dr. Simon Kingham (UC) on service-leanring.
Dale Sheehan and myself then faciitated a sesssion on 'lifting your game' which focused on unpacking individual teachers' philosophies on teaching. Dr. Marjorie Manthei (retired from CPIT) provided the background. Four panel members provided examples of their teaching philosophies. They were Dr. Tim Wilkinson (UC) on teaching doctors, Phil Healey (tutor of the year for the NZ private education providers association) presented on teaching digital literacy skills, Te Rita Paphesh presented a good overview of Maori pedagogy and Stephen Byers (CPIT) on teaching level 2 students on a pre-trade electrical industry supply programme. The audience then worked in groups to distill and discuss their own philosophies.
The last session was a panel discussion brought together by Dr. Eric Pawson & Dr. Roger Nokes. Each panel member responded to a question which would then be discussed by the audience. A summary of responses will be collated & sent to CEOs of the institutions represented by the participants to the event. Anna Boyd (student at UC) responded to the question ' what should a student-centred institution look like?', Alan Walker (principal of Early Childhood School) responded to the question 'what would you do to enhance teaching with a large financial windfall!' Dr. Jan Cameron (UC) presented a thought provoking response to 'How should we incentivise teaching?' & Mary Kensington (CPIT) responded to the question "what do you do to lift your game as a teacher' with examples of how midwifery had to work to incorporate distance/flexible delivery into their programme.
The event closed with a short summary from Dr. Peter Coolbear and a farewell song from Haani Huata.
All in, informal feedback indicate there is a space for this event on the tertiary teachers' calendar for next year (and for as long as funding is available). I was especially encouraged by the many educators from private providers who attended. Many are keen to network and events like this provide a good opportunity for people from the diverse sectors of tertiary education to share ideas, challenges and solutions.
Friday, October 30, 2009
ako aotearoa academy symposium - day two afternoon
Afternoon began with a session by Dr. Peter Coolbear on 'staying in limelight - the future of the Ako Aotearoa Academy. He covered Ako Aotearoa's strategy for championing excellence in tertiary teaching & learning. Emphasis is changing along with locus of activity towards becoming more strategic with an advocacy role on future government policy development. Emerging strategic themes are to develop a 'second front on 'threshold of acceptability' for advocacy?, evidence based enhancement of practice, strategic, sustainable support of Maori educator/learners, also with Pacific educators & learners, supporting the learner voice & working in partnerships.
Oriel Kelly then facilitated a discussion on the future priorities for the academy. Groups worked on how the academy may meet individual members' needs, how academy is able to work with Ako & how Ako supports the academy.
Last session was organised and facilitated by the Massey University Teaching Excellence at Massey (TE@M) with their Vice Chancellor, Hon. Steve Maharey, academy members from the Waikato, Bay of Plenty & Dr. Craig Pritchard also from Massey.
Oriel Kelly then facilitated a discussion on the future priorities for the academy. Groups worked on how the academy may meet individual members' needs, how academy is able to work with Ako & how Ako supports the academy.
Last session was organised and facilitated by the Massey University Teaching Excellence at Massey (TE@M) with their Vice Chancellor, Hon. Steve Maharey, academy members from the Waikato, Bay of Plenty & Dr. Craig Pritchard also from Massey.
ako aotearoa academy symposium - day two morning
A busy morning with variou presentations and workshops.
first up, three award winners provide a view of 'how did I get here?' The three presenting are Prof. Gary Bold, Karl Dodds (both Prime Minister award winners) & Dr. Rachel Fewster (winner of two awards - 2003 & 2009). Gary's humour came across well during his presentation on techniques for lecturing to large classes. Rachel covered 'how to make 90% of students love statistics?' providing a good example of how to make a subject interesting by building on what students know & providing relevant 'real life' problems & reasons for why they should solve them. Karl covered the more serious side of winning the award including increased levels of expectations from students & other colleagues.
Second presentation from Dr. John Reynolds on "the impact on curriculum change on health sciences first year students' approaches to learning". He presented on a study which used a learning inventory (the approaches and study skills inventory - ASSIST) to measure if curriculum change on students' approaches to learning. John provided good examples of how the curriculum has been changed in structure (eg. student study groups formed) and objective (deepening understanding & links between concepts to made) and the results of an evaluation using ASSIST to find out if there were changes in students learning (surface, deep, strategic). Found surface similar to pass cohorts, strategic increased but significant increase in deep learning.
Dr. Lisa Emerson then lead a session on the new criteria for the Tertiary teaching excellence award. Lisa is the academy representative on the TTEA panel & found the experience to be inspiring & a great privilege. Background provided to assist academy members in mentoring potential applicants for future TTEAs.
Great presentations from all :)
first up, three award winners provide a view of 'how did I get here?' The three presenting are Prof. Gary Bold, Karl Dodds (both Prime Minister award winners) & Dr. Rachel Fewster (winner of two awards - 2003 & 2009). Gary's humour came across well during his presentation on techniques for lecturing to large classes. Rachel covered 'how to make 90% of students love statistics?' providing a good example of how to make a subject interesting by building on what students know & providing relevant 'real life' problems & reasons for why they should solve them. Karl covered the more serious side of winning the award including increased levels of expectations from students & other colleagues.
Second presentation from Dr. John Reynolds on "the impact on curriculum change on health sciences first year students' approaches to learning". He presented on a study which used a learning inventory (the approaches and study skills inventory - ASSIST) to measure if curriculum change on students' approaches to learning. John provided good examples of how the curriculum has been changed in structure (eg. student study groups formed) and objective (deepening understanding & links between concepts to made) and the results of an evaluation using ASSIST to find out if there were changes in students learning (surface, deep, strategic). Found surface similar to pass cohorts, strategic increased but significant increase in deep learning.
Dr. Lisa Emerson then lead a session on the new criteria for the Tertiary teaching excellence award. Lisa is the academy representative on the TTEA panel & found the experience to be inspiring & a great privilege. Background provided to assist academy members in mentoring potential applicants for future TTEAs.
Great presentations from all :)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
ako aotearoa academy symposium - day one - afternoon
Two main sessions this afternoon. The first one is three discussion groups to produce position papers for the academy. These are on teaching excellence (facilitated by Pip Lynch & Juliet Gerrard), Scholarship of teaching (with Peter Mellow) & quality enhancement process in education (with Karl Dodds & Rachel Fewster). I chose to attend the session on scholarship of teaching as a continuation of my project on "perspectives of trades tutors." Group discussed the definition of 'scholarship' which has various connotations depending on teaching subject and institution.various papers put by Peter on to the Ako website were discussed with expectation of others to put more papers on plus need to perhaps do a literature review of the field. group then organised to work out how it will work together towards producing a position paper by December!!
After afternoon tea, Welby Ings, facilitated a session on 'challenging some debilitating myths', using story telling as a method to elicit our philosophies on teaching & learning. Welby modelled the power of story telling by firstly narrating a story to us. Group work then followed on using narratives in teaching. A good session which provided a good opportunity to explore the deeper issues related to using narratives in enhancing learning, especially metacognition and attitudinal transformation.
After afternoon tea, Welby Ings, facilitated a session on 'challenging some debilitating myths', using story telling as a method to elicit our philosophies on teaching & learning. Welby modelled the power of story telling by firstly narrating a story to us. Group work then followed on using narratives in teaching. A good session which provided a good opportunity to explore the deeper issues related to using narratives in enhancing learning, especially metacognition and attitudinal transformation.
ako aotearoa academy symposium - day one morning
Symposium began by Dr. Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa director with a karakia. Then welcome from Donna Buckingham who is the president of the Academy to the symposium 2009 - turning vision into promising practice.. Hon. Wyatt Mapp, associate Minister of Tertiary Education then provided the official opening. He covered the macro picture, tertiary education strategy, the research /science / technology strategy & how the academy may assist with bringing some of these strategies about. John Hosking summarised the academy's response and thanked the minister for his encouragement and support.
First key note from Dr. Sally Kift on "a transition pedagogy for first year curriculum design and renewal". Sally provided results from a review conducted via a Australian Learning & Teaching Council fellowship. This was pushed by a recognition of the growing diversity of students and the need to engage, support and realise a sense of belonging for first year students in tertiary education. A transitional pedagogy was proposed around the identification of six first year curriculum principles. These are transition, diversity, design, engagement, assessment and evaluation & monitoring.
My workshop followed after morning tea. I covered the usual ground of the move of hardware to mobile, software to the cloud & humanware to virtual social networking = everyware. I provided the opportunity for participants to explore a range of web 2.0 tools which may be useful in various teaching & learning contexts using small group activities supported with Dell Minis on loan from AUT and organised by Peter Mellow. An opportunity for partcipants to get to know each other better & to share ideas & applications of various web 2.0 tools with examples from their teaching contexts. Plus the challenge to use these tools for their own professional development and for students to 'do the work to do the learning.'
First key note from Dr. Sally Kift on "a transition pedagogy for first year curriculum design and renewal". Sally provided results from a review conducted via a Australian Learning & Teaching Council fellowship. This was pushed by a recognition of the growing diversity of students and the need to engage, support and realise a sense of belonging for first year students in tertiary education. A transitional pedagogy was proposed around the identification of six first year curriculum principles. These are transition, diversity, design, engagement, assessment and evaluation & monitoring.
My workshop followed after morning tea. I covered the usual ground of the move of hardware to mobile, software to the cloud & humanware to virtual social networking = everyware. I provided the opportunity for participants to explore a range of web 2.0 tools which may be useful in various teaching & learning contexts using small group activities supported with Dell Minis on loan from AUT and organised by Peter Mellow. An opportunity for partcipants to get to know each other better & to share ideas & applications of various web 2.0 tools with examples from their teaching contexts. Plus the challenge to use these tools for their own professional development and for students to 'do the work to do the learning.'
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
ako aotearoa academy symposium - afternoon second session
Second half of the Ako Aotearoa Academy symposium provided for two concurrent sessions to run.
One from Peter Mellow & Paul Denny, who facilitated a session on Web 2.0. A session from which I would build on for my presentation tomorrow. Attended the session on research funding so had to give this one a miss. However feedback from the others who attended this session indicated blogs, wikis etc. were covered by Peter & Paul covered Peerwise which supports the construction, display & organisation of student generated multiple choice questions.
Kirsty Weir, research manager from Ako Aotearoa, ran a 'funding clinic' to provide information on the various funding streams available for research in education. Always good to recieve some clear indication of what is expected when applying for funding. All in a very helpful session.
One from Peter Mellow & Paul Denny, who facilitated a session on Web 2.0. A session from which I would build on for my presentation tomorrow. Attended the session on research funding so had to give this one a miss. However feedback from the others who attended this session indicated blogs, wikis etc. were covered by Peter & Paul covered Peerwise which supports the construction, display & organisation of student generated multiple choice questions.
Kirsty Weir, research manager from Ako Aotearoa, ran a 'funding clinic' to provide information on the various funding streams available for research in education. Always good to recieve some clear indication of what is expected when applying for funding. All in a very helpful session.
ako aotearoa academy symposium - 28/10 afternoon
Over the next few days, I am attending (& presenting again!) at the Ako Aotearoa academy symposium. This is open to all winners of the New Zealand excellence in tertiary teaching awards. So for the next few days, a busy programme unfolds with various keynotes, workshops, presentations and academy organisational matters.
First up this afternoon - which is a pre-symposium workshop - is Professor Sally Kift from Queensland University of Technology - on 'engaging diverse first year student cohorts: Moving from theory, through policy to action", with some good links to a proposed project I am hoping to begin on studying the first year experiences of first year apprentices.
First up this afternoon - which is a pre-symposium workshop - is Professor Sally Kift from Queensland University of Technology - on 'engaging diverse first year student cohorts: Moving from theory, through policy to action", with some good links to a proposed project I am hoping to begin on studying the first year experiences of first year apprentices.
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