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Leadership Workshop February 2011

Enhancing the Student Experience

The 2011 Leadership Workshop was held on 17 and 18 February with the theme: Enhancing the Student Experience as its focus.  The workshop objectives were as follows:

1. Teaching and Learning

  • To generate a common understanding of what students are saying about learning at UoN
  • To share knowledge of effective improvement practice through example case studies and the Wollongong experience
  • To encourage cross university cooperation to address barriers to improvement
  • To initiate collaborative Action Planning for implementation in 2011

2. Research Student Supervision

  • What makes a difference to the RHD student experience?

Over 100 participants attended the workshop including:

  • Members of the Executive Committee;
  • Deputy Heads of Faculty;
  • Heads of School and some Deputy Heads of School;
  • Assistant Deans (Teaching & Learning);
  • Directors and Managers from across the Divisions;
  • Managers / CEOs of University controlled entities including GradSchool, Newcastle Innovation and UoN Services; and
  • Members of the Vice Chancellor's Teaching & Learning Round Table.

Also participating were some of our award winning lecturers, eg Australian Learning & Teaching Council teaching excellence award winners, and the Vice-Chancellor's teaching excellence award winners.

The Agenda - Day 1

Introduction
The Overall Context, covered:

  • The results of a pre-workshop survey: perspectives on the student experience;
  • Student feedback: what do students and graduates say? (SFC, SCT, SFP, SFUN, CEQ, AUSSE, Student Forum);
  • Discussion of the main findings of the survey, and
  • Teaching & Learning challenges and their link with the case studies.

Case Studies
Five case studies were presented for discussion in small groups:

  • Students, Students, Students: why making yourself available to support their needs is critical (and beneficial to you!)
  • Student Transition: supporting students entering and leaving university life
  • Managing Large Courses: juggling students, casual staff, curriculum and oranges
  • Embedding Graduate Attributes & Generic Skills so that meaningful outcomes are achieved:  taking a holistic approach at UoN
  • Student Feedback: implementing the loop successfully

Student Experience and Engagement Working Party (SEEWP)
Following the case study discussion a presentation on the activities of the Student Experience and Engagement Working Party (SEEWP) was given by the Chair of the SEEWP, Professor Bill Hogarth, PVC (Academic). The presentation covered:

  • Determining strategies through themes: The Cohort Experience; The Learning Experience; The Uni Life Experience; and The Future Experience
  • What the data tells us
  • Areas the SEEWP are considering:  Faculty; IT Services; Facilities Management; Student Services; and UoN Services
  • Where to from here?
  • The importance of a communication flow to students

UoN Services
UoN Services staff talked about the principles guiding the UoN Services Strategy for the next three years under the headings of: Engagement, Support, Innovation and Sustainability.

Action Planning – Day 1
Following this presentation, Action Planning was introduced by Professor Bill Hogarth.  Participants selected a key them to discuss with each other on Day 2.

The Agenda – Day 2

Keynote Speaker
The Keynote Speaker was Professor Rob Castle, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International), University of Wollongong who discussed some of his findings on factors impacting the student experience, and how Wollongong is maintaining and improving student satisfaction.

Action Planning – Day 2
Action Planning around the following themes was worked on in small groups:

  • Improving learning and teaching
  • Being responsive
  • Prioritising students
  • Accommodating diversity
  • Improving how we communicate
  • Meeting student expectations
  • Inclusiveness

The results of the action planning session will be shaped into recommendations for circulation to the group in due course.  These recommendations will be implemented at both the university-wide and local levels.

The RHD Student Experience
A number of the university’s RHD students joined the workshop to add their voice to this session which covered:

  • A history of the Office of Graduate Studies from 2006 – 2011
  • The effects of implemented structures and resources
  • Where to from here?
  • What would we like to see every Research Higher Degree candidate experience at UoN?

This wrapped up the workshop.

Workshop Coordination
The workshop program was coordinated by Organisational Development; Planning, Quality and Reporting; and the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Workshop Feedback
The average rating of the workshop was 4, with 86% of the respondents giving a rating of 4 or 5 out of 5 (5 being excellent).

The common valuable aspects of the workshop included the opportunity to hear colleagues’ viewpoints and participate in a collegial environment, the collaborative ideas that came out of the action planning groups, the opportunity to participate in a productive environment and to gain a shared perspective around improving the quality of the student experience, information sharing, and the importance of academic staff and professional staff working together to solve common issues.

In respect of improvements the general issue was the slow response to change, the need for more support for real change, particularly from senior leaders, the need to ensure that the plans and actions resulting from the workshop are communicated to the University community, and the need to ensure that the workshop outcomes are translated into action.