Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Vision Of You-Topia: Personalising Professional Development Of Teaching In A Diverse Academic Workforce, Lisa K. Thomas, Kathryn Harden-Thew, Janine Delahunty, Bonnie Amelia Dean

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The higher education (HE) sector in Australia is in a state of flux due to a range of social, political and economic factors. Increased competition, greater student diversity, tautening of industry exigencies, reduced funding, and rapid technological advances are key drivers of change in this environment. Within this period of transformation, HE institutions remain steadfast in maintaining quality teaching and learning practices. Challenges are therefore presented on the traditional role and function of the teaching academic, creating opportunities to explore how staff can be better prepared to teach into the new era of HE. Professional development for learning and teaching …

The Learning Co-Op: A Showcase Of Cooperative Leadership To Provide A Coherent Model Of Student Academic Support, Rebecca M. Goodway, Fiona B. Macdonald, Alisa J. Percy, Sally G. Rogan, Melissa L. Stephen, Heather Thomas

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This presentation showcases a cooperative model of leadership and governance at one Australian university that emerged out of a shared vision to improve student access to extra-curricular academic support services. The presentation begins by describing the strategic partnership formed by the diverse academic support providers within the DVCA Portfolio (Library, Learning Development, Peer Learning, Digital Literacies and UOW College) to deliver their services in a less fragmented and more visible and accessible space within the University Library, called the Learning Co-op. Drawing on the principles of effective cooperative models (eg. Taylor, 2015), the paper will discuss how some of these …

Embedding Moocs In Academic Programs As A Part Of Curriculum Transformation: A Pilot Case Study, Sarah R. Lambert, Irit Alony

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The University of Wollongong’s first locally developed and hosted Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “The Reluctant Mathematician” was a highly scaffolded MOOC designed to support stressed and low-efficacy maths learners. It was developed to lift maths skills at our university and also in the community – where maths skills continue to be a challenge and in some cases a source of stress. Internally the MOOC provided an alternative online way to support students who struggle with mathematics at university level, and as a complement to the existing face to face services. This paper describes a successful approach to using MOOCs …

Transforming Resource Sharing Services At An Australian Academic Library: The Case Of The University Of Wollongong, Rebecca Daly, Liz Baker, Lisa M. Mcintosh

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

In 2011 the University of Wollongong Library undertook a significant review of its Resource Sharing services. This was prompted by constraints in the systems supporting this service, changes to the Library's key suppliers, Infotrieve Australia and the British Library Document Supply Service, and the need to deliver effective library services within a defined physical and budgetary environment. As a result of the review, the existing Millennium Interlibrary Loan and Ariel software hosting the service were replaced by the Relais ILL system. The most cost-effective and relevant methods for supporting the research needs of the university were achieved through subscriptions with …

A Critical Turn In Higher Education Research: Turning The Critical Lens On The Academic Language And Learning Educator, Alisa Percy

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper suggests that historical ontology, as one form of reflexive critique, is an instructive research design for making sense of the political and historical constitution of the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) educator in Australian higher education. The ALL educator in this paper refers to those practitioners in the field of ALL, whose ethical agency has largely been taken for granted since their slow and uneven emergence in the latter half of the twentieth century. Using the lens of governmentality, genealogical design and archaeological method, the historical ontology proposed in this paper demonstrates how the ethical remit of the …

Teaching Academic Writing At The University Of Wollongong, Emily Rose Purser

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Initiatives for the development of literacy at the University of Wollongong are growing within an Australian national commitment to increase overall tertiary enrollment, provide access to students from less-advantaged groups, and enroll more international students. While this essay describes successful programs within the Academic Services Division at Wollongong built to support student literacy, especially academic writing, it primarily emphasizes the work of a problemsolving task force on English language proficiency aimed at building consensus for a collaborative, cross-disciplinary paradigm of literacy growth that moves away from the traditional idea of separable services. The essay profiles a new initiative in the …

Academic Snobbery: Local Historians Need More Support [4 April], Ian C. Willis

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Local history is one of the most popular forms of history in Australia. Yet there is a yawning gap between the enthusiastic amateur and the academic historian.

While some academic historians engage with local history, sadly there is an entrenched snobbery from the academy. From the other side, the enthusiastic amateur is too wound up with a parochial approach to local history and often doesn’t see the bigger picture.

If both sides can engage with each other, the result would be a better type of history practise and a greater contribution to the story of Australia.

Core Elements Of Exemplary Academic Integrity Policy In Australian Higher Education, Tracey Bretag, Saadia Mahmud, Margaret C. Wallace, Ruth Walker, Colin James, Margaret Green, Julianne East, Ursula Mcgowan, Lee Partridge

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper reports on one important aspect of the preliminary findings from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Academic integrity standards: Aligning policy and practice in Australian universities. Our project aims to identify approaches to the complex issues of academic integrity, and then to build on these approaches to develop exemplars for adaptation across the higher education sector. Based on analysis of publicly available online academic integrity policies at each of the 39 Australian universities, we have identified five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy. These have been grouped under the headings, Access, Approach, Responsibility, Detail and …

Rethinking Scholarship: Implications For The Nursing Academic Workforce, Kylie M. Smith, Patrick A. Crookes

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

On Being A Happy Academic, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Happiness research provides guidance on what academics can do to increase their satisfaction at work. Changes in external circumstances, such as salary rises, seldom have a lasting effect. More likely to improve long-term happiness levels are exercising well-developed skills, building strong relationships, helping others and cultivating mindfulness. These methods for improving well-being have some specific implications for academic life, suggesting strategies for individuals and policy-making.

Case Study In Academic And Industry Collaboration: The Development Of An Adolescent Targeted Sun Protection Intervention In Nsw, Melinda Williams, Sandra Jones, Donald Iverson, Peter Caputi, Sofia Potente

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Academic and industry collaboration is increasingly identified as a critical element in the future health of Australians through linking theory and practice, with the major priority for academic institutions being the identification of new knowledge and the transfer of this knowledge into changes in policy and health services. Collaborations between academia and industry are increasingly encouraged in Australia by research funding schemes such as ARCLinkage and, more recently, NHMRC Partnerships. While a recent US study suggests that such schemes have a moderate effect on academics’ propensity to work with industry (Bozeman and Gaughan, 2007), industry groups have recognised the value …

Considering The Work Of Martin Nakata's "Cultural Interface": A Reflection On Theory And Practice By A Non-Indigenous Academic, Colleen Mcgloin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This is a reflective paper that explores Martin Nakata's work as a basis for understanding the possibilities and restrictions of non-Indigenous academics working in Indigenous studies. The paper engages with Nakata's work at the level of praxis. It contends that Nakata's work provides non-Indigenous teachers of Indigenous studies a framework for understanding their role, their potential, and limitations within the power relations that comprise the "cultural interface". The paper also engages with Nakata's approach to Indigenous research through his "Indigenous standpoint theory". This work emerges from the experiential and conceptual, and from a commitment to teaching and learning in Indigenous …

Academic Patronage, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Patronage, expansively conceived as covering all forms of bias and discrimination, is pervasive in organisations and professions, including academia. Four key types of academic patronage operate through decisions made, processes used, assistance given to individuals and personal interactions. Some forms of patronage, especially discrimination on the basis of sex and ethnicity, have come under sustained criticism and are officially stigmatised. However, policies for equal opportunity and against conflicts of interest have only begun to address more personal forms of patronage. Some forms of patronage, such as supporting one's research students, are common and treated as normal; systems without such patronage …

Developing Academic Literacy In Context, Emily Rose Purser, Jan Skillen, Mary Deane, James Donohue, Kelly Peake

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Where, when and how (indeed whether) academic writing should be taught to university students, who are not necessarily aiming to study ‹language› per se, has long been a concern in higher education. While students need to develop high level communication skills, in genres often quite specific to higher education, in order that their learning can be assessed, teaching them academic writing during the course of their disciplinary studies raises a number of pedagogical, organisational and research issues. This paper reports on a collaboration between a group of academics in different geographic and institutional locations, who share a dream of improving …

Educational Acculturation And Academic Integrity: Outcomes Of An Intervention Subject For International Post-Graduate Students In Public Health, Julie M. Shaw, Paul J. Moore, Senthilkumar Gandhidasan

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper discusses a case study of a subject developed and implemented in a post-graduate public health program at the University of Wollongong that aims to foster the development of student academic integrity and related skills as students are introduced to a new educational culture. The subject adopts a formative, task-based approach where written and oral pedagogic tasks focus on various components of a final written assessment task. The subject was collaboratively developed by faculty and learning development staff and, in addition to the subject co-ordinator, its implementation is supported by library and learning development staff, as well as a …

Providing Language And Academic Skills Support In A Multi-Media And Distributed Learning Environment, Jeannette Stirling, L. Celeste Rossetto

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

[extract] This paper examines the role of the language and academic skills (LAS) lecturer in a multi-media and geographically distributed learning environment at the University of Wollongong. By this we mean providing language and academic skills support where subjects comprising various degree programs are taught simultaneously across a range of networked satellite campuses including, at times, the central campus: hence the idea of a ‘distributed learning environment’. Subject delivery to this network of campuses is variously achieved through the use of multi-media teaching and learning technologies such as videoconferencing, web-based resources, online discussion spaces, pod-cast lectures, and face-to-face tutorials. We …

The Relationship Between Self-Esteem And Academic Achievement In High Ability Students: Evidence From The Wollongong Youth Study., Wilma Vialle, Patrick C. L. Heaven, Joseph Ciarrochi

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement is one that is regarded by many educators as a well-established fact. This belief has been often invoked in order to argue against the provision of ability grouping for gifted students. Refuting that commonly-held belief, this research examined the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in 65 high-ability secondary students, a sample drawn from a longitudinal study of over 900 students. The research demonstrated that there were no differences in measured selfesteem between the gifted and non-gifted students. More contentiously, though, the research found no correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement for the …

The Unilearning Project: Online Academic Learning Support, Edwina Pollock, Neil Trivett, Janice Skillen, Alisa Percy, Bronwyn James

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The Unilearning project has developed a website that provides students with academic writing and study skills instruction. The development of the website has involved partnerships in three key areas. These are: a partnership between teaching and technology, a partnership between teaching and learning, and a partnership between theory and practice.

Academic Standards Versus Disability Rights, Richard Gosden, Gregory R. Hampton

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

A simmering controversy has been running in the United states since 1995 over the perceived conflict between the maintenance of academic standards and the rights of disabled university students. Recent developments are set to raise the same issue in Australian universities. The first of these developments is the shift in the emphasis of academic standards with the implementation of the Generic Skills Assessment (GSA) program. The second is the release of draft disability standards for education to streamline enforcement of the Commonwealth's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The DDA protects disabled people against discrimination in education. Amongst the many types of …