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SLTC 23 March 2011
1
2011
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
SENATE LEARNING AND TEACHING COMMITTEE
Meeting of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee will be held at 9:30am,
23 March 2011, in the Forum Theatre C5C (C5C T2)
A G E N D A
Page
1. APOLOGIES / WELCOME
2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING 2-4
3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
4. REPORTS
4.1 Provost
4.2 Chair
4.3 Director, Learning and Teaching Centre 5-8
4.4 Reports from the Faculties:
Arts
Business and Economics
Human Sciences
Science
9-10 11-13
14 15-16
4.5 Policies Update:
Disruption to Studies/ Special Consideration
17-18
4.6 Teaching Index: Report on 2010 expenditure
19-29
5. GENERAL BUSINESS
5.1 Review of the Unit Guide Policy and Procedure 30-36
5.2 Member from the Faculty of Arts 37
6. OTHER BUSINESS
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MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE SENATE LEARNING AND TEACHING COMMITTEE
Minutes of a meeting of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee held on 9 February 2011 at 9.30am in the Senate Room 1, Level 3, Lincoln Building.
Present: Professor J Fitness (Acting Chair) Mr A Burrell Dr J De Meyrick Ms L Evans Dr J Homewood A/Professor I Solomonides A/Professor M Tani Professor G Whiteford Dr L Wood A/Professor S Young
In Attendance: Ms L Clark A/Professor J Donald Ms S Jeffares Ms B Kosman Ms B McLean Ms R Myton Ms K Poorova 1. APOLOGIES / WELCOME
The Committee noted that apologies were received from: Dr I Jamie and Professor J Sachs. The Chair welcomed A/Professor Max Tani who is nominated as a member of the SLTC by the Faculty of Business and Economics. The Committee APPROVED the appointment of A/Professor Max Tani as its member from the Faculty of Business and Economics.
2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Committee APPROVED the minutes of the meeting of 8 December 2010 as a true and correct record, subject to minor amendments.
3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business under this item.
4. REPORTS
4.1 Provost
Under this item Ms Kosman updated the Committee on the timeframe for the ALTC fellowships and grants.
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4.2 Chair There was no business under this item.
4.3 Director, Learning and Teaching Centre A/Professor Solomonides reported about the projects being coordinated by the Learning and Teaching Centre (full report can be viewed online at: http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/AGENDA_LTC_0211.pdf, pp. 5-11) and in particular, the Moodle project and a proposed extension to include a content management strategy. He reported that due to university spread, nature of content and in light of stakeholder needs, there is a proposal to have a digital repository specifically for Moodle. Discussions are taking place within the MACALT group but should it be recommended, A/Professor Solomonides asked the Committee’s endorsement and support for this project. Action: A/Professor Young is authorised to represent the SLTC in the digital repository project. There will be regular reports to the SLTC about this project.
4.4 Reports from the Offices The Committee noted the following reports:
COE (can be viewed online at: http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/COE_report.pdf ) – Mr Burrell informed the Committee about summer school outcomes and raised a few issues, i.e. problems with electronic communication with students located in China, and issues with external and internal arrangements for administrative support of international students enrolled in external units – whether it is the responsibility of COE or MI.
PACE (can be viewed online at: pp. 12-22 of http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/AGENDA_LTC_0211.pdf) – Ms Clark highlighted a few points from the circulated report and brought the Committee’s attention to number of working groups within PACE.
SIBT – Ms Jeffares reported about the results of AUQA audit held in SIBT late last year. She also reported about learner evaluation of units conducted in SIBT. The full report is available online at: http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/sibt_report0211.pdf.
4.5 Policies Update Ms Kosman reported that the Assessment policy is still under review. There is also another review currently in progress for the policy on special consideration.
5. GENERAL BUSINESS
5.1 Examination Policy and Procedure Dr De Meyrick commended the work of the working group on this policy. The Committee suggested including a definition of moderation in the policy’s glossary.
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Action: Dr Wood to provide a definition of moderation to be included in the Examination Policy. The Committee discussed some logistics that might be involved in identifying students at exams, i.e. creating a registry of photo IDs, using MQ student cards. Some changes were suggested to the wording of the policy and procedure reflecting discussions about identification of students. The Committee also discussed:
the procedure for allowing water bottles in examination rooms, and
emergency evacuation The policy will be forwarded to the working group for final editing before it is submitted to Academic Senate for approval at the meeting of 15 February 2011.
5.2 Report on the 2009 Teaching Index
Ms McLean presented four documents under this item:
Teaching Index Policy
Teaching Index Procedure
Teaching Index Guideline
Teaching Index Allocation of Funds: 2009 Data She reported about a process involved in collecting and auditing data for Teaching Index allocations. She also reported about key changes proposed in the new Teaching Index policy and procedure. The Committee APPROVED the attached Teaching Index Procedure (pp.35-36 of http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/AGENDA_LTC_0211.pdf) and Teaching Index Guidelines (pp.37-38 of http://senate.mq.edu.au/sltc/ltagenda/2011/0211/AGENDA_LTC_0211.pdf). The Teaching Index Policy will be submitted to Academic Senate for approval.
6. OTHER BUSINESS The Committee proposed to extend its membership by inviting a representative from the MGSM. Action: Secretary of the SLTC to pass an invitation to the MGSM to nominate its representative to the Committee.
The meeting concluded at 11.14am. Professor J Fitness Acting Chair
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Senate Learning and Teaching Committee March 2011 Report from Learning and Teaching Centre
MOODLE Project 1. Draft change management and communications plans developed. Consultation
of these documents with key stakeholders is being finalised and the final plans will be presented to the Steering Committee for approval.
2. Technical integration and training and support workshops with Netspot, Informatics and project representatives held mid February.
3. Technical stream: Integration with other University systems (Mortice2 project) is progressing in consultation between LTC, Informatics and Netspot.
4. OUA pilot progressing, due for completion - end of April.
Next Steps 1. Finalise the development of business rules in consultation with Informatics,
LTC and key stakeholders including representatives from Faculty and key University systems.
2. Training and resources for pilot program developed, templates approved by Steering Committee and change documents prepared for unit convenors.
3. First project newsletter published, incorporating key project dates, project timelines and support information.
4. Review repository/ content management strategy for Moodle LMS in light of recent developments arising from other key projects and stakeholder needs.
5. Macquarie University Moodle Sandpit available and communicated to all staff. 6. Commence development of Exemplar (showcase) units in Moodle for each
Faculty and Department. 7. Deploy Faculty support teams: Training and Support Officer, Educational
Developer, Online Educational Designer to work in association with Faculty Liaison Officers.
Academic Development Group FILT and articulation portfolio
1. Curriculum renewal and review planned for semester 2 (October-December).
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2. Registrations open for central FILT for semester 2. 3. Assessment working party 4. All recommendations (presented to Senate’s LTC last year) have now been
incorporated into the next draft of the policy. To be reviewed at the April meeting of the working party.
5. Current organisational issue is the lack of clarity around “modes” of assessment. Use of this term to be discontinued. Resources to be developed to illustrate variety in assessment.
Sessional Staff project
1. Being developed as an ALTC grant application. Mentoring project
1. Developed and submitted as ‘a sustainability in learning and teaching’ grant application. Spectrum Approach to Mentoring guide published.
2. Working together with the working party on PAL/ PACE/ Mentoring to achieve synergies towards a PACE shell unit (via Social Inclusion)
3. Workshop materials were piloted (by our Career Development Office) and found to be transferable to staff to student mentoring contexts.
ALTC Lessons Learnt project (Distributed Leadership in HE)
1. The Action Self-Enabling Reflective Tool (ASERT) to be presented to the reference group in early April.
Academic Development Services
1. Teaching into the p/g program in Higher Education. 2. Liaison with faculties continues. 3. Staffing changes require management and short-term adjustment to ways of
working. MARQUIS/UGO
1. A show-and-tell meeting took place on the 9th March to demonstrate functionality developed to date. Delegates were generally satisfied with what they saw, albeit with the recognition that there is more yet to come. A steering committee currently being convened to assist Informatics.
Educational Development Group
1. 4 full time staff joined as Online Educational Designers and moved into newly refurbished studio in W6B 131. Colleagues are welcome to drop in and seek advice or say hello in matters relating to educational technology design development.
2. 2 full time staff joined us in the role of Educational Developers, and work from C3B. All faculties now have dedicated Educational Developers assigned under the supervision of Elaine Huber, who is also managing training and resources for the iLearn project
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3. Human Science’s grant-funded Academic Literacy Project is in mid-stages of programming and development.
4. The FLAME project is underway and has strong participation from colleagues. The aims of this project are: Implement and facilitate a new program, delivered in blended mode, which
will enhance participants’ skills in blended delivery whilst at the same time using the Macquarie Learning Management System to redevelop participant's online units.
Integrate the current resources and capabilities of the LTC in professional development in Online learning and teaching, which include online self-paced resources, face-to-face (F2F) workshops, and one-on-one (1on1) consultations, into a formalized program.
Evaluate the learner and teacher experience of flexible delivery to inform best practice guidelines in the Macquarie Context.
Provide information and feedback to the Faculty Standards and Quality Committee (FSQC) around the Quality Enhancement Framework.
5. Sociology continues to work with us in an action research project around key factors promoting active student engagement using wikis in assessment. Some 200 students involved with tutors and lecturer, Judy Lattas. This is now in its the third semester.
6. A number of staff have enquired about the next round of Emerging Technology Grants, with interests in Kindle, iPad and Virtual Worlds once again being popular pre-application discussions with staff. Applications due 27th April 2011. Applications forms are on the DVC Provost website. Lead advisor is Tom Kerr in the LTC.
MQAS
1. Next week we are hosting the AGM of the Liberated Learning Consortium and conducting an Inclusive Practice Forum with the International Delegates providing input. We also have a guest speaker from Cochlear
2. We are getting a good response to finding community partnerships for placements for the PACE unit FBE201 "Working with and Employing People with Disabilities" (aiming at 25 partners each prepared to take between 1 and 5 students,. looking at major companies and corporations that are employing people with disabilities to be involved, not just agencies that assist people with disabilities)
3. We have received ethics approval for our Indigenous students with disabilities research project - work is underway. We were invited to join an EU Research Application: ENABLE network of ICT supported Learning for Disabled People. There is an increase in Universities using us: Sydney & Murdoch have come back as clients - 4th year running also Griffith, ANU, University of Southern Qld, possibly Swinburne. OUA is getting Sharon Kerr to run a professional development program in May for all of their providers on inclusive curriculum design.
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Academic and Administrative Support Services Group
Attendance by Staff at Workshops run by LTC to date:
General Female
General Male
Academic Female
Academic Male
Other classification Female
Other Classification Male
External Participants
TOTAL
20 5 51 51 15 6 20 168
1. Teaching Evaluation for Development Service: TEDS staff have been reviewing
their processes for administering TEDS, to make the process simpler for academic staff and also for the departmental administrators, who frequently order the surveys. They are providing training for administrators in using the new Evasys system, and have advised them ahead of time of the cut-off dates for submission of orders for surveys. We hope this will avoid the large number of late orders which were placed at the end of last semester, which created difficulties for TEDS staff attempting to provide the orders in time.
2. Finance: LTC achieved a surplus of 10.7% on the operating allocation in 2010, which was returned to central university funds at the end of the year.
3. Personnel: 17 new staff have been appointed to LTC over the last 3 months. This has
involved a large recruitment process, which has been very time consuming for administrative staff. Extensive use was made of the new Taleo system, installed by Human Resources in October 2010. New staff have been inducted and seem to be integrating well with existing staff.
New work stations and offices have been set up to accommodate the new staff, including the refurbishment of W6B 131, which now accommodates 5 online educational designers. New computing and other technical equipment have also been purchased for them.
Learning Systems and Services
1. iLearn Moodle project. Mortice project in progress and presentation to next Steering Committee meeting and MACALT
2. Netspot Hosting Contract in final stages. 3. LS&S staffing structure in progress 4. Planning underway for Data projector Upgrade and iLecture Network Upgrade 5. New head of Operations & technical Services appointed, Darren Johnson 6. iTunes U Pilot in progress covering 3 units 7. Migration of CAP Lectern PC from Informatics to LTC in final stages. 8. Planning underway for upgrade of LTC Training Room
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Faculty of Arts
Report to SLTC, March 2011
OUA Review
A draft timetable for a review of Arts OUA offerings has been developed for
implementation in 2011. This process has resulted in ongoing discussions with Departments
about OUA implementation. An OUA Subcommittee with reps from most Departments
with OUA units is in place and will be working to ensure that OUA offerings properly align
with other MQ offerings from 2012 onwards.
New LMS Implementation
The implementation of iLearn (Moodle) has begun with the Faculty’s OUA Postgraduate
offerings being the first units to be made available in the University’s new Learning
Management System – this will happen in time for SP2 this year. We are working closely
with the LTC to ensure that the pilot units are appropriately transformed. Deadlines for the
pilot are very tight, but once implemented will provide essential experience for the broader
work to follow in migrating all Faculty offerings.
PACE Appointments
Dr Kate Lloyd has been appointed as Faculty PACE Director (academic) and Marie
Kelliher has been appointed as Faculty PACE Manager (professional). They both take up
their roles at the end of March and we look forward to working with them on implementing
the PACE agenda.
First Year BBQ
A BBQ to welcome first year students to the Faculty was held on Wednesday February 16th
at lunchtime outside Y3A. A large number of students attended and met with academic
staff.
PASS/PAL Offerings
This year PASS is running in 6 Arts units and as PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) in 6 Law
units, who this year also offer PAL online as an option in one of those units. Sessions are
attached to units which have a large cohort, making peer interaction difficult; or units which
cover complex material, or which may traditionally have students who struggle.
FOAR Units
The Faculty’s 1 and 2 credit point shell units were changed to online offerings for summer
vacation and 2011 offerings. Each has a focus on ethics in research and professional
contexts. The FOAR units are convened by the Director of Learning and Teaching.
Postgraduate Review – Unit Review and Specialisations
The next stage of P/G unit renewal requires that 45% of the Faculty’s offerings be renewed
by the March 30th
. Online renewal submissions are approaching this target, but many still
require FSQC approvals. As well, the last tranche of MA and PG Cert/Dip specialisations
are currently being finalized.
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Online Submission of Student Forms
The pilot scheme for online submission of waivers and special considerations ran
successfully in S2, 2010. We will continue to use the online processes via a newly
configured ‘Forms and Requests’ area of the Arts website, which will be expanded to
include more student processes as they are developed. Thanks to Science for the
collaboration on this project.
MQSIS Teaching Infrastructure Fund 2011 Outcomes
The University’s MQSIS funded the following:
1. Drama and Performance Studio PA system (MMCCS)
2. Klotz Digital Radio Console (MMCCS)
3. The 3D Museum – ancient artefacts online (AHST)
4. Artfect purchases: Iconography and Arts of the Ancient World (AHST)
These projects represent a 100% success rate.
Congratulations to our Director of Learning and Teaching, Trudy Ambler, who has been
appointed to the ALTC Teaching Awards Assessment Panel for 2011.
Sherman Young
Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Arts
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Faculty of Business and Economics Learning and Teaching Report
March 2011 Thanks to everyone for a relatively smooth and busy start to 2011. We have approximately the same number of students in first year as last year but the bumper intake last year means that second year is bursting at the seams! Both UG and PG coursework degrees have similar numbers to 2010. UG Bachelor 4338 (2011), 4157 (2010). PG Masters course work: 1048 (2011), 1056 (2010) as at 28 February. Here are some activities the L&T unit has been working on. Staff development 1. LEAD booklets The new LEAD booklet on Inclusive Practice is now available online: Faculty’s L&T Teaching Resources website. http://www.businessandeconomics.mq.edu.au/intranet/learning_and_teaching/leading_discussions_projects The next booklet will be on Research-enhanced teaching. We are starting preparation of a booklet on Principles for Responsible Management Education. 2. LEAD Inspiration series workshop - Participant-Centred Learning seminar The Faculty welcomed Professor Chris Barlett and the Harvard Business Publishing team to Macquarie University for the Participant-Centered Learning seminar. This seminar was a successful event which obtained lots of positive feedback from attendees. If you missed this one – you missed a great day! We will have several LEAD Inspiration workshops through the year
May Capstone units
June 6, 7, 8: High level presentation skills
September 20: Program coordinators workshop
November 7-9: Two half day workshops: Teaching international students
3. Teaching Index In 2010 the Teaching Index money was used for several initiatives. In particular the video equipment is available for everyone to use. Contact [email protected]. The funds were used for:
a video equipment . This was used to film short information videos for most of the
Faculty’s postgraduate and undergraduate programs. To see these videos, please go to
the Faculty’s Macquarie University Youtube webpage and/or Hear From Our Academics
webpage found on the FBE Undergraduate/Postgraduate Courses website. The video
equipment was also used to record ACST101 lectures.
leasing tablet PCs for use with Camtasia
conference travel to learning and teaching conferences
The Faculty has received $106K for 2011 and the Faculty learning and teaching committee will plan for spending the money. 4. Teaching Induction program (TIP) All tutors are participating in initial professional development. TIP – Steam A Workshop held on February 4th 2011 and Steam B Workshop held on February 19th 2011. One more steam A and B workshops planned for early April.
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5. Scratchy cards for student participation
The L&T unit has scratchy cards for use in class. We will have a workshop later in the semester on team-based learning, including using scratchies. 6. Moodle champions
Eight unit convenors are Moodle champions and will work on their units to showcase the attributes of Moodle to the rest of the Faculty. Chris Heaton is doing a great job with Moodle preparation. Student experience 7. Merit scholars The merit scholar program is running for 2011. Thirty three first year students attended their first workshop held at Dunmore Lang College on February 25 to 27. The focus of the workshop was on “self” and making friends. The feedback was very positive. 8. PACE program The PACE Faculty Manager has been selected and Clare Iarandine joined the Faculty on 28 February. The Faculty PACE Academic Director will be appointed soon. We currently have three PACE units approved – FBE200 Professional and Community Engagement, FBE201 Working with dissability and FBE300 Leadership and Community Engagement. We will be expanding the number of students in internships and the number of PACE units in the Faculty 9. Peer assisted learning
We have appointed Michele Gairn to coordinate our successful and long running Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program. This program is the longest running in the university. 10. FBE Orientation day (February 17th and 18th) and Info Day (January 5th) Thanks to BESS, marketing and all staff whom participated and helped make these events a success. Jana Bowden organised the FBE orientation in conjunction with Central university and mentors. The talks to the first year students went well. Administration 11. Unit Guide Template FBE unit guide template available on the F drive at F:\Teaching and Learning\L&T resources. This template meets the requirements of the University Unit Guide and Assessment policies and procedures, and has to be used for all FBE units. 12. Accreditation We are working towards AACSB accreditation and have started working on assurance of learning. 13. Representation on University L&T committees for 2011
Committees FBE representative
Senate Learning and Teaching Max Tani
MACALT Hume Winzar
MAQUIS Susan Hoadley
Moodle Chris Heaton
FYE Jana Bowden
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External 1. Special edition on Graduate Skills in the Asian Social Sciences Journal, April edition – total of 11
articles from the ALTC Graduate Skills project. The articles will be published in early April at
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/issue/archive
2. ALTC professional development project on teaching quantitative skills@university effective
teaching effective learning is now in pilot phase.
3. The Capstone project is underway with partners Griffith University. Those teaching capstones
will be approached for an interview and to survey the class.
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Faculty of Human Sciences
Report to SLTC 23rd
March 2011
1. Intake of new students: academic orientation was well attended by new students.
PAL is being conducted in 4 undergraduate units at 100-level. Demand for PAL
from unit convenors is increasing. Staff (including student administration and
academic staff) from each Department are meeting with those from Coursework
Studies as part of the Enrolment Review process.
2. Professional development for academic staff: Five sessional academic staff were
offered scholarships to attend central FiLT.
3. Curriculum renewal: The review of the postgraduate curriculum is progressing. To
date a large number of units, many of which have been dormant or had only small
enrolments, have been reviewed and subsequently deleted from the Schedules of
units. An additional 273 units have been reviewed at FSQC and sent to ASQC for
renewal.
4. Learning management systems: Four units (three undergraduate, one postgraduate)
have been identified to be developed as exemplar units for Moodle. Some difficulties
have been encountered with the overstretched Blackboard system.
5. Key staff now place: the Faculty Participation Manger, Ms Judy Hutchison
commenced duty on 28th
February. An offer of appointment has been made for the
Academic Director, Participation. It is expected that the successful candidate will
commence duty in the near future.
6. A Faculty Planning day was held on 10th
March. One session was devoted to the
topic of social inclusion in learning and teaching. Strategies to increase the diversity
of our student cohort and to increase community engagement via learning and
teaching and research activities were brainstormed and will be taken to the
Departments for consultation and possible implementation.
7. Organisational change relating to learning and teaching: The online system
developed by the Faculty of Science for attending to student requests is being
implemented within FoHS. This has involved some minor changes to current
department practice for handling student applications but is expected to go very
smoothly. There have been delays beyond the control of the Faculty in the
construction of a Faculty Student Centre, which was expected to be operational in
Semester 1. A Faculty Student Administration Project team has been established.
Assoc Prof Judi Homewood, Assoc Dean, Learning and Teaching
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Faculty of Science
Report to Senate Learning and Teaching Committee March 2011 Kelsie Dadd, A/Dean Learning and Teaching
PACE New PACE Faculty Participation Manager appointed – Ruth McHugh started on 28th Feb and is located in the Science Centre. Ruth has been identifying units that are a close fit to the PACE definition. Ruth plans to seek input at department meetings. Anne-Louise Semple has taken up the position of Academic Director. She is starting two half days a week before taking up the position full time in July. MOODLE Lucy Arthur is the Science Academic Liaison Officer. The second pilot of Moodle will use Computing units. We have started to identify exemplar units and champions from each department to showcase what can be done. TAFE Associate Degree This is moving forward and we are currently developing financial models. Penny Wilson will meet with TAFE to clarify some details relating to class size and pay rates so that this can move forward. Staff intranet and online systems Jamie Gabriel has continued to work with Arts on the online student support systems as well as material and forms online on the Faculty intranet. Although there is a vast amount of information and online systems available, not all academics are aware of it or of where the material is. We started a brief fortnightly e-newsletter that provides deadlines for submissions and links to the appropriate page. Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) Science Project Planning is currently underway for a two-hour workshop and visit by Professors Sue Jones and Brian Yates, the discipline scholars leading the LTAS Science project. The workshop is currently scheduled for April 8. The workshop will present “Threshold Learning Outcome” statements. ASELL Science Workshop The ASELL project is to make available tested, educationally sound laboratory experiments, which may be used to improve the quality of learning in laboratory courses. Three staff from Biology have expressed interest in participating in the workshop. Accreditation of Engineering Program We are moving forward with renewing accreditation of the Engineering program. A working party chaired by David Charrett has organized the format and assigned
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sections for staff to write or review. The first draft is due May 12. A wiki has been set up to facilitate this.
Postgraduate Curriculum Renewal Will attempt to have the required 45% of units reviewed by 30 March but this may be difficult. Some units will continue to run without review for a limited period of time as they are required for existing programs that will not continue in 2012 but had intakes this year.
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Policy Update – Disruption to Studies/ Special Consideration Background: Two broad issues were identified to SLTC in July 2010. a. There is a lack of consistency and transparency of outcomes applied to the range of circumstances faced by students. b. The extent of the inconstancy of outcomes dilutes the difference and meaningfulness of unavoidable disruption and ‘other disruption’ categories. Recommendations at the time: 1. Students be required to indicate what they are applying for, e.g.; (i) extension of time to complete an assessment task (ii) waiving of a unit requirement (e.g. attendance at 80% of tutorials) (iii) an additional assessment task (e.g. a supplementary examination) 2. There ought to be detailed agreement about what outcomes are available following a 'notification of disruption to studies'. 3. A guideline be developed that maps circumstance to possible outcomes. 4. That students and unit convenors be reminded that the assessment policy stipulates the alignment between what grades given and achievement of learning outcomes, and the implication of this is that under no circumstances can marks be added because of the occurrence of disruptions, avoidable or otherwise. The Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts will pilot an online lodgement process for the SHYR 2010. The tool developed will provide data to assist in the analysis and development of circumstance with outcome provided. Progress: 1. The Request form and Professional Authority form was modified to more precisely connect disruption with assessment task. 2. & 3. Some work has been drafted that maps circumstance to possible outcome, and some guidelines drafted for Providing Evidence of Unavoidable Disruption. (See Below) 4. Recommend explicit statement in the policy that special consideration does not result in additional marks Online Delivery (Report from Faculty of Science) The Faculty of Science processed in excess of 2000 online special consideration requests during S2, 2010 and feedback from students indicated that it provided a far higher level of service than in previous semesters around this process. It was also largely received very favourably from Faculty teaching staff. Using an online automated workflow also resulted in a large decrease in aspects of administrative workload (particularly around duplication and document location). The system pilot in S2, 2010 involved 2 faculties (Arts and Science) has been used to process special consideration, waivers, grade reviews and grade appeals. It also has the functionality to allow students to lodge online 'More than 14cp' and 'Variation to exemption applications'. To date, the system has received approx. 3500 student requests and has proved extremely stable and reliable. It is envisaged the pilot will be extended to 3 faculties for the coming semester (including Human Sciences). A dedicated MQ Wiki has been set up to manage the project, record feedback from staff about it, provide requirements gathering and specifications to FBE who have indicated they wish to develop online facilities for student lodgement, and feed into the requirements gathering process for an equivalent system to be delivered at the University Level.
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Recommendations: Next Steps: Reconvene the working group to: -Analyse the data from the online pilot pertaining to circumstances and outcomes given -Formalise a guideline that maps circumstances to possible outcomes -Amend the policy and Procedure to recommend to SLTC Interim Steps: -Progress the online pilot to include Human Science -Manage delivery of FBE request via the faculty office Note: There is a wiki at: https://wiki.mq.edu.au/display/scpolicyreview/Special+Consideration+Policy+Review
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Teaching Index: Report on 2010 expenditure Faculty of Arts Dept of International Studies
$16,189 The HoD, in cooperation with the departmental Learning and Teaching Committee, set up a scheme that aimed at distributing the teaching index funds to staff members wanting to develop teaching initiatives in line with the strategic goals for learning and teaching in the Department of International Studies. Staff could apply for two categories of funding:
a) up to $500 for preparing a teaching award application
b) up to $3000 for a teaching development project
The largest part of funding was distributed to those two categories ($17,421), with some funding held back for an external expert to be invited to a Departmental Learning & Teaching Workshop. Unfortunately, the expert - who was to speak on social media in language teaching - cancelled and the money allocated was therefore not spent. All recipients of funding for teaching development projects presented their results and/or work-in-progress at the Departmental Learning & Teaching Workshop held on 17 and 18 November 2010. In addition to these presentations, the workshop featured presentations and trouble shooting sessions by the departmental Online Development Coordinator, Cathy Mewes, and LTC staff, James Hamilton and Mark Parry. The workshop was well received and led to very lively discussions about learning and teaching in the department, so that a repeat is planned for 2011.
Dept of Modern History, Politics & International Relations
$5,201 Development of the new 200 level unit MHIS202 Australian Environmental History. Designed by Dr Alison Holland, the unit represents a new departure for the department and funds were used to hire a research assistant to assist in the creation of unit materials and develop a library of current research to be used in teaching. The unit will be first taught in semester 2, 2011.
Assistance with redesign of MHIS365: From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture since the 1950s. This unit, first offered by the department in 2003, will, from 2011, be taught solely by Dr Michelle Arrow (it was previously co-convened by Prof. Mary Spongberg). Some funds were used to hire a research assistant to assist Dr Arrow (as the new
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sole convenor) in updating holdings of relevant research and to redesign the unit for teaching in semester 1, 2011.
Dept of Media, Music & Cultural Studies
$11,542 A number of LT projects were funded in the department of MMCCS. Criteria for the allocation of funding included: a) LT projects that include the collaboration between disciplines in order to foster consistency across Learning and Teaching within the Department, b) have the potential to attract future index funding, that would lead to qualifications, awards and publications. The following projects funded answered these criteria: 1) Interdisciplinary Honours Project.
This research project gathered and examined extant practices in disciplinary based projects and interdisciplinary opportunities at Honours level. The data led to redesigning an innovative Honours program, which has been implemented in 2011. Outputs/outcomes: publication of the results and development into a larger LT grant.
2) Performance for International students The aim of this project was to develop new creative industries methodologies in performance unit, which could then be used to develop future Participation units for the University
3) Research Project on Timely intervention: implementing a timely intervention diagnostic This project was a response to university policy initiatives on academic literacy. The aim of the project was to inform further curriculum development, and the implementation of diagnostic assessments across the department. These findings were presented at HERSA conf, and the paper is being developed for publication in Assessment and Evaluation of Higher Education journal.
4) Vocal Health This project was used to seed an application for a larger grant in LT: arc linkage project.
5) Life Stories as a Learning Tool A project to shape the writing curriculum in MMCCS so as to bring them in line with resent learning and teaching research in this area.
6) Performance Pedagogies This project examined current industry trends in music, vocals, dance and acting, to identify potential disciplinary links in teaching contemporary performance in existing units, and also in the context of ‘performance’ as a potential major in MMCCS.
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Dept of Philosophy $25,973 Support for students Teaching Index funds supported the Philosophy mentor program, book vouchers for participants in first year experience focus groups, and student prizes.
Promoting diversity and equity in Philosophy - to allow Cynthia Townley to attend the Under-represented Groups in Philosophy Conference (Cardiff, UK), which also contributed to her Learning and Teaching project on Women in Philosophy; -to support the introduction of non-western philosophical content into classes; (starting with PHL 246 Philosophy of Religion) -to support the development of diversity based teaching in PHL 264 (Business and Professional Ethics, People Unit); -to improve equity for online students, through the enhancement of web-learning in our OUA program
Support for staff members working on L&T Grants Funds were used for teaching relief to assist staff in applying for University and ALTC learning and teaching grants
Faculty of Business and Economics Dept of Accounting and Finance
$7,475 Contributed to the purchasing of a video camera kit – please see Faculty of Business & Economics report for further details.
The funding of a senior lecturer with the Department to attend a conference related to her PhD. This contributed to her PhD, academic development and efforts to improve her teaching capabilities. By contributing to Ms Sin’s professional development, the Department will be able to enhance its student learning experience as classes will be taught by another highly qualified and research active lecturer.
• Funding of teaching relief so that staff are able to undertake qualifications in university teaching
Dept of Actuarial Studies
$33,702 • Contributed to the purchasing of a video camera kit – please see Faculty of Business & Economics report for further details.
• Tablet computers with PDF Annotator were leased. These will be offered to the lecturers in large units for the purposes of capturing handwriting in lectures and combining it with overhead slides and video recording of lectures. A longstanding problem in many units is that iLectures are difficult to follow because the listener cannot see what the lecturer is writing on the overhead projector or whiteboard, and has difficulty knowing which overhead slide is being discussed. The tablets is an experimental attempt to resolve this issue by allowing for a single video file to capture all three aspects of the lecture. Furthermore, as the tablets were leased, rather than purchased, the monies were underspent.
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• The funding of various staff to attend conferences which would contribute to their academic development and efforts to improve their research and/or teaching capabilities. By contributing to such activities, the Department will be able to enhance its student learning experience as classes will be taught by another highly qualified and research active lecturers.
• Purchasing of Learning and Teaching related books. • Funding of casual staff support for teaching and learning based
research projects and technology projects which implement the use of software more coherently into the Department’s programs.
• Employment of casual support staff to support and upload multi‐media material into the Web to enhance student learning and experience.
Dept of Economics
$14,043 • The major expenditure item was the development of the Math Quiz web site (http://econometrics.mq.edu.au/quizzes/). This site will be used by all Departments in the FBE. As part of the change to the new curriculum, the mathematics prerequisites of many of the units in the FBE were changed to assumed knowledge. The Math Quiz site implements a set of 10 quizzes that cover the mathematical knowledge that is typically assumed. The quizzes are multiple choice, and upon submission they are marked and returned with comments. This allows prospective and current students to assess the extent to which they possess the assumed knowledge for the degree program they are undertaking. It also provides some guidance on units that may be taken as part of their program of study to address any weaknesses that are identified.
• Two tablet computers with PDF Annotator were purchased. These will be offered to the lecturers in large units for the purposes of capturing handwriting in lectures and combining it with overhead slides and video recording of lectures. A longstanding problem in many units is that iLectures are difficult to follow because the listener cannot see what the lecturer is writing on the overhead projector or whiteboard, and has difficulty knowing which overhead slide is being discussed. The purchase of the tablets is an experimental attempt to resolve this issue by allowing for a single video file to capture all three aspects of the lecture.
Faculty of Business & Economics
$5,112 The Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), Department of Accounting and Finance and the Department of Actuarial, pulled some of its 2008 Teaching Index funds (or in the case of the FBE, its whole grant) to purchase a video camera kit. This kit has since been used to enhance student learning and student experience through the recording and broadcasting of various high quality research and practice lead teaching videos – such as research and program information videos and class presentations videos – via the Faculty website, Macquarie University’s Channel on YouTube and/or other relevant website for all to view. Some of the videos, which have been created with the use of this video camera kit, are already online and can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/macquarieuniversity#g/c/018EAF30DD623014.
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It is the FBE plan to continually record interesting and educational content for broadcasting via the Web. By doing so, the FBE is able to effectively and easily educate/inform its students of the Faculty’s events and research and program initiatives. Thus, the video camera kit will make a significant contribution to enhancing student learning and experience in the Faculty.
Faculty of Human Sciences Dept of Education
$46,620 (incl
MELCOE)
• $28,873.18 was used to purchase 31 Apple iPads with Wi-Fi + 3G capable (but not with chips) 16GB, protection plans, cases, dock connectors and power adapters. This has furthered teaching scholarship because academics have been able to reduce paper usage, access the internet during classes and meetings to bring up to date information to the table, immediately.
• $3673.00 was used to purchase 3 DC162 Lumans portable visualisers for Departmental Labs enabling staff to project onto a large sheet documents and pictures straight from books, objects or small equipment items so that whole classes can see what the lecturer is talking about.
• $3848.95 was used to buy 12 Flip HD II Camcorders and 6 voice recorders to use to record interviews and micro-teaching lessons for self- evaluation at a later stage. This furthered the scholarship of teaching because it enables lecturers to easily record sessions that need to be reviewed at a later stage and to view them on their computers. Unfortunately, due to an accounting oversight this expenditure was not allocated to the correct account in 2010, so it doesn’t show as expenditure against the Teaching Index Funds. If this allocation had occurred Education would have spent $36,395.13 furthering the scholarship of teaching in our Department.
Dept of Psychology
$43,456 • The Department of Psychology utilised the funds in the form of an Undergraduate Research Intern Scheme. The main aim was to give third year undergraduate students an opportunity to be trained in generic research skills in a hands-on way by working as part of a research team. The scheme recognises that students have to support themselves while studying, and provided an opportunity for paid work that would enrich and complement their educational experience. It was envisaged that this experience may increase the likelihood of students pursuing postgraduate research study, as well as providing opportunities for development of higher-order graduate capabilities which would lead to increased career opportunities. Academic staff submitted expressions of interest to participate, detailing the research project, the intern’s duties, outlining the expected learning outcomes and how they proposed to supervise and train the student. All 3rd year students were emailed encouraging application to the scheme. Projects were advertised on the Department website. The scheme is administered by the Department Research Committee, with the Chair delegated with the discretion to recommend applications to the HOD for approval. Of 2010 the internships, three had specific diversity entry criteria.
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• In addition to the above, the department utilised the funds to conduct a survey report to establish benchmark data on the first offering of the capstone unit PSY399: Psychological Science: Putting theory into Practice. The aim was to determine whether the unit met its objectives and delivered student expectations as well as highlight how the teaching of this unit could be improved into the future. An added advantage was that this unit had an inaugural participation component, and yielded valuable data on the experience and management of participation when they become compulsory.
Faculty of Human Sciences
$2,571 The 2008 Teaching Index budget was spent on an undergraduate intern. The intern developed an annotated bibliography on Peer Assisted Learning. This achieved a number of outcomes relevant to the Scholarship of Teaching. First, the annotated bibliography will inform the Peer Assisted Learning program offered by the Faculty of Human Sciences. Second, it is envisaged that readings from the bibliography will be used in EDUC221: Theory and Practice of Peer Assisted Learning. Third, the bibliography informs a current research project of Dr Mitch Parsell on the value of community to learning in Higher Education. In addition, the employment of an undergraduate intern aligns with a number of goals of the University’s Learning and Teaching Plan, most obviously Goals 3 and 7 (Goal 3: Fostering Student Engagement with the University and the Community, and Graduate Capability; Goal 7: Supporting Student Learning). Finally, it is worth noting the intern is herself a PAL Leader and her research will not only enhance her own PAL leadership abilities, but will enable her to act as a mentor for more junior PAL leaders.
Faculty of Science Dept of Biological Sciences
$41,108 • Biological Sciences Museum. Updating displays to better complement units and also development of refurbishment plan for the new Biological Sciences Discovery Centre with a focus on UG research-inspired teaching
• Visit to Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) Canada to learn about transforming UG Biology education
• Development of the Evolution Walk using MQ Arboretum for BIOL114 • Staff to assist unit convenors with updating UG Blackboard units • Internal training courses for Microscope and Motic software for
cameras for staff to use the new teaching laboratories • Backup teaching laptop • 2010 Faculty of Science L&T Awards • L&T Symposia for Marine Sciences
Dept of Chemistry & Biomolecular Sciences
$53,107 • Attendance of academic staff on learning and teaching related conferences.
• Running of a one day Learning and Teaching Symposium. This involved a half day workshop on Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) and a half day workshop on laboratory teaching. POGIL is a pedagogical method devised to teach process skills (such as collaboration and written expression) as well as content using an inquiry based approach. The workshop was well attended by staff from not only the Department but throughout the Faculty of Science
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and was considered very useful for developing new approaches and practices for UG teaching. The workshop was run by invited academics who do this work professionally.
• Attendance of student PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) leaders and members of staff to the 6th National PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) Forum. This three day event was attended by staff and students engaging in PAL/PASS from the Australasian region. PASS/PAL is a method of teaching introduced into CBMS three years ago and is aimed at providing students with the opportunity to seek help and advice with regards to understanding concepts within certain CBMS units in a friendly, relaxed manner from senior undergraduate students. This forum provided an extremely valuable learning experience for our PAL leaders and staff coordinating PAL. The forum involved presentations and workshops from award winning staff and students and allowed development of important networks and the opportunity for access to PAL/PASS resources from institutions around Australasia.
• Professional training for key senior technical staff. • Purchase of a site licence for Chemdraw software. The software
facilitates illustration of complex chemical formulae. • Purchase of iPADS and laptop computers to aid in strategic teaching
development with a view of introducing new technology available for teaching and learning purposes. iPADS appear to be the ‘new wonder tool’ in this area, as discussed broadly in the media, providing an instant access to the internet and the wealth of information available globally. Some topics such a teaching protein structure and function in 3-D will benefit from this resource in particular. Laptops were purchased on the proviso that they can be used for the work aiming for modernisation of the teaching and learning methods currently used and can be carried to various fora around the topic for note taking. They were also considered very useful in communicating chemical subjects especially physical chemistry. Steve Cassidy (then Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning) was consulted before progressing to purchase of the above items.
Dept of Chiropractic
$17,452 •
Dept of Computing
$19,444 Learning & Teaching Tools:
Moodle development – new functionalities to mark automatically the submitted assessment (A/Profs D. Verity & A. McIver)
Mahara pilot project for unit COMP125 (Dr Christophe Doche): Students use and assessment of e‐ Portfolio
Plagiarism detection tool for Computing Units (A/Prof D. Richards) Training and Competitions for High School and Undergraduate students:
Macquarie University Computing Society (MUCS)
ACM – South Pacific Regional Contest in Sept 2010 (3 teams of 4 students, finishing in the top 50)
LAN Gaming party (undergraduate & high schools) in E7B Atrium, October (200 participants)
ALTA (Australian Language Technology Association) ‐ National
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Competition for High School and University students ‐ Shared task programming prizes
• L&T Induction, Training, Awards and Workshops for Staff
Induction of 15 new casual academics – Full day training (18/1 & 11/8/2010)
L&T Best‐practices Academic workshop
Teaching awards for Casual Staff
Student‐Staff focus groups
Attendance National Forum on Graduate Capability Development
Attendance in Computer Science Education Conference
Dept of Earth & Planetary Sciences
$5,224 Departmental Teaching Awards and EOY Recognition Awards
Purchase of a laptop to facilitate L&T initiatives and L&T research into experimental learning
Presentation and attendance at AESC Conference ‘The Benefits to student learning of participation in marine research cruises’
Participation at Logistics Conference
Notebooks and equipment for UG student field trip
Dept of Environment and Geography
$39,901 Learning and Teaching Projects up to $6,000:
The Future of Climate Science at Macquarie: a study of the Australian market and our graduate destinations. This project explored the tertiary Climate Science market in Australia to identify Macquarie’s place in it. The project also collated and analysed information on the careers and employers of graduates of the Macquarie Climate Science program.
Mapping and review of postgraduate coursework and programs offered by the Department of Environment and Geography (including GSE). This project (1) reviewed current Departmental postgraduate coursework offerings and made recommendations on how these could better align with university strategic priorities; (2) Mapped the environmental subjects and courses offered by the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE (NSI) against the Dept's environmental offerings to explore the potential for strategic alignment between the two institutions in this area; and (3) Reviewed the Master of Environmental Science program in terms of student pathways to and from the program, core and elective unit alignment, and made recommendations on how the program might evolve to better meet future student and professional needs.
Health Studies Graduate Capability Project Phase 2. This project mapped unit content across all the key units of the interdisciplinary Health Studies program to identify potential gaps and overlaps, and obtained student feedback on the authenticity of particular assessment tasks in three HLTH units that are designed to be ‘real-life’ aligned.
L&T responses to the new Bachelor of Planning. This project explored challenges and responses of staff teaching elective units offered as part of the new professional degree in planning. The project explored how staff have responded to the new student cohort in terms of course content and assessment tasks, and explored student reflections on the value of these elective units to future employment.
Introduction of the DSCC capstone and Asia-Pacific e-Sim
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redevelopment. This project reviewed, reconceptualised and redeveloped the innovative Asia-Pacific e-Sim assessment task in ENVG330 Asia-Pacific Development. The purpose of the review was to ensure this key component of the new DSCC capstone unit enables it to meet the aims and intended outcomes of a capstone: in particular, to help students to synthesise their learning across the DSCC program and thus help them to successfully negotiate the transition to their next career stage.
300-level unit alignment project in Human Geography. This project reviewed the learning aims and outcomes, lecture and tutorial programs and assessment tasks for the five 300-level Human Geography 300-level units that are changing credit point value between 2010 and 2011. Unit convenors worked together as part of the review process to ensure coherence was maintained across the program and to ensure that the resulting changes are made in accordance with current university L&T policies.
Aligning the Master of Environmental Planning with the Planning Institute of Australia’s new accreditation policy. This project described and evaluated different models for the evolution of the Master of Environmental Planning program, including consideration of the feasibility of moving toward a 2 year program to replace the current 18 month one. The project also explored the feasibility of including a significant component of practical experience through incorporating a Work Integrated Learning component in the course.
Potential for collaborative postgraduate coursework programs between the Department of Environment and Geography and FBE. This project explored the feasibility of developing collaborative postgraduate coursework programs between the Department and FBE, based on an analysis of existing/planned offerings and likely market demand. Options explored included developing specialisations in existing Masters programs and double degrees in environment/ sustainability and business.
Dept of Mathematics
$5,112
Dept of Statistics
$12,937 $9122 was used to send staff members who are contributing to Teaching Index points to attend statistical education conferences in Australia and overseas. Those who benefited were Associate Professor Peter Petocz (Slovenia, Greece), Dr Ayse Bilgin (Slovenia, Adelaide) and Dr Brian Jersky (Perth), who presented papers on their teaching-related research. Peter Petocz was the convenor for the Topic “Statistics education, training and the workplace” at the ICOTS8 conference in Slovenia.
The remaining $3815 was spent on three iPads and one Mac Mini computer, which were purchased to evaluate their uses in teaching. Early experience in the classroom has created quite a bit of interest in their use in learning and teaching, especially in the unit STAT273, where the iPad “phones home” to the Mac Mini and is totally integrated with the teaching of the unit.
Dept of $12,772 All funds were spent on strategic items of equipment to directly enhance
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Physics and Engineering
teaching quality across Engineering, Physics and Astronomy:
The Department of Mathematics and the Department of Physics and Astronomy (previously Physics and Engineering) cooperated to upgrade the projection facilities in E7A333 and E7B161, both rooms which are used by both Departments for small group teaching at undergraduate, Honours and postgraduate level. High-quality fixed projection units that permits a variety of input from computer and other devices and has significantly improved the quality of presentations possible. Previously, the use of projection equipment in this room was hampered by various system incompatibilities, often significantly delaying the start of proceedings. Since its instalment in late 2010, it has been successfully used by both staff and students, including for example, the seminar presentations by our postgraduate students.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy also purchased two items of equipment for use in lecture demonstrations: one demonstrates wave motion (including propagation, reflection and impedance effects), the other demonstrates that even electrons behave as waves. Lecturers will now have the facilities to allow them to better demonstrate the fundamental importance and universality of wave concepts underpinning most of modern physics, including allowing students to actually observe a purely quantum mechanical phenomenon in the lecture theatre.
The Engineering portion of this funding was used to purchase a set of LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kits and software. These are to be used as part of the introductory course for our new Mechatronics major that is taking in its first cohort in 2011. These kits will also be used to replace those we were borrowing from MacICT for our most popular primary and secondary school outreach as part of the Macquarie Experience program. The kits provide a platform for programming an electromechanical system, which is a new area of education for Macquarie University.
Learning and Teaching Centre Learning and Teaching Centre
$5,042 Attendance at conferences by the Academic Developers furthered the Scholarship of Teaching by giving the staff the opportunity to present papers and workshops on their current research findings and projects, and receive critical feedback on them from their peers, while at the same time allowing them to refresh and extend their research understandings and knowledge of global developments in higher education.
The Academic Developers are all contributing to the Professional Development program for LTC this year, and also to the program for the Learning and Teaching Week 2011, and will disseminate their knowledge in this way to other university staff. This will raise the awareness of current developments in the Scholarship of Teaching across the University and inform other academic staff:
Air Fares to attend IADIS International Conference: “Cognitive and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2010)”, Timisaora, Romania – A/Prof M. Gosper
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Prof. Gosper presented 2 refereed papers : Gosper, M . (2010). Designing Online quizzes: a whole of curriculum approach. Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age Conference. IADIS conference 15-17 October, Timisoara, Romania. McNeill, M.,& Gosper, M. (2010). Aligning technologies and the curriculum: a snapshot of academic practice. Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age Conference. IADIS conference
The Hong Kong conference was titled “Enhancing Learning Experiences in Higher Education: International Conference,” 2-3 December 2010. Dr Bosanquet presented a paper which has since been published: Bosanquet, A. (2010). Higher education guarantees global citizenship, or does it? In Proceedings on the Enhancing Learning Experiences in Higher Education International Conference. Hong Kong, 2-3 December, 2010.
Herdsa Conference, “Reshaping Higher Education“, 6 – 9 July 2010, Melbourne Australia. Dr Bosanquet presented a paper, which has since been published. Bosanquet, A., Winchester-Seeto, T. & Rowe, A. (2010). Changing perceptions underpinning graduate attributes: A pilot study. In M. Devlin, J. Nagy and A. Lichtenberg (Eds.) Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education, 33 (pp. 105–117). Melbourne, 6–9 July, 2010.
ACEN Conference titled “Work Integrated Learning (WIL): Responding to Challenges", 29 September - 1 October, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. Dr Winchester-Seeto presented a paper and a workshop at this conference: Coulson, D., Harvey, M., Winchester-Seeto, T. & Mackaway, J., (2010). Exploring evidence for the role of reflection for learning through participation. In Campbell, M. (Ed.) Work Integrated Learning – Responding to Challenges: Proceedings of the 2010 ACEN National Conference, (pp. 92–104). Perth, September 29 – October 1, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9805706-1-8 Workshop presented at the ACEN Conference: Winchester-Seeto, T., Mackaway, J., Harvey M. & Coulson, D. (2010) An Integration and Synthesis of Assessment for Learning though Participation, with a focus on assessment of reflection. ACEN Annual Conference, 29 Sept – 1 October, Perth.
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REVIEW OF THE UNIT GUIDE POLICY AND PROCEDURE The Senate Learning and Teaching Committee received a proposal to commence the review of the Unit Guide Policy and Procedure (attached). The following questions are proposed to assist staff to undertake the review:
Is it compliant with legislation and University Rules?
Are people aware of it and are they compliant?
What is working/not working?
Is anything missing?
Can anything be removed?
Has it been operationalised? Professor Julie Fitness Acting Chair Senate Learning and Teaching Committee
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POLICY
Unit Guide
Contact Officer
Chair, Learning and Teaching Committee
Purpose To ensure that Unit Guides provide a consistent and public source of information about coursework units offered by Macquarie University as evidence of a well-planned high quality process of learning and teaching.
Overview A Unit Guide provides students with a concise and public source of information about a coursework unit, including, but not limited to, the aims, expected outcomes, structure and requirements of a unit of study. Students may use unit outlines to make decisions about programs of study and to manage their workload during a semester. They also serve to introduce students to the expectations, values and priorities of Macquarie University as a community of learners and teachers. For teaching staff, developing a Unit Guide can be a stimulus to reflection on the nature and purposes of teaching in a discipline, a faculty and in a university. Unit Guides may be considered as evidence of a staff member’s effectiveness as a teacher, and successive Unit Guides can be used to demonstrate the development of a teacher’s approach to learning and teaching over time. In these ways, Unit Guides are a valuable resource for writing the learning and teaching section that forms part of an application for promotion. A publicly available Unit Guides can provide a resource for Credit for Previous Study requests.
Scope All staff involved in the teaching or management of a coursework unit. All coursework students.
The Policy Every coursework unit offered by Macquarie University, including all seminar and zero credit point units, will have its own Unit Guide. Units that are co-badged with another Macquarie unit, or units, will each have a separate Unit Guide that details different learning outcomes and assessment requirements. Each Unit Guide will be written and available in English. Each Unit Guide will be available in either printed and/or electronic form no later than the first officially scheduled class, or in the case of students studying online or externally, the date of commencement of the unit, whichever is the earlier.
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All Unit Guides remain the property of Macquarie University. The contents of the Unit Guide will be reviewed in concert with periodic reviews of the unit. A summary of each Unit Guide is to be publicly available without a password or any other form of authorised access being required. As a minimum, all publicly available Unit Guides will include the following information: - full unit title - unit code - owning Faculty - teaching Department(s) - credit point value - study period and year of offering - name and contact details of the Unit Convenor and all other staff involved in teaching the unit - whether the unit is co-badged and if so, the unit code and title of the co-badged unit - unit description (as a minimum to match the Handbook entry) - technology used and required - expected learning outcomes - graduate capabilities developed - summary of the assessment tasks students must undertake to demonstrate their learning - what is required to complete the unit satisfactorily - extension requests - examination conditions - required unit materials and/or recommended readings - link to the University’s academic honesty policy - link to the University’s special consideration policy - short statement about any changes made to previous offerings of the unit Each Unit Guide will be archived in accordance with the time period available for credit for prior studies. Archived copies do not need to be publicly available, but must be available on request.
Keywords Coursework Unit, Unit Guide, Unit Outline, Unit Convenor, UGO.
Date Approved 7 October 2008
Approval Authority Academic Senate
Date of Commencement For units with a teaching start date of 1 July 2009 or later
Amendment Dates New
Date for Next Review July 2010
Related Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
Academic Honesty Policy (to be written) Assessment Policy Assessment Policy – Code of Conduct Assessment Procedures
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Unit Guide Procedures Unit Guide Online instructions
Policies Superseded by this Policy
Any previous convention, practice or guideline relating to the provision, content and nature of Unit Guides (previously referred to as Unit Outlines), including the Unit Outline Template currently available on the Academic Senate website.
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UNIT GUIDE
Contact Officer Chair, Learning and Teaching Committee
PR
OC
ED
UR
E
Purpose All units offered by the University need to provide clear, concise and consistent information to future, current and past students. This document outlines the steps involved in having a Unit Guide written, approved and published.
Procedure
Academic Senate
Approve, on an annual basis, the units to be offered including the study mode, the study period and the location.
Head of Department
For each offering of a unit, determine who will undertake the role of Unit Convenor, consulting the relevant Faculty Associate Dean(s) Learning and Teaching. Determine if additional staff are required. If so determine, or delegate to the Unit Convenor, the responsibility for approving the role of each additional staff member.
Unit Convenor
Prepare the Unit Guide. Arrange for the draft Unit Guide to be reviewed by a colleague familiar with the discipline area. Consider the comments and revise the document as deemed appropriate.
Head of Department and/or Head of Discipline
Develop a timeline for receipt of draft Unit Guides to ensure they are able to be reviewed and approved prior to commencement. Review all draft Unit Guides to ensure they comply with the Unit Guide Policy, including details of the assessment requirements[eg assessment in this unit includes a literature review (20%), a class presentation (40%) and a two-hour examination (40%)] and what is required to complete the unit satisfactorily (eg pass in all assessment tasks, 50% overall). Ensure there is a separate Unit Guide for each unit offering. Where a unit is co-badged with another Macquarie unit, or units, ensure each unit has its own Unit Guide with different learning outcomes and assessment requirements. Advise the Unit Convenor of any required and/or recommended changes. Once the necessary changes have been made, approve the Unit Guide for publication.
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Unit Convenor Ensure the Unit Guide is available, in either printed and/or electronic form, no later than the first officially scheduled class, or in the case of students studying online or externally, the date of commencement of the unit, whichever is the earlier. Ensure the Unit Guide is publicly available without a password or any other form of access being required. Where a change to the learning outcomes and/or required materials is identified after the unit has commenced, obtain approval for the change from the Head of Department, in consultation with the Faculty Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching. Where a change to the assessment requirements is identified after the unit has commenced, obtain approval for the change from the Executive Dean of Faculty (or approved Delegated Authority), in consultation with the Faculty Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching. Where any other change is identified after the unit has commenced, obtain the approval for the change from the Head of Department. Ensure the Unit Guide is peer reviewed in accordance with the curriculum review schedule and that appropriate responses are made to formal evaluative feedback.
Faculty Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching
Facilitate meetings of relevant groups within discipline areas to peer review Unit Guides in line with each periodic review of the unit. Consult with the Unit Convenor and Head of Department regarding these reviews.
Faculty General Manager
At the end of each study period ensure that each Unit Guide is stored so that a copy is accessible for the time period available for credit for previous studies. Receive requests for copies of Unit Guides. If the Unit Guide is still available in either print and/or electronic form, provide a copy as requested.
Keywords Coursework Unit, Unit Guide, Unit Outline, Unit Convenor, UGO
Date Approved 7 October 2008
Approval Authority Learning and Teaching Committee
Date of Commencement For units with a teaching start date of 1 July 2009 or later
Amendment Dates 6 May 2009 – to remove Unit Guide Online requirement
Date for Next Review July 2010
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Related Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
Unit Guide Policy Assessment Policy Assessment Policy – Code of Practice Assessment Procedures Unit Guide Online instructions
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Member from the Faculty of Arts
The Senate Learning and Teaching Committee received a nomination from the Faculty of Arts to appoint Dr Peter Keegan from the Department of Ancient History as a member of the Committee under the following category prescribed by Term of Reference: “One member per Faculty-nominated by the Executive Dean-who is a University or national learning and teaching award holder or past or present holder of a University teaching fellowship, any level of appointment.” RECOMMENDED That Dr Peter Keegan is appointed as a member of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee from the Faculty of Arts.
Professor Julie Fitness Acting Chair Senate Learning and Teaching Committee
SLTC March 11 Policy Update – Disruption to Studies/ Special Consideration Background: Two broad issues were identified to SLTC in July 2010. a. There is a lack of consistency and transparency of outcomes applied to the range of circumstances faced by students. b. The extent of the inconstancy of outcomes dilutes the difference and meaningfulness of unavoidable disruption and ‘other disruption’ categories. Recommendations at the time: 1. Students be required to indicate what they are applying for, e.g.; (i) extension of time to complete an assessment task (ii) waiving of a unit requirement (e.g. attendance at 80% of tutorials) (iii) an additional assessment task (e.g. a supplementary examination) 2. There ought to be detailed agreement about what outcomes are available following a 'notification of disruption to studies'. 3. A guideline be developed that maps circumstance to possible outcomes. 4. That students and unit convenors be reminded that the assessment policy stipulates the alignment between what grades given and achievement of learning outcomes, and the implication of this is that under no circumstances can marks be added because of the occurrence of disruptions, avoidable or otherwise. The Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts will pilot an online lodgement process for the SHYR 2010. The tool developed will provide data to assist in the analysis and development of circumstance with outcome provided. Progress: 1. The Request form and Professional Authority form was modified to more precisely connect disruption with assessment task. 2. & 3. Some work has been drafted that maps circumstance to possible outcome, and some guidelines drafted for Providing Evidence of Unavoidable Disruption. (See Below) 4. Recommend explicit statement in the policy that special consideration does not result in additional marks Online Delivery (Report from Faculty of Science) The Faculty of Science processed in excess of 2000 online special consideration requests during S2, 2010 and feedback from students indicated that it provided a far higher level of service than in previous semesters around this process. It was also largely received very favourably from Faculty teaching staff. Using an online automated workflow also resulted in a large decrease in aspects of administrative workload (particularly around duplication and document location). The system pilot in S2, 2010 involved 2 faculties (Arts and Science) has been used to process special consideration, waivers, grade reviews and grade appeals. It also has the functionality to allow students to lodge online 'More than 14cp' and 'Variation to exemption applications'. To date, the system has received approx. 3500 student requests and has proved extremely stable and reliable. It is envisaged the pilot will be extended to 3 faculties for the coming semester (including Human Sciences). A dedicated MQ Wiki has been set up to manage the project, record feedback from staff about it, provide requirements gathering and specifications to FBE who have indicated they wish to develop online facilities for student lodgement, and feed into the requirements gathering process for an equivalent system to be delivered at the University Level.
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Recommendations: Next Steps: Reconvene the working group to: -Analyse the data from the online pilot pertaining to circumstances and outcomes given -Formalise a guideline that maps circumstances to possible outcomes -Amend the policy and Procedure to recommend to SLTC Interim Steps: -Progress the online pilot to include Human Science -Manage delivery of FBE request via the faculty office
Note: There is a wiki at: https://wiki.mq.edu.au/display/scpolicyreview/Special+Consideration+Policy+Review
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Disruption Table Result of Disruption Type of Assessment Type of Disruption Possible Outcomes Absence from: Marked Attendance: lecture, tutorial,
on-campus session, field trip, practicum
Avoidable Convenor Discretion Unavoidable Absence Noted; Waiving of an attendance requirement
Absence from: Graded Participation: tutorial, class, lecture
Avoidable Convenor Discretion Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task
Absence from: In class assessment: tutorial, class, lecture
Avoidable Convenor Discretion Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task
Absence from: Formal Exam Avoidable No consideration Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task;
supplementary exam Exam Performance affected
Formal Exam Avoidable No consideration Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task;
supplementary exam Preparation affected Assessment (other than formal
exam): tutorial, class test, lecture, exam, other assessment task
Avoidable No consideration Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task
Preparation affected Formal Exam Avoidable No consideration Unavoidable Provision of an additional assessment task;
supplementary exam On-Time Assessment Submission affected
Assessment (other than formal exam) Avoidable Convenor Discretion Unavoidable Extension of time to complete an assessment task;
provision of an additional assessment task Ongoing Performance affected (Affect ability to perform as well as previously demonstrated)
Assessment (other than formal exam) Avoidable Extension of time to complete an assessment task; provision of an additional assessment task; Recommendation of Withdrawal
Unavoidable Extension of time to complete an assessment task; provision of an additional assessment task; Recommendation of Withdrawal
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Guideline for Providing Evidence of Unavoidable Disruption This guideline is to provide examples of the type of evidence that might be provided to evidence unavoidable disruption. The University defines serious and unavoidable disruption to studies as resulting from an event or set of circumstances that:
• Could not have reasonably been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student; and • Was beyond the student's control; and • Caused substantial disruption to the student's capacity for effective study and/or the completion of required work; and • Substantially interfered with the otherwise satisfactory fulfilment of unit or course requirements; and • Was of at least three (3) consecutive days duration within a study period and/or prevented completion of the formal examination.
The University definition of serious and unavoidable disruption explicitly excludes acute problems, except where the disruption affects completion of a formal examination.
Special Consideration applications must be supported by evidence to demonstrate the severity of the circumstance(s) and that substantial disruption has been caused to the student’s capacity for effective study. General Evidence Requirements: Evidence must demonstrate that substantial disruption has been caused to the student’s capacity for effective study and include: - beginning date and duration of the effect of disruption, - a statement about the student’s inability to undertake or prepare for the assessment task Documentary Evidence of Disruption considered Unavoidable and Serious must clearly state that: - You are were unable to complete a formal examination because of the effect of the disruption; and or, - You were unable to complete an assessable task on the relevant date because of disruption which was of no fewer than 3 consecutive days ; or, - Your preparation for an assessable task was affected for not fewer than 3 consecutive days. Type of Disruption Evidence
Professional Authority
medical/ psychological/ mental health Professional Authority Form Medical Certificate Documentary evidence that states “student is unfit for
Health professionals that are registered with a professional body such as: medical practitioners psychiatrists physiotherapists
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school or studies or work” will not be accepted. Consulting with your doctor at time of illness is highly recommended.
counsellors social workers psychologists; or, a member of Macquarie Campus Well-being.
compassionate grounds eg grief; ( death or serious injury of a close family member or close friend) indirect disruption; ( the requirement to care for family member or relative)
Professional Authority Form Medical Certificate Letter from Relevant professional In cases where the disruption is indirect the documentary evidence must state the effect of the disruption on the student. It is not sufficient to only supply a Medical Certificate pertaining to a friend or family member.
Health professionals that are registered with a professional body such as: medical practitioners psychiatrists physiotherapists counsellors social workers psychologists; or, a member of Macquarie Campus Well-being.
hardship or trauma eg sudden loss of employment family breakdown severe disruption to domestic arrangements impact of crime or accident impact of natural disasters
Police Report Letter from Relevant Professional acknowledging impact of disruption on student In cases where other documentary evidence could not be obtained a Statutory Declaration may be used. The Statutory Declaration should be accompanied by any other available evidence. e.g. Flight Itinerary, Death Notice.
Health professionals that are registered with a professional body such as: medical practitioners psychiatrists physiotherapists counsellors social workers psychologists; or, a member of Macquarie Campus Well-being; or, Police Legal Officer
unavoidable absence or commitments -e.g unavoidable work commitments cultural or religious commitments; eg. Weddings or funerals of close family
Letter from Relevant Professional acknowledging impact of disruption on student and requirement to attend the unavoidable commitment, or explanation of unavoidable absence.
Employer Religious Leader Coach Transport Authority Police
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members*, significant religious occasions elite athlete jury duty or other court appearances transportation; late train, car broke down, accident *For the purpose of evidencing unavoidable disruption a close family member is***
Documentary evidence from employer must clearly state that the inability to be released from work commitments was unforeseen at time of enrolment In cases where a student is absent to attend a cultural event evidence must demonstrate that attendance could not have been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student; and that the student’s attendance is warranted.
NRMA Government Agency Sheriff’s Office
disruption during an exam or an assessment event -e.g. fire alarm sudden illness
Refer Medical Statuary Declaration
Refer Medical
Ongoing disruption during the semester -e.g. Glandular fever, ongoing grief
Documentary evidence must indicate an acute episode of the condition that is directly related to a student’s capacity for effective completion of an assessment. In cases where student’s cannot complete replacement assessment tasks the disruption should be managed by the withdrawal with penalty procedure.
Health professionals that are registered with a professional body such as: medical practitioners psychiatrists physiotherapists counsellors social workers psychologists; or, a member of Macquarie Campus Well-being.
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