May 22, 2018







Charles Sturt University, Australia is one of 17 finalists in the 2018
Global Teaching Excellence Award

Creative in our thinking, yet rigorous in our approach, we drive and lead change and evolution. Through living the value of “inspiring” we engage and motivate our students to proactively build innovation and capacity into their lives, careers and industries.

There are many benefits to drawing on your own research and that of your colleagues for teaching your students. Student motivation and engagement and developing the next generation of researchers are only two of the possible outcomes. Have you thought about ways of incorporating your research into your teaching?

This week’s bulletin is the next in our series examining teaching strategies that support the nine Dimensions of Teaching (Crisp et al., 2009 – see below).

Dimension 6: Actively uses links between research and teaching.

Associate Professor Gabrielle Baldwin from the University of Melbourne produced the 2005 Teaching-Research Nexus report for the university on "how research informs and enhances learning and teaching". Full of practical strategies, her report provides clear insights into the value of linking your research and your teaching.

By Gabrielle Baldwin

Source: The Teaching-Research Nexus. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne. Retrieved from https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/

This 11-page document can be downloaded from the above website source. It contains practical suggestions for actively using links between research and teaching with the main focus on how your own disciplinary research and that of your colleagues can be used to inform your teaching.

QUOTE: Most undergraduates would not have any idea of the research interests and strengths of the staff in the departments in which they are studying.

1. Draw on your own personal research in designing and teaching courses

a. This can be as the focus of a module, or just a single lecture.

b. Introducing your own research experiences into classes in the form of illustration can help students to understand ideas, concepts and theories.

2. Place the latest research in the field in its historical context in your classroom teaching

a. This section discusses the potential benefits and challenges of this approach.

b. Benefit: can provide student motivation as being part of an intellectual adventure.

c. Benefit: helps to avoid the 'cardinal academic sin' of teaching clearly outmoded theories or practices.

d. Benefit: offers valuable insights into the ‘messiness’ of reality and the provisional nature of knowledge.

3. Design learning activities around contemporary research issues

a. For example, investigate the status of a current research question.

b. This section includes practical tips for different types of tasks that will also incorporate graduate learning outcomes.

4. Teach research methods, techniques and skills explicitly within subjects

a. Fits naturally within practical laboratory-based subjects.

b. But, also research methods or skills subjects.

c. Knowledge and skill level should be developed across a course.

5. Build small-scale research activities into undergraduate assignments

a. Builds on skills that are now being developed in pre-tertiary education.

b. Analyse real-world data.

c. Can incorporate group work to complete different parts of a research project.

6. Involve students in departmental research projects

a. Undergraduate students are a great intellectual resource.

b. Benefits for both students and departments.

c. ‘On-the-job’ learning.

7. Encourage students to feel part of the research culture of departments

a. Establish ‘special interest groups’ to meet from time to time.

b. Make students aware of the research activities of your colleagues.

8. Infuse teaching with the values of researchers

a. This section lists 14 significant values, including objectivity, scepticism, honesty, respect for evidence, openness to the new, tolerance, analytical rigour, persistence.

b. A powerful pedagogical strategy is to admit uncertainty.

c. Another effective procedure is to canvass opposing views on an issue.

9. Conduct and draw on research into student learning to make evidence-based decisions about teaching

a. This means research in the field of Education, on student learning and the student experience.

b. Part of the function of the Division of Learning and Teaching is to distil the research literature into accessible forms for busy academics, including Teaching Tuesdays.

c. You may also wish to conduct research into teaching and learning yourself in order to make evidence-based decisions – see the following section on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Examples of research reports:

• Naidoo, K., Haigh, N., Holmes, A., Kuiper, A., et al. Unlocking student learning: The impact of teaching and learning enhancement initiatives (TLEIs) on first year university Students. Retrieved from http://www.tiri.org.nz/
  
• Prebble, T. Hargraves, H., Leach, L., Naidoo, K., Suddaby, G., & Zepke, N. Impact of student support services and academic development programmes on student outcomes in undergraduate tertiary study: A synthesis of the research. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/
  

And, if you have the time, check out this recent 184-page book discussing research-based teaching. Free to download: A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education.

• Have you been trialling learning and teaching innovations in your subject, and wish to learn how to design a scholarly project for publication based on your work?
  
• Do you wish to learn to write abstracts for learning and teaching conferences or manuscripts for teaching journals?
  

If so, why not gather together your School campus-based colleagues and invite me to facilitate a f2f or online workshop to assist you to achieve your goal.

Individual consultations are also encouraged.

Contact: Dr Deb Clarke, Learning Academy, DLT

Phone: 63384475

Email: dclarke@csu.edu.au

also

HERDSA Modules: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERSDA) has developed a series of modules to build capacity in SoTL.

Five self-paced modules will guide you through the process of conceptualising, designing and conducting a SoTL project, writing and disseminating your findings. CSU has purchased an Institutional licence for all staff, not just HERSDA Members. To gain free access to the modules, please contact Matthew Larnach (mlarnach@csu.edu.au).

Follow Teaching Tuesdays on Twitter.
Our Twitter feed includes links to further hints, tips and resources in the broader field of teaching in higher education. https://twitter.com/TeachingTuesday

How to Do Great Research: The Relationship between Teaching and Research

(how: research affects teaching & teaching affects research)

Learning and Teaching Quick Guides from Edinburgh Napier University

(engagement, feedback, assessment, creating exemplars)

Beyond the Binder: 3 Strategies for Empowering Digital Tool Use in the Classroom

(organising, tagging, mind mapping)

Opening a New Path to Success – A Journey with Open Textbooks
(zero-textbook cost degrees, the "Five R's of Open")

Tools and Techniques for Improving Subject Accessibility

(See Magna Commons instructions below for free CSU subscription instructions to this source)

We have three more Dimensions of Teaching to explore in the next three weeks.

The next series will be based around teaching strategies to maximise positive student responses in the Subject Experience Survey.

Suggest topics that you would like to see in 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.

Dimension 6: Actively uses links between research and teaching

Indicative teaching strategies for demonstrating this dimension may include:

• emphasising, where appropriate, links between research outcomes and learning

• using research links appropriately, given the level of student conceptual development

• raising students' awareness of what constitutes research

Adapted from: Crisp, G. et al (2009) Peer Review of Teaching for Promotion Purposes: a project to develop and implement a pilot program of external Peer Review of Teaching at four Australian universities, University of Adelaide, an ALTC-funded project, 2007-8. Final Project Report June 2009. Thanks to RMIT and UNSW.

The nine Dimensions of Teaching are the key focus areas that underpin the main elements in the Peer Review of Teaching Practice templates used at CSU for both formative teaching development or to evidence your teaching in, for example, your promotion application.

(See Peer Review of Educational Practice at CSU).

You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you draw the links between research and 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

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: Teaching the ETHICS Graduate Learning Outcome.

Adobe Connect session 29 May 2018 at 12:00 pm

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.

A search for 'teaching research' with a filter for Higher Education returned a smorgasbord of choice ranging from general teaching tips, to keynote lectures, to the specifics of various tools and applications for building deep learning.

Try this one for fun and some cool tips:

Monday Productivity Pointers.

Short videos ranging from 2 to 10 minutes in length of tools and tips to help make today's software and devices work more efficiently and powerfully for you.

This total of 23 hours of combined tips that has received more than 1 million hits!

Transforming Assessment, Next webinar session: 6 June 2018.

Panel Chair: Patrick Craven, Vice Chair, e-Assessment Association, UK.
A panel style review by selected awardees from eAAwards 2018.
Panel presenters:

• Gareth Hegarty, International Baccalaureate, "Delivering high stakes e-assessment at scale across four subject areas and a unique examination testing interdisciplinary skills".
• Captain John Lloyd, RD, MBA, FNI, The Nautical Institute, "Robust and repeatable e-assessment across 92 testing centres, in 30 countries, controlled from headquarters in London".
• Professor Graham Orpwood, Vretta Inc. "Personalized, interactive e-assessments in numeracy with immediate diagnostic feedback, developed in collaboration with colleges in Ontario, Canada".

Further information and FREE registration: http://ta.vu/6jun2018
-------------------------------
Further information: The Transforming Assessment webinars are part of a series of free events covering a range of assessment and e-assessment topics.

Sessions are hosted by Professor Geoffrey Crisp, PVC Education, University of New South Wales and Dr Mathew Hillier, Monash Education Academy, Monash University, Australia.
Further information on this and future events, recordings of past sessions, and links to resources can be found on the website at transformingassessment.com

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

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

The Teaching-Research Nexus. Try a Magna Commons search for Research, and filter for "Faculty" topics that seem relevant, such as:

- Motivate, Engage, and Inspire: Tips for Teaching Modern Learners

Magna Commons suggests these seminars to watch in the coming month:

From ensuring success of specific student populations to avoiding the teaching hazards that threaten instructor success, this month’s focus is designing effective and meaningful educational experiences. Below are some seminars related to success:

- Practical Strategies to Improve Student Retention in Online Classes

- Dealing with Student Behaviors that Compromise Learning

Folder with all previous issues.

Issue#1 Group Work: Seven Strategies to Enhance Learning through Group Work

Issue#2 Engagement: 10 Ways to Engage Your Students on the First Day of Class
Issue#3 Engagement: Motivate, Engage, and Inspire: Tips for Teaching Modern Learners

Issue#4 Academic Integrity: Why Students Cheat and What We Can Do About It

Issue#5 Feedback: Efficient and Effective Feedback in the Online Classroom

Issue#6 Feedback: Leveraging Technology to Support Effective Assessment Feedback Practices

Issue#7 Active Engagement: Three Strategies for Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences

Issue#8 Building on Prior Learning: How the Brain Learns: Implications for Teaching & Learning

Issue#9 Student Diversity: Using Brief Interventions to Maximize Student Learning

Issue#10 Learning Outcomes: Should I share my learning outcomes with my students?

Issue#11 Deep Learning: Facilitate Deep Learning and Student Engagement through Socratic Questioning

FoBJBS Newsletter: BOLD Issue#15

FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus Issue#2

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

To have TeachingTuesdays@CSU delivered direct to your inbox,
click on the orange button
Follow Ellen McIntyre (below, or at the top of the bulletin)