With teaching methods currently a hot topic of conversation for educators and politicians alike, The University of Queensland will host leading experts on this subject during its 2005 Teaching and Learning Week.
UQ will focus on teaching and learning activities that are innovative, challenging and exceptional during the fourth annual event from October 31 to November 4. It will demonstrate its own innovative teaching methods throughout the week, including an iLabs (remote laboratories) project that is expanding the range of experiments students carry out.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Michael Keniger said the opportunity would also be available, through a number of workshops and forums, to engage teachers in discussions on issues that will impact on the student learning experience.
“Teaching and Learning Week includes a number of topical forums and showcases featuring guest presenters from Australian and international universities,” Professor Keniger said.
“We are delighted to have been able to attract several leaders in the Australian teaching and learning context to participate in the Week`s activities.”
UQ`s own outstanding teachers will be celebrated at the Teaching and Learning Excellence Awards at Customs House on October 31, one of the highlights of the Week.
“The Awards recognise the University`s inspirational teachers and teaching teams,” Professor Keniger said.
Guest Speaker, Professor Richard Johnstone, Executive Director-designate of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, will present five winners with $10,000 Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
Up to two groups will be presented with $20,000 Awards for Enhancement of Student Learning and up to three academics will be given $10,000 Awards for Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision.
UQ is currently working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US as a `hub` institution, implementing, supporting and redistributing MIT iCampus educational tools and pedagogies.
The MIT-UQ iCampus Outreach Program Collaboration will be launched during Teaching and Learning Week on November 2.
The program aims to disseminate innovative educational technology tools that can make a significant difference to how well and quickly students learn, how much they remember, and how fast they can shift from absorbing facts and concepts to creating new ideas and solutions.
As part of the program UQ will initially be focusing on the development of the iLabs (remote labs) and xTutor projects.
The iLabs project is dedicated to the proposition that online laboratories - real laboratories accessed through the Internet - can enrich science and engineering education. xTutor is a toolkit for creating online courses.
Other iCampus projects available for UQ adoption will also be discussed, including the MIT Online Assessment Tool, iMOAT; a Cross Media Annotation System (xMAS), developed to enhance the use of video and images in humanities classes; and Web-based Wireless Sensors for Education technology, iDAT.
Staff from UQ`s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) are pursuing a number of experiments based around iLabs technology and one of those experiments will be demonstrated as part of the official launch.
Information: www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning
The scheduled events will include:
October 31
- First year experience (FYE) forum
- Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Week Showcase
- Faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences forum to discuss first year experience initiatives
- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Teaching Excellence Awards (invitation only)
- NRAVS Faculty Distance Learning Enhancement Project Showcase
November 1
- Assessment - closing the feedback loop
- Internationalisation of teaching and learning: perspectives and case studies
November 2
- MIT-UQ iCampus Outreach Program Collaboration launch and Workshop
- NTEU teaching and learning forum
November 3-4
- The Effective Teaching and Learning Conference (registration necessary)
November 4
- Teaching in the enterprise university... and all that jazz
Details are also available on the UQ Events calendar: www.uq.edu.au/events
Media: For more information, contact Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
