ACDS projects in learning &

teaching - 2015

Liz Johnson

Director, ACDS TL Centre

Key topics for science learning & teaching …

• Quality assurance and benchmarking

• Assessment as the key to curriculum

• Building capability, and advice on resources

The Faculty role

Faculty: environment for learning• Standards and quality assurance

• Resources for staff and students

• Expertise and capacity for teaching

Faculties deliver whole degrees

Faculties operate across

disciplines to: • create equivalent outcomes

• foster cross-disciplinary linksDiscipline content

and skills:

Disciplines

Context for

learning:

Institution/Faculty

The role of the ACDS TL Centre

• Build a picture of good practice in learning and

teaching in science and mathematics

• Provide condensed authoritative advice to Faculties

of Science: evidence-based practice

• Develop advice for regulatory, funding and policy

bodies

• Build and support links amongst science and maths

education leaders

Quality assurance and benchmarking

• The Standards environment

• Benchmarking projects

• Using the Science Threshold Learning outcomes

Shared standards:

Reference points and BenchmarksIN

PU

TS

OU

TC

OM

ES

Guide for curriculum

design & teaching delivery

Evidence for claimed

levels of achievement

Science

Threshold

Learning

Outcomes

• Statements of graduate

outcomes across

science disciplines

• Apply to a pass level

bachelor degree

• Commissioned by

ALTC, endorsed by

ACDS

Standards environment…

Govt Institution Discipline+ +

Accreditation of

institution

Self-accreditation of

degrees

Professional

accreditation of

degrees

TEQSA legislation Internal policies and

procedures

Science associations:

Recommended curricula

Australian Qualifications

Framework

Institutional priorities Standards

Higher Education

Standards

ESOS compliance

MyUni website

Australian Standards

1. Higher Education Standards: Course Design, Learning Outcomes

and Assessment

Minimum standards for design & delivery of teaching

http://www.hestandards.gov.au/

2. Australian Qualifications Framework

Minimum standards for degree levels: bachelor vs masters vs PhD

http://www.aqf.edu.au/

3. Science Threshold Learning Outcomes

Descriptors of minimum knowledge and skills for science graduates

http://www.acds.edu.au/tlcentre/links-publications/ or

http://www.olt.gov.au

Australian Standards

1. Higher Education Standards: Course Design, Learning Outcomes

and Assessment

Minimum standards for design & delivery of teaching

http://www.hestandards.gov.au/

2. Australian Qualifications Framework

Minimum standards for degree levels: bachelor vs masters vs PhD

http://www.aqf.edu.au/

3. Science Threshold Learning Outcomes

Descriptors of minimum knowledge and skills for science graduates

http://www.acds.edu.au/tlcentre/links-publications/ or

http://www.olt.gov.au

Learning outcomes

• are specific and informed by national/international

comparators

• Cover discipline-specific and generic outcomes

• Are demonstrated by students on completion

Evidence for QACurriculum design Curriculum documents, study guides,

assessment tasks & rubrics

Student achievement Student retention

Student success (pass/fail rates)

Degree benchmarking between institutions

Assessment pieces, portfolios

Student feedback Satisfaction (UES, CEQ, institutional

surveys)

Self-appraisal & confidence

Graduate outcomes Graduate employment/ further study (GDS)

Employer satisfaction

Benchmarking projectsCross-marking of sample work

Moderation of assessment tasks, rubrics/marking schemes

Development of assessor expertise

Institutions

• Institutional benchmarking: eg QVS (GO8),IRU, Learning

& Teaching Standards, IRU, Scott (OLT Fellowship 2014)

• National External Peer Review of Assessment Network

Disciplines

• Accounting: Freeman (“Assessment Matters”)

• Chemistry workshops with TLOs (RACI)

Science

Threshold

Learning

Outcomes

Require interpretation

and application

Translation into

assessment tasks and

learning activities

Using the Science TLOs

Science

TLOs

Disciplinary TLOs

Biology

Biomedical Science

Chemistry

Mathematics

Physics

…

Agricultural Science

Environmental Science

Good practice guides

Description of TLO

Examples/case studies

Resources for curriculum

design

See: www.acds.edu.au/tlcentre

... Projects

…TLOs in science

VIBEnet, CUBEnet, Chemnet, AMSLaT,

Physics Education Network, AgLTAS,

Environmental Science Network

Sue Jones, UTas

Brian Yates, UTas

ACDS TL Centre and standards

Foster implementation of Science TLOs

• New disciplines

• Dissemination of discipline network projects

• Connect partners

Funding for implementation projects?

• Local projects test strategies

• National projects (eg Mind the Gap - testing maths

achievement)Deb King, UMelb

Michael Jennings, UQ

Adam Bridgman, USyd

John Rice, ACDS

Assessment: key to the curriculum

• Assessment drives learning

• Relevant examples of assessment practice

Assessment in learning

AssessmentLearning

activities

Learning

Objectives

Assessment indicates

“importance” to students

and teachers

Assessment drives

student behaviour

Assessment produces

evidence of learning

Assessment as evidence

Formative assessment

monitors progress (educators), directs learning (students)

Summative assessment

measures achievement and learning outcomes

• Benchmarking: parity of awards and outcomes

• Relative rank: scholarships

• Individual student achievement:• Pass/fail – minimum standards

• Excellence – out of 100?

• Prospective employers – marks (transcript) or demonstration (portfolio, competencies)

Authentic assessment

• Mimics real-world tasks

• Complex, requiring

integrated skills and

knowledge

• Inquiry tasks reflect

scientific process – what

assessment is appropriate?

Report to Uni

(internal)to monitor

comparable student

achievement

writing

Inquiry/research

Snapshot

measurement of

an intended

outcome by an

assessment task

Report to student to

give feedback on

progress

Demonstrate learning

outcomes externally

Multi-tasking assessment

Measuring outcomes: assessment rubrics

Published rubrics

• Link assessment to objectives

• Standardize assessment practice

• Space for professional judgement

• Inter-marker moderation

Moderation with student work

ACDS assessment project?• Consolidated assessment advice

• Disciplinary variation and examples/case studies

Building capability

• Resources for teaching academics

• Building capability through Faculty projects

Resources for teaching

Decades of work available!

SMART Directory

(Science & Maths Annotated Resources for Teaching)

Lists online compiled resources for science and maths

Annotated with resource type, discipline

Potentially include peer rating system?

Kirsten Zimbardi, UQ

Kay Colthorpe, UQ

Malcolm Campbell, Deakin

Capacity building: seed projects

SaMnet

• Science and Maths Network of Australian University Educators

• Leadership development

• Advice and mentoring for Faculty learning & teaching projects

• Scholarship of learning and teaching (evidence-based practice)

• Peer network

ACDS mentoring scheme (SaMnet 2.0)?

• Identify priority development areas (eg assessment of TLOs)

• Seed funding for Faculty-based projects

• Share outcomes through ACDS TL Centre/SaMnet

• Mentoring by Science TL leaders

So…possible 2015 projects…

• Mind the Gap – diagnostic testing in maths

• SMART Directory development – annotated resources

• ACDS consolidated assessment advice project

• ACDS seed projects in TLO assessment (SaMnet 2.0)

What should be the top priorities?

Other ideas?

Thanks to…Prof John Rice

Prof Russell Crawford & the ACDS Executive

2014 ACDS Project teams

Emma Yench, Webmaster

Stephanie Beames, Conference Organization

Figure 5. Map of science derived from clickstream data.Bollen J, Van de Sompel H, Hagberg A, Bettencourt L, et al. (2009) Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science.

PLoS ONE 4(3): e4803. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004803

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004803

Science is not

one discipline

• Common themes

• Foundation skills

• Overlapping

content

• Specialist

knowledge and

skills

Science associations in educationAssociations offering accreditation

(excluding professional registration)

7

(agriculture, mathematics, chemistry,

physics, psychology, statistics, nutrition)

Associations offering resources and

education events

21

Associations offering resources 12

Science Education networks 7+ (biomedical science, biology, chemistry,

mathematical sciences, physics,

environmental science, agriculture…and

growing)

Who should define standards for Science degrees?

How can Faculties balance different disciplinary

requirements?

How do students manage competing disciplines?

ACDS Teaching & Learning Centre

Centre

website

TL

meetingsProjects

ADTLs

ACDS members

Science TL leaders

Curriculum for diverse outcomes

What do employers think?

Graduate capability Employer

ranking

Graduate

ranking

Faculty

ranking

Ability & willingness to learn 1 1 1

Teamwork and co-operation 2 2 5

Initiative 3 7 8

Analytical thinking 4 3 3

Technical expertise 13 17 6

• Employment: A mix of cognitive and behavioural skills

• Content is the context for skill development

Coll and Zegward (2007) Research in Science & Technological Education 24:1, 29-58

See also: Harris (2012) A Background in Science, CSHE

TEQSA Act

Higher Education Standards

Australian Qualifications Framework

Tertiary Education Landscape

Other HE

Providers (~130)• TAFEs

• Private providers

• Professional

Associations

Self-accrediting (43)• Public

• Universities (37)

• Private

• Universities (3)

• Overseas Universities

(2)

Discipline education networks

Physics

Education

Network

Discipline experts

• Core concepts & skills and their interconnection

• Disciplinary thinking

• Pedagogical content knowledge

• Effective Teaching practice

Thank you to…

• Australian Council of Deans of Science and the Associate

Deans Teaching and Learning

• Office for Learning and Teaching

• Staff and students of the Faculty of Science, Technology

and Engineering at La Trobe University

• Discipline networks: CUBE, VIBE, Chemnet, Physics

Education Network, AMSLaT

The ACDS Teaching and

Learning CentreLiz Johnson

OLT National Teaching Fellow

Support for this activity has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and

Teaching. The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian

Government Office for Learning and Teaching.

In the talk…

The role of the ACDS TL Centre

Operation of the ACDS Centre• Centre website

• Centre projects

• A learning and teaching hub

Priorities for the ACDS Centre • feedback from consultation

• projects for 2014

Developing the model

National Conferences

(ACDS TL conference, ACDS AGM,

ACSME, HERDSA)

7

ADTL/institutional leader interviews 10

State-based/discipline workshop 12

Institutional presentations 4

A hunger for consolidated and

authoritative information…

Resources

Evaluated good practice

Practice/ideas exchange

Info: funding, conference

Evaluating

Actions

Link networks/disciplines

Voice & vision for Sci

Funding

Endorsement

Careers/mentoring

People & organization

College of experts?

Character

X –disciplinary

Connected, sustainable

ACDS TL Centre Operation

ACDS

ACDS Executive

ACDS TL Centre

Centre Director

Communications Officer

ADTL network ACDS TL Conference

ADTL Professional

Development

Workshops

Science & Maths educators Information hub

Practice exchange

ACDS TL project teams ACDS Position papers

National Statements/

Reports on Learning and

Teaching in Science and

mathematics

Distributed

leadership

Facilitation,

Progression

Authority,

whole-of-

sector

Testing the model: 2013

• Participation: newsletter (36+), meetings (~50)

• ACDS TL Centre Website

• Projects: ACDS TLO project

• Meetings

• ACDS TL Conference

• Discipline Network Roundtable

• Project Workshops

• ACSME

Centre

website

TL

meetingsProjects

ADTLs

ACDS members

Science TL leaders

www.acds.edu.au/tlcentre

Centre Projects:

Information,

outcomes

Resources:

ACDS reports

& statements

Useful links

Networks:

Science

Education, ADTL

News: meetings,

projects,

publications,

ideas

Science TL Calendar

Discussion board

Ideas exchange

ACDS TLO Project

Objectives:

• Advice on using the national Science Threshold Learning Outcomes (Science TLOs) in course design

• Forward planning for sector-wide uptake

Action:

• Advancing the TLOs workshop, Feb 2013

• ACDS response to HESP draft standards

• Advice for Faculties in preparation

• Publications:• Discipline draft TLO statements

• TLO good practice guides

Meetings

• Develop collective view

• Disseminate information

• Initiate and progress projects

• Build on existing meetings

ACDS TL Conference• ADTLs, TL leaders

Workshops• Specific purpose: TLO workshop, Discipline Network Roundtable;

ACDE/ACDS joint meeting

• Professional development?

ACSME• Broad audience of science and mathematics educators

Priorities for the ACDS TL Centre

Recurring themes…issues for STEM?

Curriculum

• New modes, online teaching

• Measuring achievement of learning outcomes

• Ubiquity of information changes the role of Uni

Students

• Diversity and underpreparation

• Large classes

Staff

• Professional development and cultural change

Recurring themes…valuable info?

Authoritative advice:

• Position paper/ executive summary

• Pedagogies, PD for staff, student diversity &

underpreparation

Tools:

• Good practice/ideas exchange, resource toolkit,

benchmarking projects, evaluation, links to resources

Networking/ sector information

• What’s happening?, regulation and standards

• Conferences, discussion forum

Where to next?

• ACDS TL Centre is growing and