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TEACHING & LEARNING COMMITTEE MEETING BY CIRCULAR

THURSDAY, 19TH NOVEMBER 2015 MEMBERS OF THE SIS TEACHING AND LEARNING COMMITTEE Grant Revell, Associate Dean Teaching & Learning (Chair) Gabrielle Garratt, Academic Coordinator, Indigenous Student Services Directorate Josh Reynolds, Acting Orientation Course Coordinator Mel Thomas, Law Coordinator & Associate Dean Research Dawn Bessarab, Director, Centre for Aboriginal Medical & Dental Health Aileen Walsh, Co-opted Member Paulina Motlop, Co-opted Member Anita Creasey (Executive Officer) BY INVITATION (STANDING INVITEES/OBSERVERS) Jill Milroy, Dean Marilyn Strother, Director Indigenous Student Services Nerry Nichols, Business Manager 1. MINUTES F73300 Confirmation of the Noting of Decisions of the SIS Teaching and Learning Committee meeting by circular dated 10 September. ATTACHMENT A.

PART I – ITEMS FOR COMMUNICATION 2. MEETING DATES FOR 2016 The start time for these meetings will be confirmed after the 2016 teaching timetable is finalised and may need to change from semester 1 to 2. All meetings will be held in the SIS Resource Library. Meeting dates of the SIS Executive & key curriculum management deadlines have also been listed. SIS T&L Committee Meetings 2016 SIS Executive Meetings 2016 4 February 18 February 3 March 24 March 7 April Curriculum Deadline – end of April Undergraduate, Honours & ADILS – unit & course new proposals and changes 21 April 5 May Curriculum Deadline – end of April Postgraduate – unit & course new proposals and changes 2 June 23 June 7 July 4 August 18 August 1 September Curriculum Deadline – Mid September: Limited changes for 2017 units Last opportunity to amend unit availability & teaching periods 6 October 20 October 3 November 17 November 1 December

3. OBSERVING & CREATING LEARNING FUTURES IN HIGHER EDUCATION – A FUTURES FIRST DISCUSSION WHITE PAPER F68756 This white paper (ATTACHMENT B) was presented to the Education Futures Strategy Group by Professor Gilly Salmon, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education Innovation) on 9 November 2015. Members are encouraged to read the paper and share any feedback with the Chair. 4. FEEDBACK ON UNIVERSITY POLICY ON ASSESSMENT Members would be aware that the Chair, as Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) was asked to collate feedback on the new University Policy on Assessment. The Chair thanks members and non-

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members who provided feedback. A copy of the final feedback submission to the Dean of Coursework Studies is attached (ATTACHMENT C). This policy will be discussed at the SIS Teaching Planning Workshop on 4 December 2015. Members should also note that the Dean of Coursework Studies will be visiting SIS in February 2016 to discuss the implementation of this policy in further detail. 5. LAW COORDINATOR REPORT In September 2015 the School signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Central Institute of Technology (ATTACHMENT D). The memorandum establishes a pathway for Indigenous vocational education graduates to transition from Central to SIS/UWA. This pathway model was conceived in response to national higher education reports that indicate poor transition numbers of Indigenous students from VET to university. UWA is one of the only G08 universities to establish this sort of collaborative pathway for Indigenous students. UniPrint will be producing a brochure to promote this pathway to Central students and graduates and a media release will be issued to promote this occasion. The Law Coordinator is also working with colleagues at Central to hold a cross-institutional function to celebrate the partnership (tentatively scheduled for Friday, 11 December; venue TBC).

PART II – ITEMS FOR DECISION TO BE DEALT WITH EN BLOC

6. AGE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ABORIGINAL ORIENTATION COURSE F18359 & UWA SMART START ALBANY F21688

Foundational documents, established practice and the Uni Smart Start webpage indicate that applicants for the Aboriginal Orientation Course and the UWA Smart Start must be 18 years of age in the year of their enrolment. From the outset these bridging courses were not intended to be an alternative to tertiary entrance exams and the completion of secondary school. Since the minimum school age in Western Australia changed in 2002, there are now students turning 18 in year 12 of secondary school. Therefore, the minimum age for our bridging courses must be increased to 19. The recommendation below will go to SIS Executive for final approval. Recommendation: That this committee recommends the following age eligibility rule be applied to the Aboriginal Orientation Course (00020) and the UWA Smart Start Course in Albany (00120): “Candidates must be 19 years of age in the calendar year of the course that they apply for. Candidates below this age may be considered if they have obtained Year 12 or equivalent, Certificate III or Certificate IV”.

End of Agenda

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NOTING OF DECISIONS MADE ON ITEMS CONSIDERED BY WAY OF CIRCULAR TO THE SCHOOL OF INDIGENOUS STUDIES TEACHING & LEARNING COMMITTEE MEETING

THURSDAY, 10TH SEPTEMBER 2015

1. MINUTES F73300

Resolved – 9.2015 to confirm the minutes of the SIS Teaching and Learning Committee meeting held on 14 August 2015 as attached to the circular.

2. UNIT RULES TO MAKE FIE LD TRIP COMPONENTS COMPULSORY (INDG1160,INDG2500 & INDG2700) F59636, F36055, F59626

Members were asked to consider establishing a unit rule to make it explicit that field trips are a compulsory component of units INDG1160, INDG2500 & INDG270, per a recommendation to Anita Creasey from other Faculty Student Advisors. This would assist Advisors in reviewing applications for special consideration for exemption from field trips.

Resolved – 10.2015

To approve a unit rule to be added to INDG1160, INDG2500 and INDG2700 that “Students must participate in all compulsory field trips as listed in the unit outline”.

Signed:

___________________________ CHAIR Associate Professor Grant Revell

/ / 2015

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University Policy on Assessment: Implementation Plan Consultation Feedback from

Associate Deans (Education)

Please complete and return the feedback from your Faculty to janice.moffatt@uwa.edu.au no later than Thursday, 5th November 2015

1. Name: Associate Dean Grant Revell 2. Faculty: School of Indigenous Studies 3. Number of feedback submission received: - 4. Summary of key constructive comments:

SIS welcomes changes to the University Policy on Assessment. The following comments serve to improve this Policy in the noted sections.

9.2 Assessment plan 9.2.1 (a) …”higher order learning” Assessment is never pedagogy-free and learning aims and outcomes for Indigenous content units across campus will need engagement with SIS.

9.2.1 d) “The number of assessment items set for a unit must be proportionate to the 150 hours of student workload ...” This statement is ambiguous and needs further explanation. It may warrant a ‘Good Practice Guide’.

9.2.1 e) “All undergraduate students must have an opportunity to receive formative feedback in the first five weeks…” Need to define “formative” as some academics consider verbal feedback in a tutorial as “formative”.

9.2.2 Assessment item weighting No one assessment item should exceed 50% of a unit’s final mark, including examinations. Should students, for whatever valid reason, fail an assessment item then there should be other assessed opportunities to pass the unit. Having exams at 70%, for example, is contrary to the University’s experiential principles of learning and teaching engagement, unless they are mandatory professional practice type exams, e.g. in medicine.

9.4 Unit Outlines Not withstanding the difficulties of constructing and approving unit outlines, especially amongst teaching teams, making them available via LMS ‘at least one working day’ prior to semester commencement is too short. Many students want to prepare well ahead of semester, to include the planning and identification of key diary dates (e.g. field trips and excursions) and essential readings. Would ‘at least one week’ work?

10.1.3 […essentially requires use of Turnitin for all text-based submissions] With the current functionality of the Turnitin tool within Blackboard, this item is not efficient and at odds with other items. Groups cannot be accessed within Turnitin, marking cannot be delegated and marking cannot be done anonymously. As things stand, this would be a burden particularly for our broadening units with massive enrolments.

10.3.2 This section reads too prescriptive at he moment. Removed sentences noted below:

“Where word limits apply, students must be informed of the word limit, why it is being used, what is included, and how aspects such as reference lists and appendices are treaded. Where a word limit is used, it comprises all words in the text including: a) definite and indefinite articles; b) proper nouns; c) headings and quotations; d) where author-datereferencing style has been used, in-text references including author-date citations and page numbers (e.g.

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Daly, 2009, p. 34); and e) footnotes and/or endnotes other than those that exist purely for referencing purposes (e.g. where full references occur in these notes). 30.4.1 The proposed marking and grade distribution may be extremely difficult with small class sizes, common to some SIS major units in level 2 & 3. Exemptions may be necessary. Good Practice Guides. There are many changes in the Policy that warrant high quality Good Practice Guides, existing and or proposed. Some will be urgent to suit the implementation schedule. These need to be identified earlier than later and communicated to Associate Deans as soon as possible.

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