Connections in Learning and Teaching

Community site for the Connections seminar series

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Upcoming: Showcasing Teaching: Using Case studies in teaching, Wednesday 14th October, 12 – 1.30pm

Posted by on October 5th, 2009 · Announcements, Showcasing Teaching

This Connections – Showcasing Teaching seminar will be dedicated to the theme of Using case studies in teaching.

Come and listen to a short presentation by your UNSW colleagues who use case studies in their teaching, and ask questions.

This seminar will be more formal in structure and take the form of a presentation on teaching with opportunity to discuss with, and ask questions of, the presenters

Location: Climate Change Research Office seminar room, Level 4 Mathews.

Light lunch will be provided by L&T@UNSW with the support from the ALTC.

Please register online at http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm

Roundtable discussion at Learning and Teaching Forum 2009

Roundtable discussion at the Learning and Teaching Forum 2009

Student engagement: facilitating a transformative learning experience, 7th October 2009

Posted by on September 21st, 2009 · Announcements, Talking about Teaching

Through the interactive session at the L&T Forum 09 the UNSW community came up with a list of factors that contribute to student engagement (the original Etherpad list is available at the L&T Forum 09 wiki). From this list we have been able to distinguish four characteristics of a learning environment that facilitates student engagement. These are:

•    Situated Contextualised, relevant, has real outcomes, transferrable, students are aware of bigger picture of the discipline and beyond
•    Active Interactive, enthusiastic, passionate, students participate in dialogue and are focused
•    Connected Importance of communication, emotion, relationships, community, sense of belonging
•    Transformative Reflection, growth, discipline identity, leaving the comfort zone, courage to risk, generate new knowledge, lasting impact, developing independence, a sense of ownership, desire to learn, life-long learning

As the follow-up of the L&T Forum 09 we would like to dedicate the first Connections – Talking About Teaching seminar to the theme of Student engagement – facilitating a transformative learning experience. The seminar will take place on Wednesday, 7th October, 12-1:30pm at Climate Change seminar room, Level 4 Mathews.

Come and join an informal conversation with your UNSW colleagues about challenges in motivating the learner, and discuss strategies that enable your students to develop independence, courage to risk and generate new knowledge in your discipline.

This seminar will be informal in structure and take the form of talking about teaching as “work in progress” rather than a presentation of finalized teaching cases. Please bring any interesting journal articles or resources related to this topic that you would like to share.

Light lunch will be provided by L&T@UNSW with the support from the ALTC.

Image by chekabuje, Flickr CC

Image by chekabuje, Flickr CC

Please register online at http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm

If you would like to propose a theme for a future seminar in the Connections seminar series, please send an email to Ann Wilson at annwi@unsw.edu.au.

All the information and documentation of the Connections seminar series will be disseminated through this blog. You are welcome to continue the dialogue by commenting on blog entries.

Launching CONNECTIONS in Learning and Teaching – 2009

Posted by on September 21st, 2009 · Announcements

A suite of four monthly seminars under the heading of CONNECTIONS will be facilitated by Learning and Teaching at UNSW. All seminars will be held on Wednesday from 12-1:30pm in the Climate Change Research Centre seminar room, level 4, Mathews Building (next door to L&T workshop room 416).

1. Talking about Teaching
This monthly seminar is aimed at providing an opportunity for conversations and sharing ideas and strategies around teaching. The seminar will be held monthly on the first Wednesday in the month.   This seminar series will be informal in structure and take the form of talking about teaching as “work in progress” rather than a presentation of finalized teaching cases.  Each session will have a theme, the first being “Student Engagement”.
•    7th October
•    4th November

2. Showcasing Teaching
This seminar series is intended to provide a forum for presenting and discussing good practice in learning and teaching, with invited speakers providing insight into their practice.  These sessions will be held on the second Wednesday in the month.  Invited presenters will come along to share their practice in learning and teaching, followed by questions and a discussion on the issues and strategies raised.
•    14th October
•    11th November

3. Researching Learning and Teaching
This seminar series will focus on research in learning and teaching and discussions around the scholarship of learning and teaching. These sessions will offer opportunities for those investigating aspects of teaching and learning to present and receive peer feedback on their ideas and papers. In addition, it will provide a forum through which we explore current thinking and research drawing from recent conferences and journal articles. The sessions will be held on the third Wednesday of the month.
•    21st October
•    18th November

4. Exploring Threshold Concepts
This seminar series will provide support for colleagues, who are interested in exploring threshold concepts in their discipline and developing conference papers for the International Thresholds Symposium 2010 hosted by UNSW. The sessions will be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
•    28th October
•    25th November

Please register online at http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/event_rego/events.cfm
For further information please contact Erin Withers at e.withers@unsw.edu.au or phone x58636.