Featured Special Sessions

The TALE 2018 Organising Committee has organised some special sessions to aid in professional development and to introduce you to new technologies from Microsoft

Enhancing Class Interactivity

This special session is being run by academic staff members from the University of Wollongong Learning, Teaching and Curriculum team. It provides a professional development opportunity by providing an insight to Australian teaching practices.

The session is designed to assist teachers to enhance interactivity in their classrooms. It draws on learning theory, active learning pedagogy and the learning sciences to provide practical activities easily transferable to any teaching context. Teachers will walk away from this session equipped with a better understanding of how students learn, the benefits of active learning and strategies that can be immediately applied to enhance class interactivity.

The session aims to engage teachers in the following topics:

• Students: Who are they and how do they learn?

• How long can students pay attention in class?

• Purposes and strategies of active learning

• Simple, effective strategies from the learning sciences

• Designing for active learning

• Small teaching: The impact of making and evaluating small changes

Presenters: Dr Bonnie Dean and Dr Kathryn Harden-Thew

Dr Bonnie Amelia Dean is an Academic Developer at the University of Wollongong and has expertise in Higher Education teaching, learning and research. In this role, Bonnie partners with academics to enhance teaching and learning capacities and scholarship of teaching and learning practices. Bonnie has published in the areas of teaching in higher education, work-integrated learning, reflective assessment, casual teaching, doctoral studies and academic development. Her research interests lay in the areas of experiential and work-integrated learning as well as the scholarship of teaching

learning. Bonnie is Editor of the International Journal of Doctoral Studies and reviewer of several international Higher Education research journals. Bonnie is the previous recipient of the Australian College of Educators award and is Senior Fellow with the Higher Education Academy. his special session is being run by academic staff members from the University of Wollongong Learning, Teaching and Curriculum team. It provides a professional development opportunity by providing an insight to Australian teaching practices.

Dr Kathryn Harden-Thew joined the Academic Development & Research team (DVCA) in April 2014 and currently leads the review of teaching and learning for new and continuing teaching staff as well as professional development for sessional staff. Prior to this appointment, Kathryn worked in the School of Education (UOW) from 2008. Her research interests include transitions in education, professional development for teaching staff in higher education (including sessional staff) and barriers to educational success.

Kathryn is a Director on the Boards of Directors for the Australian College of Theology having previously acted as an external member of both the Coursework Committee and the Coursework Unit Review Panel. Kathryn is also an executive member of WATTLE (Wollongong Academy of Tertiary Teaching & Learning Excellence) committee.

Microsoft Technologies

Two sessions will be run by Microsoft to outline and discuss the application of new technologies to enhance learning and teaching.

Session 1: Microsoft Teams:

Overview: Engineering and IT degrees are increasing the amount of teamwork based subjects and components. Many teachers and academics struggle with selecting the right tools or even aware of the best tools to simplify the management and integration of teamwork. This session will guide teachers/academics through examples and features of Microsoft Teams in order to effectively manage or allow students to manage team work/projects.

Session 2: Microsoft HoloLens and AI

Overview: This session will aim to introduce HoloLens and AI technologies and how they are being used in education. To help academics develop an understanding of why introducing such technologies is important and to provide a basic understanding of how to get started.

Presented by: Megan Townes (Microsoft Learning Consultant)

Megan Townes has been a teacher for 10 years. She has worked as a primary, English, Computing, Drama, and PDHPE teacher. She is passionate about working with teachers to help them integrate technology into their classrooms and now works for Microsoft as a Learning Delivery Specialist where she works with teachers to help them to integrate the use of technology into their classrooms to engage and motivate students. Prior to this she worked at Abbotsleigh School for Girls (2011-2015) as an IT Integrator and English teacher where she worked extensively with staff and students to plan and deliver cross-curricular projects, professional learning and student IT leadership programs. Megan also worked at Richmond High School (2007-2011) as an English and Computing teacher where she implemented the Digital Education Revolution program including laptop rollouts, student bootcamps, teacher training and parent evenings. Megan is a self-confessed edugeek who loves connecting, sharing and learning with teachers across the world through social media.