29 - Penny Rush

Title

Building an online Scientific Communication Skills resource: creating contentful engagement

Author(s)

Penny Rush*, Student Learning and Academic Development, Division of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education)
Robert Tarbath*, School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology Ashley Edwards, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
Jon Osborn, School of Land and Food, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
Brooke Sheldon, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health
Nazlee Siddiqui, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics (TSBE)
Morag Porteous, Student Learning and Academic Development, Division of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education)
Louise Oxley, Student Learning and Academic Development, Student Learning and Academic Development, Division of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education)
Julian Dermoudy, School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
David Wood, School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology

Subtheme

Locally and Globally Engaged Learning and Teaching

Presentation Type

Spotlight on Practice

Room

Academy Gallery

Time

11.30-12.30

Abstract

Teaching and learning of communication skills requires explicit instruction and modelling using resources that are educationally sound and that are responsive to our students’ varied backgrounds and developmental needs as well as to the time and capacity constraints of teaching staff.
A cross-disciplinary team of university staff has collaborated to develop an online science communication skills resource that supports student learning of oral and written communication skills. The resource comprises modules to which students can be directed for independent, self-paced learning, or that staff can use in class teaching. The resource will be available via MyLO to all staff and students in the Faculty of SET from 2017.
In this presentation, we describe how current educational theories informed our design and development of the resource. This has included careful consideration of the ways in which students engage in learning, and the role of rich student-content interaction when the learning is required to be online and self-paced and so unable to rely on rich student-teacher or student-student interaction.  Our focus on student-content interaction is not only because the primary intended use of our resource is ‘in isolation’, but also because of the varying applicability of pedagogical frameworks across quite different modes of teaching and learning.
A particular intention of our focus on student-content interaction was to ensure that, although communication skills may be regarded as a ‘generic attribute’ (global), the teaching of these skills benefits from alignment with our students’ disciplinary interests and their enrolment at this university (local).  We will demonstrate how this was achieved in terms of the content used in the resource and the way in which it has been embedded into MyLO.
Our project included a survey of FSET teaching staff, seeking information about their current teaching of communication skills.  This was conducted with ethics approval (H0015218).

Resource

Download presentation (requires University of Tasmania login) (PDF)