The ‘Wall of Provocations’ at this year’s UTS Learning and Teaching Forum invited attendees to share reflections across 3 related themes: ‘Joyful Failures’, ‘Hopeful Learnings’ and ‘Intentional and Emergent Futures’. We were prompted to consider things we’d tried and failed, what had surprised us, and what we still didn’t understand. At the same time, we looked ahead to what we would like to do differently in the year to come.
Amanda White introduced the Wall of Provocations at the beginning of the Forum:
Over the course of the day, people dropped into the LX.lab to add their thoughts and chat about the topics others had posted. Browse a visual map of some key ideas we saw, and read a few of the messages left on the wall under each of the three themes.
Joyful Failures: free pizza and fallen bookshelves
Joyful Failures reflected on assessment and feedback, student engagement, communication with colleagues and the challenges of innovation. For some, the GenAI ‘explosion’ this year was overwhelming, and many questions remain. Others reflected on what might be needed to re-engage students, how we can move past ‘safe’ ideas, and the time needed for development and innovation in learning and teaching.
How do we draw the line between misconduct and use (of GenAI) for productivity?
Evening workshops – free pizza did not entice students to attend!
This year I didn’t expect my bookshelf to collapse on me during an online lecture! Students found it memorable at least!
Hopeful Learnings: finding clarity
‘Hopeful learnings’ considered students and their feedback needs, design and delivery of learning, and academic integrity. Comments referenced the integration of peer feedback that students can ‘buy into’, as well as re-thinking interaction and assessment approaches.
Give more time for class discussion and less of me talking “at” them
If I could do that semester/ subject again, I’d change my online lectures into 5-minute chunks
Students need clear examples of what plagiarism is (or not) when using GenAI for assessment
Intentional and Emergent Futures: authentic, human engagement
Looking to the future, there were comments about having another go at things, whether it was GenAI or peer feedback approaches. There was also a clear focus on students, from fireside chats for better connection, to developing skills for presentation and communication.
I’m going to try peer feedback again, but this time invest more time in developing it.
I’m going to encourage students to focus more on presentation and social communication skills rather than simple report writing even GenAI can do!
I want to start some sort of fireside chats with students, where they can talk about anything with teachers. Students want to connect better with teachers.
Got some failures, learnings or provocations of your own to share? Let us know in the comments below!
@Annette the best thing about putting this summary together was not knowing who wrote what… then finding out the full story later! I love the irony of an academic being attacked by unpredictable literature…