SaMnet of Australian university educators
Call for Action-Learning Project Proposals
What is SaMnet of Australian university educators?
SaMnet is a new national network that brings together university academics to collaborate on national issues in university science and mathematics education. It is working co-operatively with discipline networks and universities to develop educational leaders, to foster and spread best practices, and to promote cultural change in university teaching and learning. SaMnet has been conceived to provide a coherent voice on policy related to university science, and it represents a source of expertise for science faculties in areas such as curriculum review. To support more frequent and productive communication and collaborations, SaMnet is coordinating regional and online meetings as well as a national website.
Over the next two years, SaMnet will focus on (1) learning and teaching standards for science and mathematics, (2) dissemination of more effective and efficient approaches to laboratory exercises and inquiry learning, (3) effective use of learning technologies and new media, and (4) leadership training for science and mathematics lecturers.
Collaboration
SaMnet is currently funded by a leadership grant from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council / Learning and Teaching Excellence (DEEWR). It will work closely with the new Discipline networks:
VIBEnet: Vision and Innovation in Biology Education
Charlotte Taylor (USyd), Pauline Ross (UWS), Sue Jones (UTas), Liz Johnson (La Trobe)
Chemistry Discipline Network
Madeleine Schultz (QUT)
Australian Mathematical Sciences Learning & Teaching Network
Dann Mallet (QUT)
CUBEnet: Collaborative University Biomedical Education Network
Phil Porronik (RMIT), Yvonne Hodgson (Monash), Janet Macaulay (Monash), Susan Howitt (ANU),
Peter Thorn (UQ), Louise Lutze-Mann (UNSW)
Physics Education Network
Margaret Wegener (UQ) Les Kirkup (UTS), Manjula Sharma (USYD), Johan du Plessis (RMIT),
Marjan Zadnik (Curtin), Anna Wilson (ANU)
Inquiry Learning Fellowship Project
Les Kirkup (UTS)
SaMnet Action-Learning Projects
SaMnet offers a model for collaborative teaching and learning projects. The team undertaking each project are supported by advice, peer review, and leadership training from SaMnet. SaMnet will assist project participants to disseminate their work and to publish in scholarly teaching and learning journals. In its first two years, SaMnet will work with at least 25 action-learning projects across Australia.
SaMnet leaders:
Manjula Sharma (USyd), Will Rifkin (USyd), Stephanie Beames (QUT)
Steering Committee:
Sue Jones (UTas), Cristina Varsavsky (Monash), Andrea Crampton (CSU), Marjan Zadnik (Curtin),
Brian Yates (UTas), Liz Johnson (La Trobe), Kelly Matthews (UQ)
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SaMnet of Australian university educators
Contact: Email: Web: www.samnet.edu.au
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SaMnet of Australian university educators
Action-Learning Project Proposal form
Send proposal to by 10 December 2011.
Selection criteria:
A. Emphasis on changing how a collective teaches
B. Rationale and evidence on why the change is needed
C. Potential for impact on applicant, teammates, school, faculty, and discipline
------Please type in the grey fields. ------
1. Project title:
2. Applicant team details
Each team needs the expertise of all of the following.
Not every team member must be from the same university.
2.1 Innovative (or junior) academic* - Sees the change that is needed
Name: E-mail: .edu.au
Discipline: Faculty:
2.2 Senior Academic* - Understands the challenges of creating change
Name: E-mail: .edu.au
Discipline: Faculty:
2.3 Educational developer, Academic staff developer, or equivalent** -
Knows cases beyond the faculty and relevant concepts from the literature
Name: E-mail: .edu.au
Department: Role:
2.4 Associate Dean (Education) or equivalent** - Has faculty–wide insight and
knows priorities
Name: E-mail: .edu.au
Discipline: Faculty:
* If the ‘senior academic’ is the one with the innovation, select a junior academic to mentor
in the proposed change initiative.
** Need assistance in finding someone for a role (e.g., staff developer)? Leave a blank for that role. Make a note in Section 7. We will help to identify someone for you.
3. Project Scope (the collective being addressed)
3.1 Target Degree programs, Years of study, and Disciplines
3.2 Number of Colleagues in your dept/school/faculty you aim to influence: ***
(***Keep a list of names, and refer to it to assess progress.)
4. Project Description (rationale and evidence)
4.1. Aims - What you want to change (e.g., nature of lab work in second year)
4.2. Innovation - Alternative you propose to implement (e.g., exploratory labs)
4.3. Rationale - Why this change is needed (e.g., failure & dropout rates)
4.4. Precedent - What previous cases, and literature, say about how to embed this change
5. Outcomes (potential for impact)
5.1. Quality - Expected outcomes if successful (e.g., higher pass rates)
5.2. Causal factors - Why you anticipate these outcomes (e.g., students/staff more engaged)
5.3. Scale –
(a) Number of subjects and number of students in each subject affected (small scale is fine, as is large scale; we want to know that your plans fit the scope of your effort)
(b) Number of staff (including sessional) directly involved, and in what roles
5.4. Evaluation –
(a) Data that will be used to indicate improved student learning (e.g., final exam marks, increased progression/retention)
(b) Data that will be used to infer impact on yourself, teammates, school, faculty
(e.g., numbers attending a departmental seminar, number using a new approach)
5.5. Dissemination –
(a) Who could benefit from a published case study on your proposed effort?
(b) How you will engage the faculty, university, discipline (e.g., committee report,
conference presentation)
6. Project Implementation
6.1. Capabilities – Capacities you and others need to institute the change, clear roadblocks, etc. (e.g., persuasive ability)
6.2 Community of practice – Which SaMnet ‘community of practice’ seems most relevant to
supporting your effort, and why?
(a) Learning and teaching academic standards
(b) Learning in laboratories & inquiry learning
(c) New media, ICT’s, and communication
(d) Other area of focus
6.3. Timeline – Main activities planned for each time period
(a) January-June 2012
(b) July-December 2012
(c) January-June 2013
(d) July-December 2013
7. Comments or Questions
· Identify aspects of your proposal where you need help - e.g., assistance in assembling your team, fitting your project to the headings provided above, identifying relevant precedents. We can assist you in completing the proposal before the due date.
FAQ’s
0. Submitting the proposal
Proposals are limited to 4 pages, and they must be in 11pt or 12pt font with healthy margins.
Microsoft Word is preferred to PDF, as it is easier for us to comment on your proposal.
More than one proposal may be submitted from any individual, team, school, faculty, or university.
1. What counts as an Action-Learning Project / ‘change initiative’?
The Action-Learning Projects are ‘change initiatives’ in that they are a way to address a problem that you see in your school or faculty. That could be a high dropout rate for majors or heavy emphasis on final exams. An action-learning project can also be a way to disseminate a teaching strategy that you have developed or means to implement a new curriculum. For example, do you have a method for improving feedback to students that ought to be used more widely?
What we are not counting as a ‘change initiative’ is an experiment in teaching that you are not planning to embed more broadly within your school or beyond. A change initiative takes an idea – an invention – and turns it into an ‘innovation’ – something that others are taking up.
2. What if I have already started the effort?
It is fine if you have already started. These action-learning projects have been conceived to support people to do things that they want to do anyway, and to learn through this pursuit via our support.
You are welcome to apply to SaMnet for assistance with a project that is already internally funded. SaMnet will also support a project funded by the ALTC fellowship in inquiry learning (c/- Les Kirkup) or a curriculum mapping effort with Beverley Oliver, to name two of many examples.
3. Can I use a smaller team for the project?
SaMnet Action Learning Projects call for teams involving people with different kinds of expertise. Assure that you have the range of expertise requested. A team made up of two mid-career science academics is unlikely to have the capacity that is required. You are welcome to involve someone from another university. You can also use someone who is engaged in other SaMnet action-learning projects or other ALTC-type projects. Need help gathering a full complement of team members with suitable expertise? Note that in your proposal form, and SaMnet will assist.
4. Why publish a case study?
Publications are a way for energy invested to improve teaching to ‘score points’ in research. Having sufficient publications for promotion can be a hurdle for teaching-focused academics.
SaMnet has arranged for two, Australian-based journals to accept case studies on attempts to drive change in a school, a faculty, or more broadly. These publications can be descriptive; no particular knowledge of change management literature is required. You will need research ethics clearance for recording, analysing, and publishing what colleagues and students say during your change initiative. SaMnet can assist you in preparing your research ethics submission.
A journal article on your action-learning project/change initiative enables you to rationalise investing a portion of your research time in the effort. Recording the case study also forces you to reflect. That is essential for adult learning. Case studies provide much needed data for academics with knowledge of the literature on driving change in university teaching. They will analyse the cases, citing your work, to create further publications that will inform the efforts of others. Collectively over time we will have sufficient understanding of our Australian context to systematically influence decisions and effect change.
5. What if my Action-Learning Project has limited success?
Null or negative results are viable options. SaMnet action-learning projects are not premised on a promise of 100-percent success. However, it is important to avoid ‘reinventing the flat tyre’, failing in a way that experienced hands (and the literature) would readily predict.
Our action-learning projects are meant to increase your understanding of what it takes to lead change. You can learn to connect with the right people in the right way and to successfully navigate university politics. You can also learn through reflection on new experiences.
The outcome of your effort is meant to be an increase in the capacity to drive change for you and your teammates. The record of what you tried, what worked, and what failed to work informs others who face similar challenges.
6. Can you provide support funding in small, unmarked bills?
SaMnet provides support in the form of leadership development training, coaching, networking, and mentoring in both management and publication. There is no funding provided by SaMnet for teaching relief or research assistants. A SaMnet initiative is meant to be part of your weekly investment in research or administration.
You will be rewarded with increased capability to persuade and lead. You will gain an internal sense of accomplishment. You will become part of a larger community, a movement to improve university teaching in science and mathematics in Australia. You will earn ‘points’ with publications. You will also contribute toward lifting the profile of academics who apply their intellect to improving teaching, a key objective of SaMnet.
7. How often should the team meet?
You will need to determine the frequency of team meetings. Consider the scope of your change initiative, your timeline, and the availability of the individuals involved. An exchange of e-mails once a month is not enough. Meeting twice a week could be too much.
Your whole team does not need to gather at every meeting, unless you find that to be particularly productive. However, it makes no sense to keep one team member on the margins, including them just to satisfy our criteria. Each team member’s expertise is useful and should be fully utilised.
8. How are the change initiatives selected for SaMnet support?
Proposals are assessed in terms of how likely the action-learning project is to boost the capacity of team members to lead change (criteria A & C listed at the top of the application form). Would the project stretch your capacity in dealing with a range of stakeholders? We are also looking for projects that address areas of need locally and across the sector (criteria B & C). For example, one might address laboratory learning in tight financial times or learning standards when catering to a more diverse student body.
SaMnet has a target to support 25 change initiatives for 2011-2013. We can support more action-learning projects if the demand is there. Your proposal will be assessed by members of the SaMnet steering committee who do not work in your state. Feedback on all proposals will be provided.
9. How important are the leadership development workshops?
The leadership development workshops provide insight into how to understand and persuade others, i.e., how to lead change. They include opportunities to reflect on how your project is going and to compare notes with others. They are essential for adapting insights from the study of organisations to suit the Australian academic context. You will adapt and create insights that others can use.
The workshops will occur in selected capital cities in February 2012 and February 2013. Online, video-conference meetings are planned for July 2012 and July 2013. Project teams will need to be represented at the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education in late September 2012 and late September 2013. Additional opportunities for project participants to gather or present locally, online, and nationally will be highlighted.
10. Why me?
The culture of teaching in university science and mathematics needs to change. Many people have developed new and more effective ways to teach and assess. The ALTC and its predecessors have funded more than 70 projects across the disciplines of science and mathematics. Such individual initiatives now need to gain traction locally, in your university, to instil sector-wide change.
1/11/11 -- altc nation leadership network in sci & maths \ action learning projects \ prop form
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