VC Colloquium 2008 : CSHE : The University of Melbourne

Vice-Chancellor's Colloquium on Teaching and Learning

The eighth Vice-Chancellor’s Colloquium on Teaching and Learning was held on Tuesday 2 December 2008, 9.00am-2.30pm, Melbourne Law School. The Colloquium is a major University of Melbourne event designed to celebrate excellence in teaching and learning, and acknowledge our fine teachers.

Download the Colloquium poster here

Moving Towards Graduate Education

This year’s theme focused on graduate education. With the University establishing Graduate Schools and aiming to raise the aspirations for graduate education in Australia to new levels, the Colloquium focused on the qualities and skills needed by graduates in a range of prominent professional fields. What are employers looking for in Masters graduates? Which graduates are the most employable? How can the University enhance the quality of graduate outcomes?

Highlights of the Colloquium program included:

- Recognition of the University of Melbourne Award recipients. This includes winners of the inaugural Patricia Grimshaw Awards and Gerry Barretto Awards. Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) citation and teaching recipients will also feature.

- Insights and teaching from some of this year’s University Teaching Award and ALTC award recipients.

- A choice of parallel sessions including students and knowledge transfer, assessment in Graduate Schools, curriculum design and delivery of University breadth subjects and the art of graduate teaching.

- The keynote session, Graduate Schools and Graduate Skills: The qualities and attributes of graduates who ‘hit the ground running’ in the profession. This year we welcomed three leaders in their professions:

Mr Michael Gawenda , Inaugural Director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Advanced Study of Journalism
Dr Heather Schnagl, Principal, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar, graduate and previously an academic at the University of Melbourne
Mr Paul Bassat, Joint CEO and Co-Founder, SEEK, graduate of the University of Melbourne.

Time	Event
8.30 - 8.55am	Registration (Ground Floor Foyer, University of Melbourne Law School, Pelham St)
9.00-9.20am GM15	Wurundjeri Welcome to Country Opening Address Professor Pip Pattison, President, Academic Board Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor
9.20-9.35am GM15	Presentation of University Of Melbourne Awards Professor Glyn Davis to present awards to recipients of the 2008 University of Melbourne Awards Celebration of the University of Melbourne’s Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Awards for Teaching Excellence and ALTC Citation Awards
9.35-9.45am GM15	Innovation in Teaching and Learning Mr Matthew Brett (Manager, Disability Liaison Unit) Norman Curry Award; ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning Live Remote Captioning; An innovative system for delivering live captions into learning spaces to nullify the academic impact of profound deafness slides
9.45-10.40am GM15	Showcasing Best Practice in Teaching at the University of Melbourne Introduced by Professor Peter McPhee, Provost Featuring University of Melbourne Teaching Award and ALTC Award recipients Dr Catherine Bennett MDHS, The David White Award; ALTC Award for Teaching Excellence (Biological Sciences, Health and Related Studies) slides Assoc. Prof. Andrew Ooi Melbourne School of Engineering, Edward Brown Award; ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning slides Professor Gordon Lynch MDHS, John McKenzie Award (Research Higher Degree Supervision Award) slides Listen to the morning session here
10.40-11.10am Level 1	Morning Tea Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, School of Music VCA Music Improvisation students *Featuring the John Kingma Duo:* John Kingma (Double Bass), Kieran Hensey (Tenor Sax) Performing a selection of Jazz Standards
11.10-12.10pm	Innovation Across the Schools and Faculties - Parallel Sessions (Please note, choose one as sessions run concurrently) Session One, Room 102: Knowledge Transfer and Teaching: The student experience Chair: Assoc. Prof. Roger Hadgraft (Engineering) Mr James Murphy (Social Work) Learning How to Make a Difference: The case of kerekere James Murphy, graduate of the University of Melbourne, will reflect on his experience of establishing kerekere and selling ‘cuppas with a conscience’ on campus. kerekere website Ms Kathy Russell, Ms Martha Gartley, Mr Kaighin McColl (Engineering students) Ilahita Engineering Expedition: Water supply and sanitation in Papua New Guinea Ten Engineering students and one lecturer went to the village of Ilahita, PNG to investigate water supply and sanitation. The visit enabled knowledge transfer between students and the community of Ilahita; information was collected to assist with planning for a future water supply and sanitation improvement project. slides Ms Lan-Hsin Kuo, Ms Ellicia Leong (Veterinary Science students) Last Paradise for Devils: A journey to discover the facts The Conservation of Devils@Cradle story involves three veterinary students’ adventures in working with the Tasmanian devil. slides Ms Di Rachinger (Student Engagement) Internships, Field Trips & Placements: Planning toolkit This online toolkit is intended as a resource for any staff wishing to design or refine an off campus, Work Integrated Learning event, activity or program. http://services-test.acs.unimelb.edu.au/aes/off-campus/ Session Two, Room 104: Assessment and Skills Development in Graduate Schools Chair: Ms Joan Grieg (Architecture, Building & Planning) Dr Simon Batterbury (Office for Environmental Programs) Assessment and Learning in Taught Graduate Programs: Reflections on the international experience Assessment must be viewed holistically in relation to the whole course rather than individual subjects. How do we tailor assessment outcomes to student needs? slides Dr Dianne Chambers (Education) Piloting E-portfolios in the Master of Teaching Courses In 2008 the e-portfolio function of the LMS was trialled in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education; this session will describe the experience and lessons learnt. Dr Wendy Larcombe and Professor Ian Malkin (Law) WorkSkills: A project to assist students to identify and develop desired employability skills while studying at the Melbourne Law School What are the principles behind the design and development of WorkSkills in Law? How can this web-based student tool be adapted for use in other graduate schools and faculties? slides Session Three, Room 106: Curriculum Design and Delivery of University Breadth Subjects Chair: Dr Sophie Arkoudis (CSHE) Professor Janet McCalman (Health and Society; History and Philosophy of Science) Adventures with Breadth: Interdisciplinary innovation ‘Breadth’ subjects are expected to explore areas of inquiry that, because of their complexity, cannot be surveyed by a single discipline. This paper reflects on the curriculum design and delivery of breadth subjects. slides Professor Rachel Webster (Physics), Dr Peter Christoff (Environmental Studies) and Dr Maurice Toscano (Education) Interdisciplinary Challenges: The impact of breadth on staff, students and wider audiences The response to teaching and learning within new interdisciplinary subjects is discussed with particular reference to the Climate Change sequence of courses. slides Dr J. Charles Schencking (Historical Studies; Asia Institute) Fostering Active and Engaged Learning with 200 Students The presentation will focus on the ways sought to foster active, engaged learning in the subject Catastrophes, Cultures, and the Angry Earth. Specifically, three techniques were employed: innovative tutorial exercises, in-lecture group work, and weekly ‘disaster updates’ given by students before their entire lecture cohort. slides Session Four, Room 108: The Distinctiveness of Graduate Teaching Chair: Ms Chi Baik (CSHE) Dr Mark Davis (Culture and Communications) Developing and Teaching Subjects in the Arts Plus Two Effective Arts Plus Two subjects bring together a mix of practical and theoretical content from industry and the social sciences and humanities. Students want to be intellectually engaged while gaining the practical skills and knowledge that will establish them in their future career or advance them in their present career. The session will discuss successful subjects taught in the Publishing and Communications program. slides Professor Ray Zammuto (Management and Marketing) Learning by Doing: Engaging postgraduate students in the classroom Engaging graduate students, particularly those who are working and attending class part-time, can be challenging. Designing the classroom experience so students learn by doing facilitates engagement. A simulation used in a capstone Strategic Management subject is an example of learning by doing; benefits and pitfalls of the approach will be discussed. slides Assoc. Prof. Simon Evans (Law) Designing and Delivering a Professional Degree for a Graduate Cohort: The JD experience In 2008, the graduate level Juris Doctor (JD) became the only degree offered by Melbourne Law School leading to admission to legal practice. This fundamental change enabled and required the Law School to design a distinctively graduate-level programme that met the pedagogical, extra-curricular and operational needs of a graduate cohort. This presentation will highlight aspects of the Law School experience that may be relevant to other distinctively graduate-level programmes. Session Five, Room 109: Teaching and Learning: Employing innovation, technology and space Chair: Assoc. Prof Kim Watty (TLU, Economics & Commerce) Assoc. Prof. Peter Tregloan (Chemistry) The Learning Lab Project: Making a place for active learning In designing opportunities for effective learning, recognising the intersection of space, technology and pedagogy is a useful approach. This presentation will review the Learning Lab tutorial program in first year Chemistry that has replaced the ‘traditional’ problem classes in these subjects for over 1000 students each semester. slides Ms Jennifer Keast (School of Rural Health) Preparing Medical Students for Safe Practice Using High Fidelity Simulation: The ‘how to’ of being a doctor The skill of managing an acutely unwell patient is currently learnt on the job by junior doctors in often extremely stressful settings. Using simulation technology in a synthetic clinical space enables medical students to practice this skill in a safe learning environment, and prepares them for practice in the real world. This presentation will describe the innovative Preparation for Practice program for 6th year medical students at the Rural Clinical School, Shepparton. slides Dr Jenny Waycott (Biomedical Multimedia Unit) Implementing Emerging Technologies in Large First-year Classes: Lessons learned from the Psychology Wiki and Chemistry Flickr projects Findings and the lessons learned are discussed from two projects in which new technology-based activities were implemented in large first-year classes. In the first project psychology students used a wiki to support both informal online discussion and a collaborative writing exercise. The second project involved first-year chemistry students who used digital cameras to capture images from everyday life that illustrated chemical processes they had learned about in lectures; images were shared using the Flickr web site. slides
12.10-12.45	Showcasing Best Practice in Teaching at the University of Melbourne Introduced by Professor Susan Elliott, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Equity) Featuring University of Melbourne Teaching Award and ALTC award recipients Dr Sayuki Machida Asia Institute, Faculty of Arts, Barbara Falk Award slides Professor Stephanie Trigg, Faculty of Arts, Patricia Grimshaw Award; ALTC Award for Teaching Excellence (Humanities and the Arts) Listen to the showcase session here
12.45-1.30pm Level 1	Lunch Student musicians from the Faculty of Music Musicians’ Agency *Featuring the Nolan Quartet:* Brigid Coleridge (Violin), Peter Clark (Violin), Fiona Doig (Viola), Rebecca Proietto (Cello)
1.30-2.30pm GM15	2008 Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching and Learning Keynote Session Graduate Schools and Graduate Skills: The qualities and attributes of graduates who ‘hit the ground running’ in the professions Mr Michael Gawenda, Director, Centre for the Advanced Study of Journalism Dr Heather Schnagl, Principal, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School Mr Paul Bassat, CEO and founder of SEEK.com Chaired by Professor James C. Hathaway, Dean, Melbourne Law School Listen to the keynote session here
2.30-3.00pm Old Engineering	Tour and Discussion of University Teaching Spaces Assoc. Prof. Peter Jamieson will lead a tour and discussion of teaching spaces in the new Engineering Learning Centre (meet at foyer registration desk before proceeding to Engineering).

Time

Event

8.30 - 8.55am

Registration (Ground Floor Foyer, University of Melbourne Law School, Pelham St)

9.00-9.20am

GM15

Wurundjeri Welcome to Country

Opening Address

Professor Pip Pattison, President, Academic Board
Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor

9.20-9.35am

GM15

Presentation of University Of Melbourne Awards
Professor Glyn Davis to present awards to recipients of the 2008 University of Melbourne Awards
Celebration of the University of Melbourne’s Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Awards for Teaching Excellence and ALTC Citation Awards

9.35-9.45am

GM15

Innovation in Teaching and Learning

Mr Matthew Brett (Manager, Disability Liaison Unit) Norman Curry Award; ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
Live Remote Captioning; An innovative system for delivering live captions into learning spaces to nullify the academic impact of profound deafness slides

9.45-10.40am

GM15

Showcasing Best Practice in Teaching at the University of Melbourne

Introduced by Professor Peter McPhee, Provost

Featuring University of Melbourne Teaching Award and ALTC Award recipients

Dr Catherine Bennett
MDHS, The David White Award; ALTC Award for Teaching Excellence (Biological Sciences, Health and Related Studies) slides

Assoc. Prof. Andrew Ooi
Melbourne School of Engineering, Edward Brown Award; ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning slides

Professor Gordon Lynch
MDHS, John McKenzie Award (Research Higher Degree Supervision Award) slides

Listen to the morning session here

10.40-11.10am

Level 1

Morning Tea

Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, School of Music
VCA Music Improvisation students
Featuring the John Kingma Duo: John Kingma (Double Bass), Kieran Hensey (Tenor Sax)
Performing a selection of Jazz Standards

11.10-12.10pm

Innovation Across the Schools and Faculties - Parallel Sessions
(Please note, choose one as sessions run concurrently)

Session One, Room 102: Knowledge Transfer and Teaching: The student experience

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Roger Hadgraft (Engineering)

Mr James Murphy (Social Work)
Learning How to Make a Difference: The case of kerekere
James Murphy, graduate of the University of Melbourne, will reflect on his experience of establishing kerekere and selling ‘cuppas with a conscience’ on campus. kerekere website

Ms Kathy Russell, Ms Martha Gartley, Mr Kaighin McColl (Engineering students)
Ilahita Engineering Expedition: Water supply and sanitation in Papua New Guinea
Ten Engineering students and one lecturer went to the village of Ilahita, PNG to investigate water supply and sanitation. The visit enabled knowledge transfer between students and the community of Ilahita; information was collected to assist with planning for a future water supply and sanitation improvement project. slides

Ms Lan-Hsin Kuo, Ms Ellicia Leong (Veterinary Science students)
Last Paradise for Devils: A journey to discover the facts
The Conservation of Devils@Cradle story involves three veterinary students’ adventures in working with the Tasmanian devil. slides

Ms Di Rachinger (Student Engagement)
Internships, Field Trips & Placements: Planning toolkit
This online toolkit is intended as a resource for any staff wishing to design or refine an off campus, Work Integrated Learning event, activity or program. http://services-test.acs.unimelb.edu.au/aes/off-campus/

Session Two, Room 104: Assessment and Skills Development in Graduate Schools

Chair: Ms Joan Grieg (Architecture, Building & Planning)

Dr Simon Batterbury (Office for Environmental Programs)
Assessment and Learning in Taught Graduate Programs: Reflections on the international experience
Assessment must be viewed holistically in relation to the whole course rather than individual subjects. How do we tailor assessment outcomes to student needs? slides

Dr Dianne Chambers (Education)
Piloting E-portfolios in the Master of Teaching Courses
In 2008 the e-portfolio function of the LMS was trialled in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education; this session will describe the experience and lessons learnt.

Dr Wendy Larcombe and Professor Ian Malkin (Law)
WorkSkills: A project to assist students to identify and develop desired employability skills while studying at the Melbourne Law School
What are the principles behind the design and development of WorkSkills in Law? How can this web-based student tool be adapted for use in other graduate schools and faculties? slides

Session Three, Room 106: Curriculum Design and Delivery of University Breadth Subjects

Chair: Dr Sophie Arkoudis (CSHE)

Professor Janet McCalman (Health and Society; History and Philosophy of Science)
Adventures with Breadth: Interdisciplinary innovation
‘Breadth’ subjects are expected to explore areas of inquiry that, because of their complexity, cannot be surveyed by a single discipline. This paper reflects on the curriculum design and delivery of breadth subjects. slides

Professor Rachel Webster (Physics), Dr Peter Christoff (Environmental Studies) and Dr Maurice Toscano (Education)
Interdisciplinary Challenges: The impact of breadth on staff, students and wider audiences
The response to teaching and learning within new interdisciplinary subjects is discussed with particular reference to the Climate Change sequence of courses. slides

Dr J. Charles Schencking (Historical Studies; Asia Institute)
Fostering Active and Engaged Learning with 200 Students
The presentation will focus on the ways sought to foster active, engaged learning in the subject Catastrophes, Cultures, and the Angry Earth. Specifically, three techniques were employed: innovative tutorial exercises, in-lecture group work, and weekly ‘disaster updates’ given by students before their entire lecture cohort. slides

Session Four, Room 108: The Distinctiveness of Graduate Teaching

Chair: Ms Chi Baik (CSHE)

Dr Mark Davis (Culture and Communications)
Developing and Teaching Subjects in the Arts Plus Two
Effective Arts Plus Two subjects bring together a mix of practical and theoretical content from industry and the social sciences and humanities. Students want to be intellectually engaged while gaining the practical skills and knowledge that will establish them in their future career or advance them in their present career. The session will discuss successful subjects taught in the Publishing and Communications program. slides

Professor Ray Zammuto (Management and Marketing)
Learning by Doing: Engaging postgraduate students in the classroom
Engaging graduate students, particularly those who are working and attending class part-time, can be challenging. Designing the classroom experience so students learn by doing facilitates engagement. A simulation used in a capstone Strategic Management subject is an example of learning by doing; benefits and pitfalls of the approach will be discussed. slides

Assoc. Prof. Simon Evans (Law)
Designing and Delivering a Professional Degree for a Graduate Cohort: The JD experience
In 2008, the graduate level Juris Doctor (JD) became the only degree offered by Melbourne Law School leading to admission to legal practice. This fundamental change enabled and required the Law School to design a distinctively graduate-level programme that met the pedagogical, extra-curricular and operational needs of a graduate cohort. This presentation will highlight aspects of the Law School experience that may be relevant to other distinctively graduate-level programmes.

Session Five, Room 109: Teaching and Learning: Employing innovation, technology and space

Chair: Assoc. Prof Kim Watty (TLU, Economics & Commerce)

Assoc. Prof. Peter Tregloan (Chemistry)
The Learning Lab Project: Making a place for active learning
In designing opportunities for effective learning, recognising the intersection of space, technology and pedagogy is a useful approach. This presentation will review the Learning Lab tutorial program in first year Chemistry that has replaced the ‘traditional’ problem classes in these subjects for over 1000 students each semester. slides

Ms Jennifer Keast (School of Rural Health)
Preparing Medical Students for Safe Practice Using High Fidelity Simulation: The ‘how to’ of being a doctor
The skill of managing an acutely unwell patient is currently learnt on the job by junior doctors in often extremely stressful settings. Using simulation technology in a synthetic clinical space enables medical students to practice this skill in a safe learning environment, and prepares them for practice in the real world. This presentation will describe the innovative Preparation for Practice program for 6th year medical students at the Rural Clinical School, Shepparton. slides

Dr Jenny Waycott (Biomedical Multimedia Unit)
Implementing Emerging Technologies in Large First-year Classes: Lessons learned from the Psychology Wiki and Chemistry Flickr projects
Findings and the lessons learned are discussed from two projects in which new technology-based activities were implemented in large first-year classes. In the first project psychology students used a wiki to support both informal online discussion and a collaborative writing exercise. The second project involved first-year chemistry students who used digital cameras to capture images from everyday life that illustrated chemical processes they had learned about in lectures; images were shared using the Flickr web site. slides

12.10-12.45

Showcasing Best Practice in Teaching at the University of Melbourne

Introduced by Professor Susan Elliott, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Equity)

Featuring University of Melbourne Teaching Award and ALTC award recipients

Dr Sayuki Machida
Asia Institute, Faculty of Arts, Barbara Falk Award slides

Professor Stephanie Trigg,
Faculty of Arts, Patricia Grimshaw Award; ALTC Award for Teaching Excellence (Humanities and the Arts)

Listen to the showcase session here

12.45-1.30pm

Level 1

Lunch

Student musicians from the Faculty of Music Musicians’ Agency
Featuring the Nolan Quartet: Brigid Coleridge (Violin), Peter Clark (Violin), Fiona Doig (Viola), Rebecca Proietto (Cello)

1.30-2.30pm

GM15

2008 Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching and Learning Keynote Session

Graduate Schools and Graduate Skills: The qualities and attributes of graduates who ‘hit the ground running’ in the professions

Mr Michael Gawenda, Director, Centre for the Advanced Study of Journalism
Dr Heather Schnagl, Principal, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School
Mr Paul Bassat, CEO and founder of SEEK.com
Chaired by Professor James C. Hathaway, Dean, Melbourne Law School

Listen to the keynote session here

2.30-3.00pm

Old Engineering

Tour and Discussion of University Teaching Spaces

Assoc. Prof. Peter Jamieson will lead a tour and discussion of teaching spaces in the new Engineering Learning Centre (meet at foyer registration desk before proceeding to Engineering).



Above: A selection of images from the 2008 Colloquium

Melbourne Graduate School of Education Centre for the Study of Higher Education

CSHE menu

Vice-Chancellor's Colloquium on Teaching and Learning