Start-ups for Students

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking part in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The third session is on "Working with industry to extend student research and professional skills using student run start-ups".  This is about the ANU TechLauncher Project. The idea is that students get experience working in a team on a real world project. I have a team of students in the program building a Better Webinar Tool For Teaching. Ideally they will enter the Innovation ACT competition and then launch their own company through the Griffin Accelerator at CBRIN.

One example of a project down the path is "Oz Guild", a system for cataloging trading cards. Another of the projects is "Accolade" to produce a digital badge system for education (this might be applied to ANU tutors).

One issue with start-ups is that about 90% fail. Rather than a negative, this should be a positive experience for students, who can learn from the experience in the safe environment of being a student. Computing graduates will be working in an environment where about 75% of the projects they work on fail.

Another issue with such innovation programs is dealing with when the student's enthusiasm causes the university embarrassment. As an example, a team I was previously mentoring created a survey and released it publicly, without going though university approval processes. The first I knew of it was when a query came down through a PVC, Dean, Head of Department, Professor and finally to me to ask "What are these students doing". The survey was rectified and back up the chain I sent the reply "We can't fault the students for having initiative in an innovation course".

Supporting tutors and demonstrators

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking part in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The fifth session is on "support tutors and demonstrators". This outlined the QUT Sessional Academic Success Project (SAS) project and how it might be applied at ANU. QUT have what in ANU terminology would be called "senior tutor/demonstrators". One interesting aspect was that many part time university teachers may not be eligible for the development programs run by universities (not just ANU or QUT), because they are not "tutors" and are not tenured (I got around this problem at ANU by getting a three year contract).

What was not clear to me if QUT tutors are also required to have formal qualifications in teaching. While it would be useful to provide tutors with a sense of community, I suggest that they should also have formal education training. As an example, a Vocational Education and Training teacher is required to have at least a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (which is about six weeks full time training). It would seem reasonable to have the tutor's learning certified, so by the end of their first year they are accredited.

Making Expert Thinking Visible

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking part in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The fourth session is on "Making Expert Thinking Visible". The idea is to treat students as apprentices and taken them through the process an expert would use to undertake a class. The book "Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Instruction in Undergraduate Science and Engineering" (Nancy Kober, 2015) is available free online.  While I see this as a good approach, there is a risk that university academics will see this as dumbing down degree programs and suggest this is just for "vocational education".

Distributed constructionism and the Jigsaw classroom

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking part in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The third session is on "Distributed constructionism and the Jigsaw classroom". The idea is that students cooperatively prepare and conduct tutorials for other students. Some practical aspects of this was that students liked some of the assessment for their course being earlier on (so they get it out of the way) and the Learning Management System helps with the complex administration needed.

Teaching Cognitive Flexibility for Better Professionals

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking aprt in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The second session is on teaching cognitive flexibility through social science. The example is given for teaching doctors to better relate to the patients. Perhaps this could be applied to other professionals as well, such as computer professionals. While STEM students have to learn scientific and technical content, they will ultimately have to relate to people in order to do a good job. There are material on "Social Foundations of Medicine and Health".

An interesting aspect of this is that the ANU Medical School appears to make extensive use of Wordpress for providing information to students. Apart from increased flexibility, this has the advantage that this information is also open to others to read.

Indigenous Health Teaching at ANU

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am taking aprt in the STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium. The first session is on the ANU Indigenous Health Stream (IHS), which uses "experiential learning, mentoring and leadership training in Indigenous Health". Students work with the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service in the ACT and the clinic at  Yuendumu in the NT.

ANU STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium

The Australian National University is holding a free STEM Teaching and Learning Colloquium, in Canberra, 9am to 1pm, 2 June 2015.

PROGRAM

STB 1

9.00 Welcome: Professor Barbara Van Leeuwen, Director Science Education and Dr Jochen Trumpf, Associate Dean Education, College of Engineering and Computer Science

9.10 The Indigenous Health Stream (IHS)- experiential learning, mentoring and leadership training in Indigenous Health: Amanda Barnard, Samia Goudie, Phyll Dance, Christine Phillips, Kirsty Douglas, Jill Bestic, Gaye Doolan

9.40 Putting the Social in Science: teaching medical students cognitive flexibility through social sciences – Associate Professor Christine Phillips, ANU Medical School

10.10 Parallel session

STB 1 Distributed constructionism and the Jigsaw classroom:  Chris Browne – ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science My Maker Tutorials TEG extends the concept of student-facilitated tutorial by making available sophisticated hands-on learning activities. This builds on my Jigsaw classroom, for which I was awarded an AAUT in 2014.

STB 2 Physics Project Market Day: An event that enables students to 'shop' for a research project and chat to staff in an informal environment. Associate Professor Jodie Bradbury ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Science Physics Project Market Day is a unique event at ANU that promotes research as an integral part of the undergraduate student experience, fosters interactions between staff and students and presents the breadth of student physics research projects available.

10.40 morning tea

STB 1 11.10 Making Expert Thinking Visible - Dr Salman Durrani, ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science This talk will discuss some strategies, in the context of electronic engineering, for making expert thinking visible and enjoyable for both students and lecturers.

11.40 How might we better support tutors and demonstrators? Associate Professor Kristen Pammer, ANU College of Medicine Biology and Environment Kristen will outline the QUT model for supporting sessional staff to begin a discussion on how we can progress in our Colleges at ANU.

12.10 Working with industry to extend student research and professional skills using student run start-ups: Dr Shayne Flint, ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science TechLauncher is an RSCS initiative, which enables students from any discipline to develop the research and professional skills required to use technology to bring great ideas to life and have a positive impact on our society. Students develop these skills by working closely with industry professionals, technology experts and entrepreneurs to create start-up companies or to work on complex real-world problems. In 2015 we have 120 3rd and 4th year students enrolled in the course which runs over two semesters.

Many of our 3rd year students will continue with the program in their 4th year. In this presentation we will describe the TechLauncher program and how our students engage with industry, government and innovation sector. Some of our students will talk about their involvement in the course and demonstrate their work. We will conclude with our vision for the next few years.

For further information please contact Science Teaching and Learning Centre or Marina Lobastov (CECS).