Workshops for New Casual Academics

Are you looking for a professional development opportunity at UTS? IML is offering a series of workshops designed to give casual academics new to UTS a paid opportunity to participate in a range of practical and popular, interactive sessions.

Unfortunately, paid workshop places are now filled.
Registrations for some Learning Technology Showcase sessions are still open.

2018 Workshop Descriptions:

1. INTRODUCTION TO LEARNING.FUTURES IN QUALITATIVE TUTORIALS
Monday 26 March, 10:00-12:30
This introductory workshop is designed for casual academics who are tutoring in subjects where is there is a focus on discussion and an expectation that students will develop their critical thinking and communication. The session will offer some key considerations and practical strategies for facilitating successful student learning in tutorials. We will be discussing some of the fundamental things that can help students and teachers get the most out of these classes, including: Learning.Futures, the purpose of tutorials; planning and running good tutorials; dealing with common issues; as well as how you can build on your experiences. The workshop is relevant to law, communications, education, design, business and transdisciplinary subject tutorials and complements the Quantitative Tutorials workshop offered in the same timeslot.

2. LEARNING.FUTURES IN QUANTITATIVE TUTORIALS
Monday 26 March, 10:00-12:30
This workshop is designed for casual academics who are tutoring in subjects such as maths, finance, economics, accounting, science, and engineering, where is there is a quantitative focus and an expectation that students will develop their problem-solving skills and their understanding of difficult concepts. The session will suggest and demonstrate approaches for making these classes more active, engaging and inclusive so they produce better learning outcomes for students. You will also be introduced to the UTS services provided for students who may be need extra support for the subjects you are teaching.

3. INTRODUCTION TO TEACHING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
Monday 26 March, 2:30-5:00
This workshop will focus on practical strategies to enhance the engagement of first year students in your classes. It includes activities for diverse cohorts, collaborative classroom approaches, making assessments clear and how to nurture student’s sense of belonging. We will align these activities to Transition Pedagogy, an evidence based approach to building student success in their first year at university and discuss a range of practical strategies.

4. ACTIVE LEARNING IN UTSONLINE
Tuesday 27 March, 10:00-12:30
This workshop is for casual academics who would like to improve their students’ experiences of learning with UTSOnline. UTSOnline is utilised in all subjects taught across the university to support students’ active learning on campus, as well as online. In this session you will be introduced to ways of optimising the most significant and practical uses and features of UTSOnline. You will have an opportunity to engage in hands-on site design and to select from the workshop the elements that best meet your needs.

5. ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK
Wednesday 28 March, 10:00-12:30
This session is for anyone who assesses students, provides feedback or designs formative and summative assessments. The Learning.Futures approach to assessment at UTS prioritises authentic assessment opportunities, as well as significant opportunities for students to receive feedback on their learning. In this workshop we discuss how more traditional forms of assessment, such as essays and examinations, can be adapted to have greater application to real world settings. The session will also enable you to apply the principles of good assessment practice and feedback, not only as part of formal assessment, but also by making use of class or online activities; peer feedback; self-assessment and criteria benchmarking: which can all help make this important part of learning more effective and engaging for students.

6. USING FEEDBACK TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES
Wednesday 28 March, 2:30-5:00
This workshop is designed for tutors and coordinators who want to provide students with effective feedback on their written and oral communication. In an interactive session we will share a range of practical strategies to enable you to develop timely and useful feedback for students on their communication practices. We will focus on clarifying assessment task requirements and incorporating learning activities to provide formative feedback. Participants are asked to bring along sample assessment tasks from the subjects they teach to ensure the relevance and interactivity of the workshop.

7. ACTIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM
Thursday 29 March, 10:00-12:30
This session is relevant for new and ongoing casual academics. In this workshop we will explore ways of starting off well with your students and encouraging effective learning and teaching from the beginning of semester in lectures and tutorials. Interpersonal interactions and engagement techniques aligned to the UTS Learning.Futures strategy will be explored. This highly participative session will enable you to experience the effects of various techniques and how your students may benefit from them.

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We are also offering Learning Technology Showcases

The showcases give you the chance to get a quick demonstration of some of the core learning technology tools used for assessment at UTS and to ask questions of our team. For information and registration details please click here. 

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TO REGISTER:

Register your interest by selecting a maximum of two of the workshops in ‘Bookings’ below.

Confirmations for eligible participants will be sent by email within three working days of receipt of your registration. We will notify you if a place is available and confirm the room numbers for your workshop/s.

Paid attendance is restricted to participants with an eligible current casual teaching contract at UTS*. Payment is for up to two workshops of 2.5 hours at the current ’Other Academic Activity’ (1) rate of $46.14 per hour. Priority will be given in the first instance to casual academics who are new to UTS (or have not participated in previous UTS Casual Academics Workshops (or Conferences).

Casual academics who have attended in the past can also register their interest and will be advised if a place is available.

All workshops include a refreshment break (however lunch is not provided).

* Please note: Staff who are in full-time or fractional academic employment at UTS in addition to their casual academic contract are not eligible for payment.

PLEASE SELECT UP TO 2 WORKSHOPS BELOW