Towards premium teaching & learning (SLE236)

Towards premium teaching & learning (SLE236)

1. Opportunities for social learning

   • Introduced group activities within practicals, e.g. students work together in pairs
     • Provided a forum where students can actively engage with their peers & are able to provide critical review of a key topic, e.g. peer assessed podcast
       • In response to COVID19, transitioned to virtual classes in Bb collaborate to foster an environment that supports greater connectivity & interaction
         • Need for improved mechanisms that foster peer-peer interaction in an online teaching environment, e.g. group assignment or journal club

2. Promoting motivation

   • Making the classroom an open, warm & friendly environment by sharing my own experiences, respecting the individuality of the students, & welcoming the expression of their own thoughts & ideas
     • Provide timely, individual, positive & constructive feedback on tasks, e.g. for podcast assignment, feedback was given immediately after delivery and focused on positive aspects (using positive language) of the podcast
       • Some classes were focused on current employment skills and needs in the sector and where they could fit in, e.g. introducing them to CSIRO in Geelong which has a focus on marine microbiology

3. Provision of formative feedback

   • Regular review and feedback on laboratory records to supportive summative (practical report) based assessment, e.g. formative rubric for lab book
     • Need for strategies that better guide students with their learning of class content (beyond revision lectures) for supporting summative (in-class test) based assessments, e.g. online activities that accompany weekly resources

4. Construction of an interconnected knowledge base

   • Scaffolding of theoretical & practical concepts (basic -> advanced) & accompanying assessment tasks; towards stronger independent understanding
     • Ensuring that content that is delivered is relevant to subsequent core Units within the course, e.g. oceanography, physiology, aquaculture etc.
       • Need for further approaches that promote inter-Unit connectivity, e.g. task that asks students to evaluate another Unit they have taken and identify how microbiology is relevant

5. Quality of teaching & learning

   • Content is relevant, interconnected & up to date with current understanding & use of technologies in the field (making use of textbook and latest publications); and comprising blended theory & practical sessions.
     • Use of authentic assessment tasks that students would encounter if employed in the industry/R&D sector; and which promote reflection (e.g. assessment task "Why Microbes Matter? [to you] - as a podcast; an industry standard executive summary compiled from prac work)
       • Associated material to help guide students in producing high quality assessments, e.g. well thought out rubrics with clear, key criteria & which are not overloaded with excessive numbers of items or levels
         • Need to seek additional activities that could further improve learning, e.g. special focus groups, guest lectures and/or industry visits

6. Provision of relevant learning tasks

   • Practical tasks have been designed to gradually build knowledge & skills by including a combination of traditional and current techniques used within the sector (and thus are "of value")
     • Tasks are designed to be achievable & to incorporate multi-disciplinary skills & concepts, e.g. content covers relevance of microbes in different sectors (from classical biology/ecology to oceanography to aquaculture to health); pracs tasks are multidisciplinary (covering ecology, bioinformatics & statistics) & outcome focused (e.g. prac results must be written up as an industry-like report)
       • Need to include additional activities that promote extended learning of concepts and how they can be applied, e.g. focus groups, journal club (centering on latest research), and/or industry visits

7. Enabling students to take control of their learning & to be reflective

   • Types of assessments embedded in the Unit, e.g. the podcast which had a flexible format which allowed the students to be creative and express their independence on a topic that matters to them ("Why Microbes Matter [to you]? assessment)
     • Questions in the in-class tests are designed to allow students to apply their knowledge to a scenario of their choice
       • Provision of additional resources which provide the students with an opportunity to extend their knowledge and understanding of a topic beyond what is delivered in classes and required in assessment pieces
         • Development of an activity that promotes independence in learning & reflection, e.g. peer-peer focused journal club where each student serves a different role each week in selecting & dissecting scientific literature