News, Reports and Links
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Are you a new lecturer? Moving from another sector into teaching in higher education? A postgraduate student who teaches?
'First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education' is a free online course, which will run from 21 May to 22 June 2012, and will introduce new and aspiring lecturers to teaching and professional development in higher education. We also welcome experienced lecturers who wish to update and share their knowledge and expertise.
This is a 'massive open online course' (MOOC), and offers you the freedom to decide whether you wish to be assessed (and receive a completion certificate), and how much you engage with the course.
The course is developed by the HEA/JISC funded OpenLine Project at Oxford Brookes University, and run by the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD). It is an element of the OCSLD's Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, which is accredited by the Higher Education Academy.
Find out more, and express your interest in joining the course.
Curriculum Commission Consultation
Proposition: Creating a Culture of Scholarly Practice at VU
Proposition four in the Curriculum Commission's Discussion Paper is that Victoria University 'develops a distinctive approach to supporting scholarly learning and teaching that matches its vocational and higher education purposes'. The paper suggests that scholarly practice is something that is relevant to all Victoria University teaching staff.
View the videos of the main presentations.
Curriculum Commission Consultation
Proposition: Transition Pedagogy
The second Curriculum Commission forum was intended to explore broader conceptions of transition and sought ideas and input into the discussions about transition pedagogy and the implications for the future directions of Victoria University's curriculum.
View the videos of the main presentations.
Curriculum Commission Consultation
Proposition: Big Ideas
The first Curriculum Commission forum was intended to 'set the scene' for engaging staff in discussion about curriculum change, and focused on the Big Ideas and Capability approach.
View the videos of the main presentations.
International university rankings - how accurate are they?
Fran Kelly from Radio National asks Jamil Salmi (Tertiary education Coordinator for the World Bank) "How accurate are those international tables for University Rankings?" Jamil makes the point that Universities like Victoria University are excelling in areas such as equity. VU's mission clearly states we are engaged with the local community and serve the student population where a large proportion of students come from families where English is not spoken and are first generation University students.
Listen to the Radio National "University Rankings" broadcast.
Conversations about Curriculum Forum - Cross Cultural Learning Forum
The forum focused on Cross Cultural Learning and will contribute to the development process for the VU Curriculum Framework. Guest speaker Dr Viv Caruana from the Centre for Academic Practice and Research in Internationalisation at Leeds Met in the UK discussed embracing diversity at institutional, classroom and informal levels.
AASHE conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Download the presentation by Colin Hocking, Robert Ford and Angela Daddow at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during October, 2011.
National VET E-learning Strategy 2012-2015
The National VET E-learning Strategy for 2012–2015 will play a key role in enabling the Australian training sector to take advantage of the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) to make major advances in the achievement of government training objectives. Coordinated action to develop sector-wide capability in using the new technological environment will, at the same time, stimulate innovative approaches to increasing participation in training and work, and improving the skill levels of the Australian workforce.
LLN Forum August 2011
Following on from the high standard of the first LLN Forum in May, the second forum consisted of a whole-day program including a presentation, a workshop and two open discussions.
Reports
The challenges of PDFs
Report from 4Syllables Workshop: The Challenges of .pdfs (Portable Document Format).
Click here for the full report
WACE's 17th World Conference in Philadelphia
WACE's 17th World Conference, themed "historic challenges-global solutions", was hosted by Drexel University in Philadelphia USA from 13th -17th June 2011.
Click here for the full report
Links
What Does Game-based Learning Offer Higher Education?
An examination of the impact of Game-based learning on Higher Education by Justin Marquis Ph.D.