Beverley Miles | Macquarie University (original) (raw)
Book Chapters by Beverley Miles
The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young peo... more The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young people and their families when even the most supportive conditions exist. For young people who have been through the refugee process, it can be particularly fraught for a number of reasons. These may include, for example, challenges associated with the development of language competence, coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and its various manifestations and dealing with significant different in cultural expectations between family and school. In this chapter we present a case study of a university/school collaborative mentoring program that targeted young people from refugee backgrounds in Western Sydney, Australia. Issues associated with development and implementation of the program are presented and discussed along with some early evaluative data on program effectiveness. Based on this evaluative evidence, we conclude with some recommendations for future developments in this area.
Articles by Beverley Miles
AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, 2022
Who is disadvantaged and who is privileged when we only use structured problems and prescribed, t... more Who is disadvantaged and who is privileged when we only use structured problems and prescribed, traditional written text-based methods of assessing learning?
This central question prompted the introduction of learner-generated digital media ePortfolio artefacts in archaeology.
ePortfolio design justice unbinds teachers and learners from perpetuating privilege (settler/invader, socioeconomic, neurotypical, metropolitan, native speaking, etc.) by centering and celebrating multimodality, multiple literacies, and multiple ways of doing.
Providing students with agency to determine the media they choose to communicate their learning promotes engagement, creativity, and equity in assessment by inverting the traditional academic value of content reproduction rather rewarding imagination, experimentation, and audience engagement.
This paper from a teacher-learner team using Retrospective Collaborative Autoethnography (RCA) shares the assessment strategy, design, delivery, reception, and iteration of digital multimodal text ePortfolio artefacts in two archaeology units in an Australian higher education context over three years in response to this design justice call to action.
We briefly present the design justice case for alternative non-traditional multimodal assessment and share the practice of decoding design decisions as teachers and learners by using students as partners, contributing student pedagogy, and a pedagogy of care as academic activism.
Finally, we explore (1) how open-ended authentic tasks empower learner self-expression and personal epistemology development; (2) how this approach cultivates deep, rich learning, and critical reflection on self and world; and (3) how creative, integrative, personally meaningful learning with a focus beyond the final product unleashes and amplifies voices often silenced by the written wor(l)d.
Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 2017
Ancient Ways of Doing As self-appointed learning and teaching student partners in the Telemachus ... more Ancient Ways of Doing
As self-appointed learning and teaching student partners in the Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (Tele’s Angels) at Macquarie University, and avid scholars of the discipline of Ancient History, we are very familiar with Aristotle’s peripatetic style of engagement with his pupils at the Lyceum, Athens —walking and talking. What a joy it was to learn that the archaeological evidence at Nalanda University in India (established in AD 450) revealed that student and teaching living spaces were adjacent to a large learning space around a central podium. Both of these examples came into being long before Humboldt’s (1970) articulation of students’ direct involvement in speculative thinking and research communities without strictly planned courses in nineteenth century AD. Or indeed before Benjamin’s (2004) framing of the measure of university’s success through the productivity of its students—positioning students simultaneously as both teachers and learners in the twentieth century. When did the prominent role of students as active partners in the production and progress of knowledge cease to be standard or best practice? Now, as staff contributors to higher education over the past decade, we wonder: why is it so difficult to gain support for students as partners (SaP) projects, whether it be for institutional funding, or for departmental and faculty peer endorsement and collaboration? Is it because it is perceived as a risky non-traditional pedagogy, despite historical evidence to the
contrary? Could the answer lie in seminal SaP experiences in our own learning history/ies? Perhaps reflection on answers to these questions may provide opportunities to challenge and transform cultures towards SaP initiatives and ensure their sustainability as a fundamental learning experience within higher education.
Social Learning Conference, 2017
When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is... more When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is it time to change your methods? This is the problem addressed in an experimental unit assessment reform in a second-year linguistic unit. Learning designers in partnership with the unit teaching team, co-created a non-traditional approach to transform one assessment task to address three goals: (a) to better facilitate the co-creation of knowledge and negotiation of communicating ideas amongst groups of students; (b) to expand student assessment literacy and empower student selfregulation using dialogic, collectivist, multi-sourced and developmental feedback methods; and (c) to create a deeply engaging, creative and challenging interactive learning opportunity to develop personal epistemologies. The new assessment strategy included: (i) a co-created rubric activity between teachers and students, (ii) assigned groups collaborating to develop short reusable learning objects (videos), (iii) the group submission, the application of peer review using a peer marking tool, (iv) the submission of an individual reflection on both, individual contribution to the group task, and a response by each student (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) to the peer feedback, (v) review (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) by other group members of each individual evaluation, and (vi) the release of final marks. This presentation will discuss the results of this experiment from multiple perspectives: the students, unit teaching team, and learning designers through the assessment data, reflections, interviews and surveys. Preliminary results from this exercise have demonstrated: the positive reception by students and impact on their engagement and learning; increased awareness of individual learning through discussion and exchange at multiple points from multiple
The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offeri... more The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services which focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. It is timely to report Tele’s Angels’ experiences to a wider audience and offer practical guidelines to those wishing to develop and implement subject-specific academic mentoring programs for first-year students in their own institutions.
Animals featured in all aspects of ancient Egyptian life and it is clear that Egyptian society fe... more Animals featured in all aspects of ancient Egyptian life and it is clear that
Egyptian society felt compelled to represent them in their art, particularly in the Old Kingdom. The dog was depicted in a range of Old Kingdom tomb scenes in the company of various individuals: under the chair of the tomb owner, in packs instructed by a hunter, near officials overseeing work, with workmen in the fields, amongst the tomb owner's entourage in palanquin scenes and on route to fishing and fowling pursuits, and led by dependents or animal keepers. Despite such diversity in activities and human associations, Egyptologists usually view the dog as simply a 'pet' or 'hunting hound' (Tzm), whose master is the tomb owner. Three enigmatic images of personal physical contact (i.e. intimacy) between ancient Egyptians and their dogs question this assumption.3 Additionally, closer examination of these images focusing separately on the dogs, the humans and their interaction have provided significant insights about human-dog relations during the Old Kingdom, and have hinted at a knowledge of natural dog behaviour that perhaps exceeds that of pet owners today.
Conference Papers by Beverley Miles
![Research paper thumbnail of The Art of Weaving a Tapestry of Learning Design Threads: Insights from a Decade of Program Design [Keynote Presentation + Handout]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/104871467/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](University of South Australia. Business Showcase, 2023
What does it take to design a transformative learning journey across a program, where courses are... more What does it take to design a transformative learning journey across a program, where courses are connected and the distributed teaching team and learning architecture collaborate to serve a larger purpose for every learner? This keynote will explore insights from a decade of leading program design projects in multiple disciplines – from archaeology, audiology, and aerospace engineering to business, design, and psychology. Together we’ll explore a rapid design process inspired by ABC Design, Carpe Diem, and Design, Develop, Implement (DDI) that has been remixed and customised for a variety of contexts. You will take away methods for team-based rapid design, key design considerations for program learning journeys, a list of possible internal and external stakeholders to enlist in your revision, best and next practice in program design, and templates and strategies to support your redesign work. These provocations aim to imbue you with ideas, inspiration, and a toolkit to reimagine your programs.
![Research paper thumbnail of The Power of Portfolios Evidence based Assessment Design for Lifelong and Life wide Learning [ Public Shared ]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/101325388/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](OpenLearning Forum, 2022
In this 75-min. interactive workshop, participants will take inspiration from their own learning ... more In this 75-min. interactive workshop, participants will take inspiration from their own learning experiences, coupled with direction from current research, to rapidly design assessment strategies for micro-credentials and short courses. Implementable in any platform, the assessment design aims to nurture learners to produce, and reflect on, evidence of their learning through authentic problem solving and feedback opportunities. Participants will take a Portfolio Assessment Design Decisions checklist that they can customise and apply in any context.
ePortfolio Forum, 2022
In the Portfolio Design Decisions for Social Learning workshop we will explore opportunities for ... more In the Portfolio Design Decisions for Social Learning workshop we will explore opportunities for what might be: portfolio for assessment through evaluation; portfolio for personal / professional development through reflection and documentation of learning; portfolio for employability through showcasing; and portfolios for social learning. We unveil a process to develop a design and implement Portfolio activities and assessment within a course or across a program. Examples from multiple disciplines will be briefly showcased while participants are facilitated through a Portfolio design making flow using a Google Slide workshop template. The workshop will use rapid design to kickstart the Portfolio design and iteration process. Participants will be encouraged to make the most of multimodal design inspired by learner-generated digital media – the Portfolio artefact outputs from the showcased examples. Feedback for feedforward will be delivered by the facilitators during and after the workshop in the Google Slide workshop template that participants complete.
The Knowledgeable Object Symposium, 2018
Object-based learning (OBL) occurs in daily life, at all education levels, and across industries ... more Object-based learning (OBL) occurs in daily life, at all education levels, and across industries – though it is not always recognised and acknowledged as such. Disciplines are embedded in objects, both physical and digital, however OBL usage tends to centre in the tactile humanities, science disciplines with associated collections, or the creative arts, design, and engineering. The future of work narrative prompts all educators to challenge traditional methods in order to achieve new skills and literacies to address complex and global problems. This paper discusses: a spectrum of approaches to utilise OBL in curriculum, a variety of examples, the benefits, and the future-focused imperative for liberating learners through OBL
Echo360 Active Learning Conference ANZ, 2017
The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively dissem... more The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively disseminate knowledge (monologue) to the passive student receivers. Rethinking our approach to lectures, domain knowledge, and learning environments provides opportunity to reposition students as: (i) active participants interrogating information; (ii) engaged co-creators of knowledge through dialogue and exchange; and (iii) deeper learners who beyond understanding towards application, theorising, and connections. This keynote challenges tradition teacher/student roles in lecture activities and. explores strategies to create ‘interactive windows’ (Huxham, 2005) throughout a lecture.
![Research paper thumbnail of Multimodal assessment, individual and peer review, and deeper learning: experiments in human sciences. [Presentation]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/75192901/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Social Learning Conference, 2017
When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is... more When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is it time to change your methods? This is the problem addressed in an experimental unit assessment reform in a second-year linguistic unit. Learning designers in partnership with the unit teaching team, co-created a non-traditional approach to transform one assessment task to address three goals: (a) to better facilitate the co-creation of knowledge and negotiation of communicating ideas amongst groups of students; (b) to expand student assessment literacy and empower student self-regulation
using dialogic, collectivist, multi-sourced and developmental feedback methods; and (c)
to create a deeply engaging, creative and challenging interactive learning opportunity to develop personal epistemologies. The new assessment strategy included: (i) a co-created rubric activity between teachers and students, (ii) assigned groups collaborating to develop short reusable learning objects (videos), (iii) the group submission, the application of peer review using a peer marking tool, (iv) the submission of an individual reflection on both, individual contribution to the group task, and a response by each student (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) to the peer feedback, (v) review (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) by other group members of each individual evaluation, and (vi) the release of final marks. This presentation will discuss the results of this experiment from multiple
perspectives: the students, unit teaching team, and learning designers through the assessment data, reflections, interviews and surveys. Preliminary results from this exercise have demonstrated: the positive reception by students and impact on their engagement and learning; increased awareness of individual learning through discussion and exchange at multiple points from multiple perspectives; and improved understanding of the nature of knowledge, methods and evidence in the discipline. The findings encourage the reexamination of multimodal assessment, group work to embed interaction, and peer marking educational technologies to facilitate exchange.
Macquarie University Learning & Teaching Week, 2014
The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-e... more The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-enriched environment’ (Framing Our Futures) for Ancient History students through exploratory design and co-curricular testing of archaeological fieldwork training activities in collaboration with student consultants as firstly, participant-observers and, ultimately, participant-contributors.
Ancient History students have limited opportunities to participate in archaeological fieldwork in genuine ancient contexts: over the past 5 years an average of 9 of the c. 800 enrolled undergraduate students have completed the fieldwork unit annually (Departmental estimates). For the small cohort who does, there is little access to pre-departure field skill training embedded within the curriculum. In response to the needs of these students, the Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (hereafter Tele’s Angels) began offering peer-led Archaeological Fieldwork Seminars in 2008 (average yearly attendance: n=40) in consultation with Macquarie University’s Egypt, Mediterranean and Near East archaeological field directors to advise potential ‘dig’ students from application to life on-site. In addition to the financial pressures experienced by university students however, recent global developments and new university health and safety requirements for international excavations have placed further constraints and competition on fieldwork prospects.
Given the reduced opportunities and access to practical learning experiences (Ulm, Mate, Dalley & Nichols, 2013), it is not surprising that recent results from the Australian University Survey of Student Engagement reveal that less than 25% of students feel their studies contributed to their ability to solve complex, real-world problems (A.C.E.R., 2012); while the Graduate Course Experience Survey shows that approximately 50% of students feel university staff are primarily concerned with student rote learning (memorization) than understanding (Carroll, 2013).
Archaeological fieldwork accelerates thinking skills, metacognition and independent learning for both future career professional archaeologists and the majority who will find employment outside the field (Brookes, 2008; Ulm, Nichols & Dalley, 2013). This project responds to the learning experience and skill gap (Colley, 2007) through: exploratory design of practical fieldwork activities, led by the long existing staff-student community of practice in the Department of Ancient History (Tele’s Angels); testing in co-curricular contexts facilitated by students; and application of the results to curriculum teaching practice of Ancient History and BArch units for the benefit of all students.
ALL practitioners have for many years been at the forefront of the push to more explicitly addres... more ALL practitioners have for many years been at the forefront of the push to more explicitly address the discipline-specific development of
academic literacy within higher education. Yet ALL practitioners are also the ones who are most aware that many discipline academic staff remain not only unconverted but seemingly unconvertible when it comes to ‘taking ownership’ for developing students’ academic literacy and English language proficiency. How do we convince discipline academic staff that we are not trying to force them to ‘give up’ content space? How do we frame discussions such that conversations don’t get bogged down in blaming the high schools, University management or (even worse) the students themselves for their perceived failings in adequately addressing issues of language and literacy? How do we change mindsets, philosophies and, where necessary, pedagogical practices that have long focused on ‘content’ as ‘their’ area and ‘remediation of English’ as ‘our’ area? This session will describe how a small ALL unit with limited resources tried to answer these questions, and in doing so established a model for building effective collaborative partnerships. More specifically, it will outline our targeted service model for helping discipline academic staff to develop students’ academic literacy, otherwise affectionately known as our ‘boutique auto repair’ approach. Using some examples of our current partnerships, we will share the lessons we have learned about working in this way and the challenges we have encountered.
Macquarie University's motto, "and gladly teche", is taken from the portrait of a medieval univer... more Macquarie University's motto, "and gladly teche", is taken from the portrait of a medieval university academic in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The portrait epitomises both the centrality of teaching in the work of the university and the scholar-teacher's personal commitment to learning. Moreover this joint undertaking is pursued "gladly", a word that signifies not only "with pleasure", but in Middle English "as a habit". The habit of learning leads to the pleasure of teaching, and the pleasure of learning leads to the habit of teaching.
Panel of Award-winning Teachers
Ms Jean BRICK, Dept of Linguistics
Dr Jennifer DUKE-YONGE, Dept of Philosophy
Prof Michael GILLINGS, Dept of Biological Sciences
A/Prof Damian GORE, Dept of Environment and Geography
A/Prof Joanne JAMIE, Dept of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
Dr Maurizio MANUGUERRA, Dept of Statistics
Ms Beverley MILES (Tele's Angels), Dept of Ancient History; Social Inclusion
Dr Mitch PARSELL, Faculty of Human Sciences
A/Prof Max TANI-BERTUOL, Dept of Economics
Dr Lisa WYNN, Dept of Anthropology
Students from equity backgrounds face particular challenges seeking out and accepting professiona... more Students from equity backgrounds face particular challenges seeking out and accepting professional workplace experiences while studying. These can include maintaining part-time work commitments in light of financial hardship, managing mental/physical health difficulties, and other factors. The First Year Experience Unit used HEPPP funding in 2012 to create a paid research internship program, based on action learning principles, specifically for equity students. The key elements in action learning are learning through action and experience, and questioning and critically reflecting on the learning experience. Through tackling ‘real problems in real time’, the student interns learned about themselves, discovered and enhanced new skills, and participated in experiences that transformed them personally, professionally and intellectually. This paper offers a description of the program, outlines the highly successful outcomes, and suggests a framework for other institutions. The discussion will address development issues, strategies in promotion of these programs and a model for successful implementation.
""The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offe... more ""The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services that focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. This paper will discuss how the program encourages and supports the diversity of the student cohort, cultivates learning and leadership opportunities, and facilitates connections that assist with resilience.""
Innovative collaborations across the university increase student engagement in learning and leade... more Innovative collaborations across the university increase student engagement in learning and leadership. Learning Skills and Mentors@Macquarie already work in collaboration and have a physical presence in each faculty. Together we are employing a number of strategies to embed academic language and leadership that is tailored for discipline specific contexts. This session will present a brief overview of our current pilot projects and invite input about the barriers and opportunities you foresee in adopting a collaborative approach to academic language integration, which is customized to your unit.
The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offeri... more The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services which focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. It is timely to report Tele’s Angels’ experiences to a wider audience and offer practical guidelines to those wishing to develop and implement subject-specific academic mentoring programs for first-year students in their own institutions.
The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young peo... more The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young people and their families when even the most supportive conditions exist. For young people who have been through the refugee process, it can be particularly fraught for a number of reasons. These may include, for example, challenges associated with the development of language competence, coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and its various manifestations and dealing with significant different in cultural expectations between family and school. In this chapter we present a case study of a university/school collaborative mentoring program that targeted young people from refugee backgrounds in Western Sydney, Australia. Issues associated with development and implementation of the program are presented and discussed along with some early evaluative data on program effectiveness. Based on this evaluative evidence, we conclude with some recommendations for future developments in this area.
AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, 2022
Who is disadvantaged and who is privileged when we only use structured problems and prescribed, t... more Who is disadvantaged and who is privileged when we only use structured problems and prescribed, traditional written text-based methods of assessing learning?
This central question prompted the introduction of learner-generated digital media ePortfolio artefacts in archaeology.
ePortfolio design justice unbinds teachers and learners from perpetuating privilege (settler/invader, socioeconomic, neurotypical, metropolitan, native speaking, etc.) by centering and celebrating multimodality, multiple literacies, and multiple ways of doing.
Providing students with agency to determine the media they choose to communicate their learning promotes engagement, creativity, and equity in assessment by inverting the traditional academic value of content reproduction rather rewarding imagination, experimentation, and audience engagement.
This paper from a teacher-learner team using Retrospective Collaborative Autoethnography (RCA) shares the assessment strategy, design, delivery, reception, and iteration of digital multimodal text ePortfolio artefacts in two archaeology units in an Australian higher education context over three years in response to this design justice call to action.
We briefly present the design justice case for alternative non-traditional multimodal assessment and share the practice of decoding design decisions as teachers and learners by using students as partners, contributing student pedagogy, and a pedagogy of care as academic activism.
Finally, we explore (1) how open-ended authentic tasks empower learner self-expression and personal epistemology development; (2) how this approach cultivates deep, rich learning, and critical reflection on self and world; and (3) how creative, integrative, personally meaningful learning with a focus beyond the final product unleashes and amplifies voices often silenced by the written wor(l)d.
Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 2017
Ancient Ways of Doing As self-appointed learning and teaching student partners in the Telemachus ... more Ancient Ways of Doing
As self-appointed learning and teaching student partners in the Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (Tele’s Angels) at Macquarie University, and avid scholars of the discipline of Ancient History, we are very familiar with Aristotle’s peripatetic style of engagement with his pupils at the Lyceum, Athens —walking and talking. What a joy it was to learn that the archaeological evidence at Nalanda University in India (established in AD 450) revealed that student and teaching living spaces were adjacent to a large learning space around a central podium. Both of these examples came into being long before Humboldt’s (1970) articulation of students’ direct involvement in speculative thinking and research communities without strictly planned courses in nineteenth century AD. Or indeed before Benjamin’s (2004) framing of the measure of university’s success through the productivity of its students—positioning students simultaneously as both teachers and learners in the twentieth century. When did the prominent role of students as active partners in the production and progress of knowledge cease to be standard or best practice? Now, as staff contributors to higher education over the past decade, we wonder: why is it so difficult to gain support for students as partners (SaP) projects, whether it be for institutional funding, or for departmental and faculty peer endorsement and collaboration? Is it because it is perceived as a risky non-traditional pedagogy, despite historical evidence to the
contrary? Could the answer lie in seminal SaP experiences in our own learning history/ies? Perhaps reflection on answers to these questions may provide opportunities to challenge and transform cultures towards SaP initiatives and ensure their sustainability as a fundamental learning experience within higher education.
Social Learning Conference, 2017
When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is... more When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is it time to change your methods? This is the problem addressed in an experimental unit assessment reform in a second-year linguistic unit. Learning designers in partnership with the unit teaching team, co-created a non-traditional approach to transform one assessment task to address three goals: (a) to better facilitate the co-creation of knowledge and negotiation of communicating ideas amongst groups of students; (b) to expand student assessment literacy and empower student selfregulation using dialogic, collectivist, multi-sourced and developmental feedback methods; and (c) to create a deeply engaging, creative and challenging interactive learning opportunity to develop personal epistemologies. The new assessment strategy included: (i) a co-created rubric activity between teachers and students, (ii) assigned groups collaborating to develop short reusable learning objects (videos), (iii) the group submission, the application of peer review using a peer marking tool, (iv) the submission of an individual reflection on both, individual contribution to the group task, and a response by each student (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) to the peer feedback, (v) review (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) by other group members of each individual evaluation, and (vi) the release of final marks. This presentation will discuss the results of this experiment from multiple perspectives: the students, unit teaching team, and learning designers through the assessment data, reflections, interviews and surveys. Preliminary results from this exercise have demonstrated: the positive reception by students and impact on their engagement and learning; increased awareness of individual learning through discussion and exchange at multiple points from multiple
The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offeri... more The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services which focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. It is timely to report Tele’s Angels’ experiences to a wider audience and offer practical guidelines to those wishing to develop and implement subject-specific academic mentoring programs for first-year students in their own institutions.
Animals featured in all aspects of ancient Egyptian life and it is clear that Egyptian society fe... more Animals featured in all aspects of ancient Egyptian life and it is clear that
Egyptian society felt compelled to represent them in their art, particularly in the Old Kingdom. The dog was depicted in a range of Old Kingdom tomb scenes in the company of various individuals: under the chair of the tomb owner, in packs instructed by a hunter, near officials overseeing work, with workmen in the fields, amongst the tomb owner's entourage in palanquin scenes and on route to fishing and fowling pursuits, and led by dependents or animal keepers. Despite such diversity in activities and human associations, Egyptologists usually view the dog as simply a 'pet' or 'hunting hound' (Tzm), whose master is the tomb owner. Three enigmatic images of personal physical contact (i.e. intimacy) between ancient Egyptians and their dogs question this assumption.3 Additionally, closer examination of these images focusing separately on the dogs, the humans and their interaction have provided significant insights about human-dog relations during the Old Kingdom, and have hinted at a knowledge of natural dog behaviour that perhaps exceeds that of pet owners today.
University of South Australia. Business Showcase, 2023
What does it take to design a transformative learning journey across a program, where courses are... more What does it take to design a transformative learning journey across a program, where courses are connected and the distributed teaching team and learning architecture collaborate to serve a larger purpose for every learner? This keynote will explore insights from a decade of leading program design projects in multiple disciplines – from archaeology, audiology, and aerospace engineering to business, design, and psychology. Together we’ll explore a rapid design process inspired by ABC Design, Carpe Diem, and Design, Develop, Implement (DDI) that has been remixed and customised for a variety of contexts. You will take away methods for team-based rapid design, key design considerations for program learning journeys, a list of possible internal and external stakeholders to enlist in your revision, best and next practice in program design, and templates and strategies to support your redesign work. These provocations aim to imbue you with ideas, inspiration, and a toolkit to reimagine your programs.
OpenLearning Forum, 2022
In this 75-min. interactive workshop, participants will take inspiration from their own learning ... more In this 75-min. interactive workshop, participants will take inspiration from their own learning experiences, coupled with direction from current research, to rapidly design assessment strategies for micro-credentials and short courses. Implementable in any platform, the assessment design aims to nurture learners to produce, and reflect on, evidence of their learning through authentic problem solving and feedback opportunities. Participants will take a Portfolio Assessment Design Decisions checklist that they can customise and apply in any context.
ePortfolio Forum, 2022
In the Portfolio Design Decisions for Social Learning workshop we will explore opportunities for ... more In the Portfolio Design Decisions for Social Learning workshop we will explore opportunities for what might be: portfolio for assessment through evaluation; portfolio for personal / professional development through reflection and documentation of learning; portfolio for employability through showcasing; and portfolios for social learning. We unveil a process to develop a design and implement Portfolio activities and assessment within a course or across a program. Examples from multiple disciplines will be briefly showcased while participants are facilitated through a Portfolio design making flow using a Google Slide workshop template. The workshop will use rapid design to kickstart the Portfolio design and iteration process. Participants will be encouraged to make the most of multimodal design inspired by learner-generated digital media – the Portfolio artefact outputs from the showcased examples. Feedback for feedforward will be delivered by the facilitators during and after the workshop in the Google Slide workshop template that participants complete.
The Knowledgeable Object Symposium, 2018
Object-based learning (OBL) occurs in daily life, at all education levels, and across industries ... more Object-based learning (OBL) occurs in daily life, at all education levels, and across industries – though it is not always recognised and acknowledged as such. Disciplines are embedded in objects, both physical and digital, however OBL usage tends to centre in the tactile humanities, science disciplines with associated collections, or the creative arts, design, and engineering. The future of work narrative prompts all educators to challenge traditional methods in order to achieve new skills and literacies to address complex and global problems. This paper discusses: a spectrum of approaches to utilise OBL in curriculum, a variety of examples, the benefits, and the future-focused imperative for liberating learners through OBL
Echo360 Active Learning Conference ANZ, 2017
The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively dissem... more The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively disseminate knowledge (monologue) to the passive student receivers. Rethinking our approach to lectures, domain knowledge, and learning environments provides opportunity to reposition students as: (i) active participants interrogating information; (ii) engaged co-creators of knowledge through dialogue and exchange; and (iii) deeper learners who beyond understanding towards application, theorising, and connections. This keynote challenges tradition teacher/student roles in lecture activities and. explores strategies to create ‘interactive windows’ (Huxham, 2005) throughout a lecture.
Social Learning Conference, 2017
When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is... more When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is it time to change your methods? This is the problem addressed in an experimental unit assessment reform in a second-year linguistic unit. Learning designers in partnership with the unit teaching team, co-created a non-traditional approach to transform one assessment task to address three goals: (a) to better facilitate the co-creation of knowledge and negotiation of communicating ideas amongst groups of students; (b) to expand student assessment literacy and empower student self-regulation
using dialogic, collectivist, multi-sourced and developmental feedback methods; and (c)
to create a deeply engaging, creative and challenging interactive learning opportunity to develop personal epistemologies. The new assessment strategy included: (i) a co-created rubric activity between teachers and students, (ii) assigned groups collaborating to develop short reusable learning objects (videos), (iii) the group submission, the application of peer review using a peer marking tool, (iv) the submission of an individual reflection on both, individual contribution to the group task, and a response by each student (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) to the peer feedback, (v) review (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) by other group members of each individual evaluation, and (vi) the release of final marks. This presentation will discuss the results of this experiment from multiple
perspectives: the students, unit teaching team, and learning designers through the assessment data, reflections, interviews and surveys. Preliminary results from this exercise have demonstrated: the positive reception by students and impact on their engagement and learning; increased awareness of individual learning through discussion and exchange at multiple points from multiple perspectives; and improved understanding of the nature of knowledge, methods and evidence in the discipline. The findings encourage the reexamination of multimodal assessment, group work to embed interaction, and peer marking educational technologies to facilitate exchange.
Macquarie University Learning & Teaching Week, 2014
The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-e... more The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-enriched environment’ (Framing Our Futures) for Ancient History students through exploratory design and co-curricular testing of archaeological fieldwork training activities in collaboration with student consultants as firstly, participant-observers and, ultimately, participant-contributors.
Ancient History students have limited opportunities to participate in archaeological fieldwork in genuine ancient contexts: over the past 5 years an average of 9 of the c. 800 enrolled undergraduate students have completed the fieldwork unit annually (Departmental estimates). For the small cohort who does, there is little access to pre-departure field skill training embedded within the curriculum. In response to the needs of these students, the Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (hereafter Tele’s Angels) began offering peer-led Archaeological Fieldwork Seminars in 2008 (average yearly attendance: n=40) in consultation with Macquarie University’s Egypt, Mediterranean and Near East archaeological field directors to advise potential ‘dig’ students from application to life on-site. In addition to the financial pressures experienced by university students however, recent global developments and new university health and safety requirements for international excavations have placed further constraints and competition on fieldwork prospects.
Given the reduced opportunities and access to practical learning experiences (Ulm, Mate, Dalley & Nichols, 2013), it is not surprising that recent results from the Australian University Survey of Student Engagement reveal that less than 25% of students feel their studies contributed to their ability to solve complex, real-world problems (A.C.E.R., 2012); while the Graduate Course Experience Survey shows that approximately 50% of students feel university staff are primarily concerned with student rote learning (memorization) than understanding (Carroll, 2013).
Archaeological fieldwork accelerates thinking skills, metacognition and independent learning for both future career professional archaeologists and the majority who will find employment outside the field (Brookes, 2008; Ulm, Nichols & Dalley, 2013). This project responds to the learning experience and skill gap (Colley, 2007) through: exploratory design of practical fieldwork activities, led by the long existing staff-student community of practice in the Department of Ancient History (Tele’s Angels); testing in co-curricular contexts facilitated by students; and application of the results to curriculum teaching practice of Ancient History and BArch units for the benefit of all students.
ALL practitioners have for many years been at the forefront of the push to more explicitly addres... more ALL practitioners have for many years been at the forefront of the push to more explicitly address the discipline-specific development of
academic literacy within higher education. Yet ALL practitioners are also the ones who are most aware that many discipline academic staff remain not only unconverted but seemingly unconvertible when it comes to ‘taking ownership’ for developing students’ academic literacy and English language proficiency. How do we convince discipline academic staff that we are not trying to force them to ‘give up’ content space? How do we frame discussions such that conversations don’t get bogged down in blaming the high schools, University management or (even worse) the students themselves for their perceived failings in adequately addressing issues of language and literacy? How do we change mindsets, philosophies and, where necessary, pedagogical practices that have long focused on ‘content’ as ‘their’ area and ‘remediation of English’ as ‘our’ area? This session will describe how a small ALL unit with limited resources tried to answer these questions, and in doing so established a model for building effective collaborative partnerships. More specifically, it will outline our targeted service model for helping discipline academic staff to develop students’ academic literacy, otherwise affectionately known as our ‘boutique auto repair’ approach. Using some examples of our current partnerships, we will share the lessons we have learned about working in this way and the challenges we have encountered.
Macquarie University's motto, "and gladly teche", is taken from the portrait of a medieval univer... more Macquarie University's motto, "and gladly teche", is taken from the portrait of a medieval university academic in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The portrait epitomises both the centrality of teaching in the work of the university and the scholar-teacher's personal commitment to learning. Moreover this joint undertaking is pursued "gladly", a word that signifies not only "with pleasure", but in Middle English "as a habit". The habit of learning leads to the pleasure of teaching, and the pleasure of learning leads to the habit of teaching.
Panel of Award-winning Teachers
Ms Jean BRICK, Dept of Linguistics
Dr Jennifer DUKE-YONGE, Dept of Philosophy
Prof Michael GILLINGS, Dept of Biological Sciences
A/Prof Damian GORE, Dept of Environment and Geography
A/Prof Joanne JAMIE, Dept of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
Dr Maurizio MANUGUERRA, Dept of Statistics
Ms Beverley MILES (Tele's Angels), Dept of Ancient History; Social Inclusion
Dr Mitch PARSELL, Faculty of Human Sciences
A/Prof Max TANI-BERTUOL, Dept of Economics
Dr Lisa WYNN, Dept of Anthropology
Students from equity backgrounds face particular challenges seeking out and accepting professiona... more Students from equity backgrounds face particular challenges seeking out and accepting professional workplace experiences while studying. These can include maintaining part-time work commitments in light of financial hardship, managing mental/physical health difficulties, and other factors. The First Year Experience Unit used HEPPP funding in 2012 to create a paid research internship program, based on action learning principles, specifically for equity students. The key elements in action learning are learning through action and experience, and questioning and critically reflecting on the learning experience. Through tackling ‘real problems in real time’, the student interns learned about themselves, discovered and enhanced new skills, and participated in experiences that transformed them personally, professionally and intellectually. This paper offers a description of the program, outlines the highly successful outcomes, and suggests a framework for other institutions. The discussion will address development issues, strategies in promotion of these programs and a model for successful implementation.
""The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offe... more ""The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services that focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. This paper will discuss how the program encourages and supports the diversity of the student cohort, cultivates learning and leadership opportunities, and facilitates connections that assist with resilience.""
Innovative collaborations across the university increase student engagement in learning and leade... more Innovative collaborations across the university increase student engagement in learning and leadership. Learning Skills and Mentors@Macquarie already work in collaboration and have a physical presence in each faculty. Together we are employing a number of strategies to embed academic language and leadership that is tailored for discipline specific contexts. This session will present a brief overview of our current pilot projects and invite input about the barriers and opportunities you foresee in adopting a collaborative approach to academic language integration, which is customized to your unit.
The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offeri... more The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele’s Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele’s Angels volunteer Mentors create a ‘learning community’ by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services which focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership – a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: “to give is to receive”. It is timely to report Tele’s Angels’ experiences to a wider audience and offer practical guidelines to those wishing to develop and implement subject-specific academic mentoring programs for first-year students in their own institutions.
"The names given to animals in ancient Egypt have received much attention over the past fifty yea... more "The names given to animals in ancient Egypt have received much attention over the past fifty years. In the case of dogs, this interest can be traced back to a list published by Janssen in an MDAIK article in 1958. This catalogue was continued by Fischer in the JEA in 1961 and 1977, then more recently by Bouvier-Closse in Anthropozoologica in 2003 and Zahradnik in her MA thesis, “Der Hund als geliebtes Haustier im Alten Aegypten (Altes Reich bis Zweite Zwischenzeit)” in 2008. This listing, the usual historical description and documenting of the evidence, is useful for all our research purposes, it does not, however, do much more than simply recognise the dog existed in ancient Egypt. We should look deeper into this unique window of early human-dog relations to try to see exactly how the ancient Egyptians felt or acted or thought about this creature that is so dear to our hearts today. For what is in a name?
This paper aims:
to provide a list of dog names from the Old Kingdom;
to present translations supported by referenced materials;
to categorise the dog names on the basis of translated meanings;
to discuss the nature of human-dog relations in ancient Egypt during the OK in light of this corpus of names."
"The association between the ancient Egyptians and dogs is not clearly understood, despite the an... more "The association between the ancient Egyptians and dogs is not clearly understood, despite the animal’s early and pervasive presence in the archaeological and cultural record. Three images dated to the Sixth Dynasty depict mouth-to-muzzle contact between an ancient Egyptian workman and a dog: a two-dimensional wall scene, carved and painted in relief on the North wall of Room III in the
tomb of Kagemni at Saqqara; a three-dimensional limestone model (JE 72143) from Tomb 7715a, East Field, Giza currently in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo; and a small white enstatite amulet/stamp
(UC 38150) from an unknown location, currently in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. These representations are curious finds from this conservative ancient society that rarely
displayed physical contact between humans, much less between human and animal. The interpretation of these images relies on observations of animal behaviour, analyses of carved and
painted wall scenes in which dogs appear in the company of humans, and comparative studies of other ancient cultures. This paper presents the author’s most recent conclusions shedding light on
our understanding of the basis of the ancient Egyptian’s relationship with canids during the Old Kingdom."
Macquarie University Learning & Teaching Awards, 2022
This award recognises staff who are committed to the philosophy of improving the quality of stude... more This award recognises staff who are committed to the philosophy of improving the quality of student learning through innovation.
Team from Department of History and Archaeology and FoA learning design
Ronika Power, Michael Rampe, Beverley Miles, Mary Hartley, Jacinta Carruthers, Crystal Miller, and Hannah Vogel.
The team was awarded for the work they did to innovate and implement digital story assessments over five years in Archaeology and Ancient History, as well as the impact their work has had on the Faculty’s approach to digital learning through their contributions to the creation of the Adobe Digilab in our Arts precinct. The team developed a well-thought out and scaffolded approach to reimagining how student digital skills could be developed in conjunction with investing in staff digital skill development, and their work has shaped digital learning not only in the discipline but also contributed to a larger project on how we teach digital skills across the Faculty.
NSW Humanitarian Awards, 2016
The LEAP-Macquarie Mentoring (Refugee Mentoring) program engages volunteer university student men... more The LEAP-Macquarie Mentoring (Refugee Mentoring) program engages volunteer university student mentors, many of whom themselves come from refugee and migrant backgrounds, who are matched with high school students from refugee backgrounds for weekly peer to peer mentoring sessions in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere in the schools.
Faculty of Human Sciences Dean's Citation for Learning & Teaching, 2017
For supporting Initial Teacher Education students to prepare and enhance their literacy skills fo... more For supporting Initial Teacher Education students to prepare and enhance their literacy skills for professional accreditation through the innovative provision of self-directed online learning resources.
The Pushy Dog: Rare and Enigmatic Scenes of Physical Contact between Ancient Egyptians and Dogs d... more The Pushy Dog: Rare and Enigmatic Scenes of Physical Contact between Ancient Egyptians and Dogs during the Old Kingdom
""An engaging activity designed for university Open Day, Info Day and Uni-in-a-day. This activ... more ""An engaging activity designed for university Open Day, Info Day and Uni-in-a-day.
This activity is run by mentors from Tele's Angels.""
This unit explores the role of animals in cultures of the ancient Mediterranean region. All taxon... more This unit explores the role of animals in cultures of the ancient Mediterranean region. All taxonomic classes will be considered, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. The topics to be covered range from the use of animals in agriculture, hunting, warfare and entertainment, to their significance in religion, philosophy, symbolism and art. Through an assessment of artefacts, images and texts, we will investigate the ways in which both wild and domesticated species influenced the minds and behaviour of ancient peoples.
This unit covers Ancient Egyptian civilisation during the Predynastic and Pharaonic Periods. It p... more This unit covers Ancient Egyptian civilisation during the Predynastic and Pharaonic Periods. It provides a broad introduction to the major historical periods of social and cultural development. It also discusses a number of historical problems and variety of topics, such as social organisation, art, architecture, archaeology, administration, literature and interregional trade.
Egyptian Archaeology: An Introduction - AHIS170 This unit deals with the development of Ancient ... more Egyptian Archaeology: An Introduction - AHIS170
This unit deals with the development of Ancient Egyptian society from the prehistoric period to the end of the New Kingdom as reflected in the archaeological record. It is divided into four themes through which the archaeological evidence is investigated: tombs, settlements, temples and objects of daily use. The unit also draws on the results of extensive excavation activities by staff of Macquarie University in Egypt.
This unit provides an introduction to Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near-Eastern society and culture... more This unit provides an introduction to Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near-Eastern society and culture through the study of myth. The unit begins from the earliest creation myths and examines the development of myth in literature and art. The study is largely based upon Greek and Latin texts in translation as well as the representation of myth in art; Egyptian, Near-Eastern, and biblical texts are studied too. The unit focuses on the relevance of key themes in myth to the cultures in which the myths arose, investigating their roles in the religious, political and social life of the classical world.
This video, Students Supporting Students, showcases discipline-based peer learning and mentoring ... more This video, Students Supporting Students, showcases discipline-based peer learning and mentoring groups led by students at Macquarie.
Echo360 Active Learning Conference ANZ, 2017
The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively dissem... more The problem inherent in traditional lectures is that the teacher is positioned to actively disseminate knowledge (monologue) to the passive student receivers. Rethinking our approach to lectures, domain knowledge, and learning environments provides opportunity to reposition students as: (i) active participants interrogating information; (ii) engaged co-creators of knowledge through dialogue and exchange; and (iii) deeper learners who beyond understanding towards application, theorising, and connections. This keynote challenges tradition teacher/student roles in lecture activities and. explores strategies to create ‘interactive windows’ (Huxham, 2005) throughout a lecture.
Macquarie University Learning & Teaching Week, 2014
The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-e... more The Onsite/Offsite Insights (OOI) project aims to foster ‘transformative learning in a research-enriched environment’ (Framing Our Futures) for Ancient History students through exploratory design and co-curricular testing of archaeological fieldwork training activities in collaboration with student consultants as firstly, participant-observers and, ultimately, participant-contributors. Ancient History students have limited opportunities to participate in archaeological fieldwork in genuine ancient contexts: over the past 5 years an average of 9 of the c. 800 enrolled undergraduate students have completed the fieldwork unit annually (Departmental estimates). For the small cohort who does, there is little access to pre-departure field skill training embedded within the curriculum. In response to the needs of these students, the Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (hereafter Tele’s Angels) began offering peer-led Archaeological Fieldwork Seminars in 2008 (average yearly attendance: n=40) in consultation with Macquarie University’s Egypt, Mediterranean and Near East archaeological field directors to advise potential ‘dig’ students from application to life on-site. In addition to the financial pressures experienced by university students however, recent global developments and new university health and safety requirements for international excavations have placed further constraints and competition on fieldwork prospects. Given the reduced opportunities and access to practical learning experiences (Ulm, Mate, Dalley & Nichols, 2013), it is not surprising that recent results from the Australian University Survey of Student Engagement reveal that less than 25% of students feel their studies contributed to their ability to solve complex, real-world problems (A.C.E.R., 2012); while the Graduate Course Experience Survey shows that approximately 50% of students feel university staff are primarily concerned with student rote learning (memorization) than understanding (Carroll, 2013). Archaeological fieldwork accelerates thinking skills, metacognition and independent learning for both future career professional archaeologists and the majority who will find employment outside the field (Brookes, 2008; Ulm, Nichols & Dalley, 2013). This project responds to the learning experience and skill gap (Colley, 2007) through: exploratory design of practical fieldwork activities, led by the long existing staff-student community of practice in the Department of Ancient History (Tele’s Angels); testing in co-curricular contexts facilitated by students; and application of the results to curriculum teaching practice of Ancient History and BArch units for the benefit of all students.
The Knowledgeable Object Symposium, 2018
Objects are often said to be sticky with meaning. Ever since antiquity they have been a fundament... more Objects are often said to be sticky with meaning. Ever since antiquity they have been a fundamental way of knowing the world. They are also a focus for transmitting our understanding of the world to others and, as such, are both vessels that embody meaning and understanding of the human experience in museum collections around the world, and primary source materials for a diverse range of learning and teaching possibilities. Some scholars note that objects have a dual character, or contradictory nature. Their nature is definitive, observable, readily described and immutable. On the other-hand they lack fixity, are readily re-contextualised, multiply reinterpreted and ascribed highly variable values in their engagement with our everchanging knowledge systems. Is it this tension between object and context that makes them such effective educational tools and mediators of meaning? Over the next two days we will explore what it is that makes objects so valuable in educational and museum contexts. This symposium is a result of a Macquarie University learning and teaching strategic priorities project about connecting museum collections with both university and school curriculum.
The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young peo... more The transition from high school to university can be challenging and demanding for both young people and their families when even the most supportive conditions exist. For young people who have been through the refugee process, it can be particularly fraught for a number of reasons. These may include, for example, challenges associated with the development of language competence, coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and its various manifestations and dealing with significant different in cultural expectations between family and school. In this chapter we present a case study of a university/school collaborative mentoring program that targeted young people from refugee backgrounds in Western Sydney, Australia. Issues associated with development and implementation of the program are presented and discussed along with some early evaluative data on program effectiveness. Based on this evaluative evidence, we conclude with some recommendations for future developments in this area.
"Animals featured in all... more "Animals featured in all aspects of ancient Egyptian life and it is clear that Egyptian society felt compelled to represent them in their art, particularly in the Old Kingdom. The dog was depicted in a range of Old Kingdom tomb scenes in the company of various individuals: under the chair of the tomb owner, in packs instructed by a hunter, near officials overseeing work, with workmen in the fields, amongst the tomb owner's entourage in palanquin scenes and on route to fishing and fowling pursuits, and led by dependents or animal keepers. Despite such diversity in activities and human associations, Egyptologists usually view the dog as simply a 'pet' or 'hunting hound' (Tzm), whose master is the tomb owner. Three enigmatic images of personal physical contact (i.e. intimacy) between ancient Egyptians and their dogs question this assumption.3 Additionally, closer examination of these images focusing separately on the dogs, the humans and their interaction have provided significant insights about human-dog relations during the Old Kingdom, and have hinted at a knowledge of natural dog behaviour that perhaps exceeds that of pet owners today."
Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 2017
Asian Social Science, 2011
The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele's Angels) has been offeri... more The Telemachus Ancient History Mentor Program (informally known as Tele's Angels) has been offering peer-led transition services to first-year students at Macquarie University since 2002. Tele's Angels volunteer Mentors create a 'learning community' by providing their first-year colleagues with transition assistance, academic support and resources, and networking for and amongst students and staff. Individual mentoring is offered, as well as free peer-support services which focus on developing academic skills and building social networks. The program also focuses on student leadership-a key objective is that Mentors themselves are beneficiaries of all activities, embodying the program motto: "to give is to receive". It is timely to report Tele's Angels' experiences to a wider audience and offer practical guidelines to those wishing to develop and implement subject-specific academic mentoring programs for first-year students in their own institutions.
Social Learning Conference, 2017
When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is... more When students no longer achieve the learning outcomes using the traditional form of assessment is it time to change your methods? This is the problem addressed in an experimental unit assessment reform in a second-year linguistic unit. Learning designers in partnership with the unit teaching team, co-created a non-traditional approach to transform one assessment task to address three goals: (a) to better facilitate the co-creation of knowledge and negotiation of communicating ideas amongst groups of students; (b) to expand student assessment literacy and empower student selfregulation using dialogic, collectivist, multi-sourced and developmental feedback methods; and (c) to create a deeply engaging, creative and challenging interactive learning opportunity to develop personal epistemologies. The new assessment strategy included: (i) a co-created rubric activity between teachers and students, (ii) assigned groups collaborating to develop short reusable learning objects (videos), (iii) the group submission, the application of peer review using a peer marking tool, (iv) the submission of an individual reflection on both, individual contribution to the group task, and a response by each student (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) to the peer feedback, (v) review (i.e. agreement or rebuttal) by other group members of each individual evaluation, and (vi) the release of final marks. This presentation will discuss the results of this experiment from multiple perspectives: the students, unit teaching team, and learning designers through the assessment data, reflections, interviews and surveys. Preliminary results from this exercise have demonstrated: the positive reception by students and impact on their engagement and learning; increased awareness of individual learning through discussion and exchange at multiple points from multiple