September 11, 2018

In this series of bulletins, we are drawing on

Subject Experience Survey (SES) items to inspire our weekly topics.

This week’s focus comes from

Item 8: This subject incorporated study of current content (e.g., up-to-date texts, research, issues, software, other learning resources).

There are many sub-topics that can be applied to this SES item.

Our approach in this week’s bulletin is to look at answers to two questions:

1. Why is it important to incorporate study of current content?

2. What will encourage students to respond positively to this SES item?

... a. How to make Learning Relevant to Your Students

....... i. Engage and Empower Students by Using Wikipedia

Previous Teaching Tuesdays@CSU bulletins have addressed issues related to this item, including The Teaching-Research Nexus (Issue 12); Building on Prior Learning (Issue 8); and Improving Student Learning (Issue 13).

Implementing the CSU Value INSPIRING in your teaching.

Through living the value of “inspiring” we ... challenge those around us to leave their comfort zones and support and foster their growth and evolution. We are champions of change with compelling visions and we engage those around us in shaping the journey.

Firstly, the regulatory requirements: the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015, Standard 3.3 states

• “The learning resources, such as library collections and services, creative works, notes, laboratory facilities, studio sessions, simulations and software, that are specified or recommended for a course of study, relate directly to the learning outcomes, are up to date and, where supplied as part of a course of study, are accessible when needed by students.”
  

In its guidelines for meeting this Standard, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) looks for resources that are

• “relevant to the expected learning outcomes; appropriate to the level of study; authoritative, and up to date”. They also look for resources that “prevent poor quality resources (e.g. irrelevant, obsolete, non-authoritative or insufficiently rigorous material) being provided or used."
  

Next, not only does the subject content need to be relevant to the learning outcomes, just as important is that the content is relevant to students.

How To Make Learning Relevant To Your Students (And Why It’s Crucial To Their Success)

By Saga Briggs, editor of informED. *

Source: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-to-make-learning-relevant/

Relevance is defined simply in this article as “the perception that something is interesting and worth knowing." **

Four methods for establishing relevance (Kember et al., 2008) highlight the importance of including current content:

1. Discussing how theory can be applied in practice
   
2. Making a link to local cases
   
3. Relating subject matter to everyday applications
   
4. Discussing and finding applications in current newsworthy issues and events.
   

Making learning engaging and personally relevant (Willis, Faeth, and Immordino-Yang, in Sousa, 2010):

1. Use suspense and keep it fresh
   
2. Make it student-directed
   
3. Connect it to their lives and what they already know
   
4. Provide utility value
   
5. Build relatedness
   

* informED is an Australian education blog produced by Open Colleges.

** A more complex definition of Relevance from Deirdre Wilson, co-developer of Relevance Theory: The hearer takes the conceptual structure constructed by linguistic decoding; following a path of least effort, he enriches this at the explicit level and complements it at the implicit level, until the resulting interpretation meets his expectations of relevance; at which point, he stops" (Wilson, 2018).

References available from CSU library

Kember, D. (2015). Understanding the nature of motivation and motivating students through teaching and learning in higher education. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

Kember, D., Ho, A., and Hong, C. (2008). The importance of establishing relevance in motivating student learning. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(3): 249-263.

Sousa, D. (2010). Mind, brain, & education: Neuroscience implications for the classroom. Bloomington, Ind.: Solution Tree Press.

Sperber, D., and Wilson, D. (1986). Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Wilson, D. (2018). Relevance Theory and literary interpretation. In T. Cave and D. Wilson (Eds.), Reading beyond the code: Literature and Relevance Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Finally, this 45-minute webinar provides information on using Wikipedia in learning activities and assessments for students to create current content.

Engage and Empower Students by Using Wikipedia

By Greg Szczyrbak

Source: https://www.magnapubs.com/magna-commons/?video=15001

The main content of this webinar provides background information about editing Wikipedia and the resources available to support teaching through the Wiki Education Classroom Program.

The Classroom program assists with

- Assignment design and management, with examples

- Course dashboard

- Timelines

- Student interface

Three Challenges with the Wikipedia approach

- Sometimes feels enigmatic or arbitrary

• Students can be upset if their edits are removed, but this can also be addressed as a learning opportunity

- Gender bias amongst editors

• According to results of 2011 survey, only 10-12% of editors are women
  
• There are Wiki projects to address this and other demographic biases

- Could easily become the focus of an entire course

• Incorporation of Wikipedia editing learning activities and/or assignments requires consideration of subject design strategies
  

Three Benefits of the Wikipedia approach

- Accommodates a variety of learning objectives and subject areas

• Development of writing skills
  
• Development of visual literacy
  
• Requires use of information literacy skills for research and citations
  
• Can include development of marketable skills in Wiki markup language
  
• Collaborative learning
  
• Development of lifelong learning skills

- Not a “throw away” assignment

• Ongoing accessible demonstration of learning

- Authentic real-world learning

• For the benefit of the global community
  

QUOTE: So it’s pretty exciting and overwhelming, but students really seem to have good feelings about it. They feel that it’s meaningful and a good experience, if frustrating at times.

The supplementary material that accompanies this webinar includes case studies of Wikipedia learning activities in Argumentative Writing, Technical Communication, Ancient History, Latin American and Spanish American Studies, Spanish Language Immersion, Translation from French to Arabic, Nature Conservation, Regional Planning and Design, Advanced Media Studies, Chemistry, Writing 101, History of Design and Digital Media, Arab Culture and Politics, and US Political Studies.

These were centred around the key learning areas of Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, and Technical and Communication Skills.

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download from the Magna Commons website if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

Other Links:

From a search for "relevance" on wikiedu.org: https://wikiedu.org/?s=relevance

A scholar advances academic research by editing Wikipedia, June 8 2018

Students find education to be worth the cost when coursework is relevant to their lives, May 17 2018

What happens to a student’s motivation when their work has an impact beyond the classroom?,

April 6 2018

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Link to: Folder with all previous issues of Teaching Tuesdays

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Contents
1....Teaching support resources at CSU
2....Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching MOOC
3....CSU Professional Learning Calendar
4....Bonus CSU resource - Lynda.com
5....Magna Commons Subscription
6....Links to previous bulletins
7....Subscribe

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You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you incorporate educational resources and techniques into your teaching. Check out the following:

• Teaching at CSU - the Division of Learning and Teaching website with links to resources for Teaching Staff, Online Learning, Assessment, Curriculum, Indigenous Curriculum, Workplace Learning, Technologies, Feedback and Analytics, and Learning Spaces.
  
• Resources for Learning and Teaching Academic and Professional Staff - searchable CSU database
  
• Learning Technologies - the starting point for a range of learning design options
• CSU Learning Exchange: Technologies in Context - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies
• The CSU wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies

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Professional Development opportunity for all.

Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching is an

open access COURSE for the Australian Higher Education Sector.

This teaching induction course provides key introductory learning and teaching concepts and strategies for those who are in their first few years of university teaching. The self-paced course is comprised of 11expert-developed modules, and several specialty modules and resources.

For more information on how to enrol, please contact

Sheeja Samuel- email: ssamuel@csu.edu.au ph: +61 2 6051 9742, or

Kellie Smyth - email: ksmyth@csu.edu.au ph: +61 2 6272 6270

NOTE: Completion of this course will provide some credit and a pathway into the CSU Grad. Cert. in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education (GCLTHE). It can provide a basis for commencing preparation for Associate Fellowship (HEA).

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Regular seminars on teaching-related topics are listed on the

CSU Professional Learning Calendar - accessed directly here

or from the Division of Learning and Teaching front page - accessed here

CSU Professional Learning Calendar:

Your Digital Life: Can you Imagine? Community event, Wagga Wagga. 12 September 2018 at 4:30 pm OR

OLM Element Workshop: Interaction between Students Learning Communities Adobe Connect session. 13 September 2018

at 10:00 am

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All CSU students and staff members have access to Lynda.com, an online subscription library that teaches the latest business, creative and software skills through high-quality instructional videos.

________________________________________________________________

All staff with a CSU email address have free access to our annual

CSU subscription to the Magna Commons series of online seminars

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

How to subscribe

Staff with a CSU email address can obtain the Magna Commons CSU subscription code from Ellen McIntyre elmcintyre@csu.edu.au

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Suggest topics that you would like for Teaching Tuesdays; or
Share your own teaching tips article.

Click on the Green Contact Ellen McIntyre button (below, or at the top of the bulletin) to offer your suggestions.

Folder with all previous issues.

Issue 1 Group Work; Issue 2 Engagement; Issue 3 Engagement;

Issue 4 Academic Integrity; Issue 5 Feedback; Issue 6 Feedback;

Issue 7 Active Engagement; Issue 8 Building on Prior Learning;

Issue 9 Student Diversity; Issue 10 Learning Outcomes;

Issue 11 Deep Learning; Issue 12 The Teaching-Research Nexus;

Issue 13 Improving Student Learning; Issue 14 Planning for Effective Student Learning;
Issue 15 Feedback for Teaching; Issue 16 Gamification;
Issue 17 Activities for Effective Learning; Issue 18 Dialogic Feedback;

Issue 19 Student Evaluation; Issue 20 Enhancing Learning;
Issue 21 Rationale for Assessment; Issue 22 Motivating Learning; Issue 23 Peer Learning;
Issue 24 Improving Online Learning and Teaching;
Issue 25 Teacher Presence

FoBJBS Newsletter: BJBS-News

FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus

Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726
Twitter: @TeachingTuesday

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