This Teaching for learning.futures program is specifically designed to support UTS casual academics to continue to develop their understanding, capability and confidence to teach in online and blended subjects that are aligned with learning.futures. With a focus on encouraging active and collaborative student learning, teamwork, ways to give meaningful feedback and reflecting on own teaching, we will explore key principles that underpin learning.futures. The program will showcase innovation and highlight human-centred approaches to online learning by drawing on the expertise and experience of participants from multiple disciplines and faculties.

In the program you will:

• Get inspired to enhance student learning through the design and teaching of your classes, with a particular focus on the online learning environment, teamwork and feedback practices
• Participate in Zoom workshops using a blended approach that allows you to experience and explore the potential of online learning environments, with an emphasis on interaction and collaboration online
• Build connections and networks with academics within and across disciplines to facilitate opportunities for future collaboration
• Receive a Certificate of Participation for each workshop.

Program dates and topics:

Student learning: revisiting learning.futures
9 November 12.30-2.00pm or 10 November 12.30-2.00pm
Workshop contact: Ann.Wilson@uts.edu.au

Learning.futures is an approach to learning and teaching that combines future-focused curriculum with informed technology use, and places students at the centre of the creative learning experience. By connecting students more purposefully with others, learning becomes an active, purposeful, iterative, effortful and social process. Learning.futures fosters student’s development of their graduate attributes and professional practice capabilities with the ultimate aim of educating graduates who are ready for the unpredictable future of work.

In this workshop you will actively collaborate to unpack the following aspects of student learning and develop some strategies for your own teaching by:

• Building connections with students and sense of belonging
• Supporting synchronous and asynchronous learning
• Creating participatory learning environments.

Teamwork: Make the Dream Work!
18 November 12.30-2.00pm or 19 November 12.30-2.00pm
Workshop contact: Dimity.Wehr@uts.edu.au

Teamwork is an essential part of learning and working. It prepares students to tackle contemporary, complex problems in the real world. Learning in teams is different from textbook learning because it is collaborative, active, alive and social. Learning in teams is emergent and cannot be prescribed or controlled. It requires skilful guidance from the facilitator and buy in from students.

In this workshop you will actively collaborate to unpack the following aspects of teamwork and develop some strategies for your own teaching:

• Managing conflict that arises from different contributions from students
• Understanding teamwork
• Strategies for team allocations and clarifying responsibilities and roles
• Creating conditions for team participation
• Guiding and supporting teams.

Feedback: Learning-focused practices for productive partnerships
23 November 12.30-2.00pm or 25 November, 3.30-5.00pm
Workshop contact: Alisa.Percy@uts.edu.au 

Using feedback productively is crucial for learning throughout our lifetime. However, many students struggle to make the most of the feedback they receive. To have an impact on student learning, feedback needs to be seen as a partnership between students and staff with continuous ‘feedback loops’ designed into the learning experience. By creating a learning-centred environment, where multiple forms of feedback provide students with the opportunities to develop their own evaluative judgement, students can become self-directed learners, and are motivated to continually improve.

In this workshop, we will work collaboratively to examine theory and share practices in relation to:

• Taking a learner-centred approach to designing feedback loops into our teaching
• Utilising tools and strategies that enable students to develop evaluative judgment
• Addressing the relational sensitivities of giving and receiving feedback
• Managing the practicalities of feedback
• Eliciting feedback for our own continuous improvement.

Reflective practice: Reshaping our work in times of change
30 November 12.30-2.00pm or 2 December 3.30-5.00pm
Workshop contact: Nicola.Parker@uts.edu.au

As this most ‘interesting’ of years draws to a close, we invite you to pause, step back and reflect. How did 2020 change your experience of teaching and how did you pivot to help your students learn remotely in challenging circumstances? What have we learnt – and what are we still learning – in these pandemic times? Using some design principles for reflection and some helpful tools, we will all consider how to best build on our teaching practice. Drawing on the experiences of colleagues across the university and research perspectives we will take stock together so we can move forward with confidence in these times of unprecedented change in higher education.

In this workshop you will explore:

• Designing your own personalised approach to reflection
• Collaborating with a community of your peers
• Revisiting your CV
• Developing a ‘pandemic resistant’ portfolio
• Building your online presence.

Registration:

The program is open to UTS casual academics who are teaching in Spring session 2020. You are invited to participate in up to TWO of these professional development workshops and be paid for your time. A limited number of paid places* in the program are available for each faculty and we invite you to register your interest by completing the form below. Please register your interest by COB on Friday 23 October. If a place is available you will receive a Zoom workshop invitation via email by 28 October.

*Paid places are for 2 hours for each workshop (includes 1/2 hr of post work) at the ‘Other Academic Activity’ rate.

Please note: Staff who are in full-time or fractional academic employment at UTS in addition to their casual academic contract are not eligible for payment.

PLEASE SELECT UP TO 2 WORKSHOPS BELOW

REGISTRATIONS FOR THIS EVENT ARE NOW CLOSED

Register for this event

Your video, audio and the meeting chat transcript may be recorded or photographed. Please advise the facilitator if you do not wish to be recorded or photographed.

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