The Education Research Group of Adelaide (ERGA)

ERGA is a cross-disciplinary community of educators promoting high quality University learning through evidence-based, practical approaches to teaching.

ERGA is currently comprised of members representing several universities. At the University of Adelaide, members are from the five Faculties of the University of Adelaide and the divisions of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and VP (Academic and Research).

Our aim is to disseminate the outcomes from our research and teaching initiatives to all members of the University Community.

Coming Events

Teaching undergraduate students how to evaluate (their) research: The torments of Google and Wikipedia

12 November: Location: Online

Presented by Dr John Willison (CLPD, University of Adelaide), Dr Cally Guerin (Adelaide Graduate Centre, University of Adelaide)
Date/Time: Thursday 12 November 2009 Time: 9.30-10.30 am
Venue: Online (Numbers ARE limited)

Download Seminar Flyer

ALTC Event: Enhancing undergraduate engagement through research and enquiry

10 November: Location: University of South Australia,Brookman Hall, City East Campus,North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000

Presented by Professor Angela Brew (UniSA)
Date/Time: Tuesday 10 November 2009 Time: 1:00-5:00 PM
Venue: University of South Australia,Brookman Hall, City East Campus,North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000

Download Seminar Flyer

ERGA Conference 2009: Feedback and Flexible Learning

24 - 25  September: Lower Napier Building, University of Adelaide

Interviews with the presenters

For interviews with presenters about their topics please vist Audioboo. Thanks to Allan Carrington and Ian Green for their excellent work in developing these.

AudioBoo

Keynote Presentations

• Devlin. Student feedback in the Australian higher education policy context [audio]
• Jones.  Feedback and flexible learning: growing as a reflective practitioner [audio]

Session Presentations

• Anthony, Bailye, Emmerson & Frauenfelder. Using self assessment tools to improve feedback to staff and maximise learning
  
• Buisman-Pijlman & White. How to handle the pros and cons of courses run by distance education only
• Butler. Using video worked examples to enhance learning in a first year mathematics course
• Cheung & Naidoo. Peer feedback using reflective journaling: A case study of reflection-on-action  [audio]
• Chur-Hansen, Crabb, Devitt, De Young & Palmer. If fishes were wishes we’d all have online materials for our students [audio]
• Coulson. Peer marking to increase engagement with assessment tasks
• Falkner. Integrating communication skills with discipline content [audio]
• Hazel, Chew, Carrington, Lawson & Baron. Development of a Chicken & Egg eSim using Moodle and Research Skill Development (RSD) framework based rubrics. [audio]
• Hiscock & List. Online resources for flexible delivery: How do students use them in their study? [audio]
• Jenkins, Warland, Horrocks, Sarles & Holm. Clinical Handover: An interactive learning tool to promote student engagement: Developing the tool [audio]
• Jerram. Trialling TBL in large classes: Successes and costs. [audio]
• McEntee & Ward. “If I write feedback, will you read it?“ Encouraging students to take responsibility for reading and acting on feedback. [contact author]
• O’Connell, Howieson, Jacobsen, de Lange, Milton & Watty. Enhancing assessment feedback practices in accounting education: Issues, obstacles and reforms.
• Palmer. History never repeats...or does it? [audio]
• Powell. The use of reflecting journaling to assess the quality of a large accounting course [audio]
• Pukala. Enhancing the teaching-research nexus: Managing undergraduate research experiences in the chemical science
• Pyke. What next? [audio]
• Reynolds & Parry. Developing a scaffolding framework to embed the graduate qualities using student, peer and topic coordinator feedback for the Bachelor of Health Science program [audio]
• Rogers. Flexible learning in a large undergraduate science course [audio]
• Sendziuk. Now I know what you mean': Improving the Feedback Mechanism and Students' Capacities for Self-Critique
• Tuovinen, Halabi & Farley. Using feedback and cognitive research with CBL materials to respond to students’ individual differences. [audio]
• Tuovinen, Ngu & Tucker. Feedback forms employed in online courses at Tabor Adelaide
• Velliaris & Warner. The Writing Centre: The affective advantage of constructive feedback [audio]
• Walker & Palmer. Student satisfaction, understanding and the role of feedback [audio]
• Wanner & Bonham. Pedagogical approaches to online learning in geography: New learning landscapes? [audio]
• Warland, Smith & Smith. Much ado about the flu: Developing an online roleplay for a large class, challenges faced and lessons learnt.
• Westphalen. A stranger in a strange land: Knowledge diasporas and cross discipline supervision [audio]
• Wiederman, Yool & Irving. Writing tutorials used as an aid for students in preparing literature reviews
• Wilkinson, Picard & Wirthensohn. Perceptions and expectations of authorship: Towards development of an e-learning tool facilitating discussion and reflection between post-graduate supervisors and candidates [audio]
• Willis C. Using crash courses to promote active engagement and develop problem solving skills [audio]
• Willis E. Expressive phenomenology and critical approaches in the distance education classroom: Process and risks [audio]
• Winning, Lekkas, Redwood & Townsend. Improving clinical assessment: Evaluating students’ perceptions, knowledge and ability to identify and apply clinical criteria. [audio]
• Wood. An online peer review instrument designed to facilitate reflective thinking through formative feedback and assessment [audio]

Recent Events

Technology for Nurture in Large Classes: a workshop

12 August: University of Adelaide

Presented by Dr Michael Bulmer, ALTC Associate Fellow, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland
Date/Time: Wednesday 12 August 2009, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Venue: Napier 210, North Terrace Campus

Download Seminar Flyer

Should we change the way we teach?

Assoc. Prof. Simon Pyke
School of Chemistry and Physics,The University of Adelaide
Friday august 14th, 2009, 1:10 pm, Rennie lecture theatre

Workshop by Professor Trevor Anderson, Head, Science Education Research Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Assessment in Higher Education

Tuesday 26 May
The Education Research Group of Adelaide (ERGA) invite you to attend this seminar and workshop. Prof Anderson will be discussing assessment from a variety of perspectives and will discuss the benefits of cross-disciplinary interactions to support assessment.

Download Presentation here

Workshop by Dr Margaret Kiley - Australian National University

The Role of Honours in Contemporary Australian Higher Education

Friday 22nd of May
The Education Research Group of Adelaide (ERGA) and The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Honours Project Team invite you to attend this interesting workshop. Dr Kiley will present the major findings and resources produced by the project, and then facilitate discussion between the participants. The event provides an opportunity for cross-institutional, intra-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary conversations on Honours. The team is inviting all universities in the region to participate and would like to see all levels of colleagues with a stake in Honours represented.

Download Presentation here

Prizes Workshop

This workshop was for those interested in applying for faculty teaching prizes, University teaching prizes or an ALTC citation. ERGA members who have successfully applied for these types of prizes provided tips, examples and other useful information on how to maximise the chances of success when you next apply.

Download Workshop PowerPoint slides

Dr Jan Harrow, Discipline of English

Do Creative Writers Have Anything to Teach You?: Facilitating Creative Process in a Research-Centred University

Teachers of creative writing face a number of challenges in trying to facilitate artistic process and the development of writing craft within a content-centred research environment. This workshop explores pedagogical responses to standardised expectations of student load, research practice, evaluation, and measurements of "industry outcomes" that are often counter-productive to creative process and the production of creative work. In an effort to move beyond the division between "research" writing and "creative" writing, this workshop will present workshop participants who require their students to write in any academic field to experience, first-hand, practical methods to move student writing from concept to draft through the process of pre-writing (conceptualising); free-writing (discovery); focusing (finding meaning); re-writing; peer review; revision; and editing. In addition, peer review and structured workshop guidelines will be discussed and demonstrated with the help of two postgraduate students, Rachel Hennessy and Carol LeFevre.