September 2009 — Volume 3, Issue 5

Powerful professional development

By Marcia Devlin and Nicolette Lee

Student engagement is critical to the quality of the student experience and to student retention, progress and
completion, and is firmly on the federal government agenda. A clear indication of their interest in student engagement is apparent in the government response to the Bradley Review.

In addition, the government’s in-principle support of the Bradley recommendation that each Australian university administer and report on the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) annually means that student engagement is likely to continue to have a central place in teaching and learning in Australian universities.

In August, more than 130 staff from eight Victorian universities gathered over a two-day period to participate in
critical conversations about student engagement. Co-hosted by Deakin University and Swinburne University of Technology, the conversation was led by current holders of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Prime Minister’s University Teaching Excellence Award, Professors Marnie Hughes-Warrington and Stephen Barkoczy, of Monash University.

Deakin’s Higher Education Research Group (HERG) and Swinburne Professional Learning (SPL) collaborated to bring the two outstanding educators to the event.

Marnie and Stephen provided much food for thought through their presentations and contributions to discussions held at the end of each of the two sessions, one held at each of Deakin and Swinburne’s
Melbourne campuses.

Marnie’s moving quotes from students demonstrated the engagement of students as individuals in their own learning and development through self assessment. She also pointed to the importance of disciplinary differences when considering how best to engage students.

Stephen’s ideas about student engagement centred on the development of professional skills through ensuring the relevance of learning objectives and activities, and connecting learning across courses. He led discussion about the ways in which student cohort characteristics can impact on teacher choices in relation to student engagement.

The two-day event provided a powerful professional development opportunity for academic and general staff alike, and for those both at the coalface and in leadership positions within institutions. Feedback from those who attended indicated a strong appreciation of evidence-based, practical advice from leading educators who are clearly enthusiastic about teaching.

Feedback also indicated that teaching staff who had attended the event intended to make changes to their practice to better engage students. Reflecting on the session, one colleague remarked, “I’ll consider embracing the use of students preferred medium of learning (YouTube, blogs) instead of fighting it”.

Other participants referred to the ideas of formatting the first lecture to provide an overview of the whole curriculum of the subject and to summarising each class in a final slide at the end of each lecture.

Teaching and learning leaders from both Deakin and Swinburne noted the benefits of a collaborative endeavour such as this. The opportunities to attend an event are extended, with one session of the event held on the Burwood campus of Deakin and the other held on the Swinburne Hawthorn campus the following day. The opportunities to meet colleagues from other universities were also expanded and, so too, therefore, were the opportunities to meet potential collaborators with whom to engage in teaching and learning projects and higher education research.

We are very grateful to Marnie and Stephen for making the time to participate in this innovative event and for their generosity in sharing their expertise with us. We look forward to collaborating with Victorian and other colleagues in similar initiatives underpinned by the work of the ALTC.

*Professor Marcia Devlin is Chair in Higher Education Research and Director of the Higher Education Research Group at Deakin University and Ms Nicolette Lee is Academic Director, Swinburne Professional Learning at Swinburne University of Technology.