{"id":15841,"date":"2022-04-29T15:24:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T05:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=15841"},"modified":"2022-05-30T09:59:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T23:59:57","slug":"wayfinding-your-guide-to-some-teaching-resources-at-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/wayfinding-your-guide-to-some-teaching-resources-at-sydney\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayfinding \u2013 your guide to (some) teaching resources at Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I started teaching at Sydney I was definitely winging it! My first class was early in my PhD studies, as sole tutor in a second year subject of 46 participants. Despite faculty and department orientations to teaching, and feeling confident with the unit content, I arrived at that first class with enthusiastic anxitement<\/a>, a bottle of Coke, and no real idea about actually facilitating learning. While there\u2019s a certain freedom that comes with being unburdened by any knowledge of how things \u2018should\u2019 be done, my teaching practice is much better for me having since engaged with the resources offered by Sydney. But it\u2019s taken me years to stumble across them! So to save you some time, and connect you with some really useful raw materials with which to continue to develop your own practice, here are some of my favourites.<\/p>\n

Supporting students<\/h2>\n

Especially in the past couple of years<\/span>, it\u2019s a good idea to know about the resources available to support students experiencing personal difficulties<\/a>. It includes a downloadable guide to assisting students in a range of specific circumstances, titled \u2018Specialist advice and support for students\u2019. Another great resource is a short training course on \u2018Identifying and responding to students of concern\u2019 and an accompanying Canvas site which includes a quick response protocol and a handy directory of referral services.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re working with students who are just starting uni, our principles for first year transition in 2022 and beyond<\/a> can help you think about how to create supportive learning environments, and the Transition Resources Site<\/a> has a range of activities you can include in your classes as a way to help students develop a sense of belonging and purpose. The Get Prepared open-access Canvas site<\/a> was co-designed with undergraduate students<\/a> and has information to support students and their families during the transition to university. Video resources on the particular challenges faced by Chinese international students<\/a> give insight into their unique experiences. To support students in developing their academic skills from first year and beyond,\u00a0the Learning Hub <\/a>offers workshops, resources and individual consultations,<\/a> and The Write Site<\/a> does what it says on the tin!<\/p>\n

The Knowing Your Students report<\/a> provides a general overview of student cohorts, including demographics, ages, countries of origin, first in family status, etc. Understanding students\u2019 experiences can also help us support them and this very blog,\u00a0Teaching@Sydney<\/a>, has many useful articles on this topic, including key insights about what helps Sydney students learn<\/a>, given by a student panel at the 2021 Sydney Teaching Symposium.<\/p>\n

Getting feedback<\/h2>\n

Getting feedback is invaluable for developing teaching practice, and can also be a useful source of evidence when applying for jobs, fellowships or promotions. If you\u2019re a unit coordinator, ordering a Unit of Study Survey<\/a> (USS) is one way to get feedback from your student cohort. If you\u2019re a tutor, ordering a Feedback For Teachers<\/a> survey (FFT) is one way to get feedback from your classes. These surveys are emailed out at the end of semester, students complete them anonymously, and you get the results after the marks for the unit are finalised (you\u2019ll be able to see the release dates on each survey when you order it).<\/p>\n

To get direct feedback from colleagues, the University offers the Peer Review for Teaching<\/a> program. Some faculty- or school-based initiatives also exist, check with your local education support team<\/a> for more information. Open Door Weeks<\/a> allow you to either attend another teacher\u2019s class or open your own for observers, and invites participants to opt in to a feedback process. You could also organise an informal observation with a colleague, following general peer observation guidance<\/a>\u00a0or organise a peer observation program for a unit of study you’re teaching<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re on a fixed term contract or have a continuing role, you\u2019ll engage in the Academic Planning and Development<\/a> process (AP&D), in which your AP&D advisor or supervisor will work with you to support your career goals. If you\u2019re on a casual contract you won\u2019t usually be required to complete an AP&D, but you can still seek mentors to help you. This and other suggestions about developing further as a teacher can be found in an internal guide to enhancing your teaching strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Training<\/h2>\n

The University offers a number of professional development programs for teaching and education support staff.<\/a>\u00a0Two that I\u2019ve undertaken and have found hugely helpful and worthwhile are the Modular Professional Learning Framework<\/a> (MPLF), and the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education)<\/a>\u00a0(colloquially known as the ‘Grad Cert’), both of which are free for staff. Successful completion of the Grad Cert leads to\u00a0Fellowship of Advance HE<\/a>, an international recognition of a personal commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching in higher education. You can also be supported to apply for Fellowship through the Sydney Educational Fellowship Program<\/a> (SEFP). All these programs are theoretical, practical and experiential, focus on key skills, and are environments in which to connect with colleagues from all areas of the university. Engaging in these programs gave me new perspectives, skills, and confidence.<\/p>\n

The Educational Innovation team\u00a0run regular workshops<\/a> on practical topics including Canvas, teaching in HyFlex, and the Student Relationship Engagement System (SRES)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resources<\/h2>\n

There are also many resources to help with specific things. Here\u2019s a selection!<\/p>\n

For general teaching resources, including for coordinators and education support staff, there\u2019s the Teaching Resources Hub<\/a> on Canvas. On the staff intranet the teaching resources directory<\/a>\u00a0and FASS education support resources<\/a> include lots of good hints and tips about planning and getting support for your teaching. FASS Online by Our Design<\/a> (OBOD) specifically supports the pedagogic values of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, but is open to all staff and includes some inspiring\u00a0reflections on teaching<\/a> from colleagues.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in collaborative learning check out the collaborative learning resources for staff<\/a> Canvas site, and for interdisciplinary learning have a look at the university\u2019s Mapping Interdisciplinary Expertise<\/a> project website, particularly the key references for interdisciplinary expertise<\/a> and tools and resources to spark up interdisciplinary work<\/a>. An example I particularly like is one on\u00a0the ways in which the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences contribute to interdisciplinary work.<\/a><\/p>\n

To ensure multiple modes of engagement for the benefit of all students\u00a0Universal Design for Learning (UDL)<\/a> provides a useful framework, and the Teaching Resources Hub’s accessibility resources<\/a> provide tips for designing, testing, and ensuring accessibility for all students.\u00a0A very cool tool to help with this is the SensusAccess<\/a> document conversion tool*. You (and\/or your students) can use it to convert a range of files, such as converting a scanned page into text characters, or a text file into an MP3.<\/p>\n

The University’s knowledge bases<\/a> can help with university systems, apps and other tech (including info on tech tools for assessment and teaching<\/a>). For personalised support contact the Educational Innovation team – for troubleshooting the Helpdesk can be accessed either by\u00a0raising a ticket<\/a> or sending an email<\/a>, and for design and\/or more complex queries you can book a 30-minute consultation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tech tools<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m a fan of using well-considered tech<\/span> as a component of my teaching, here are some of my favourite tools. The very handy ABC Learning Design Online<\/a> tool, created by Associate Professor Danny Liu, helps plan teaching activities. The tool also analyses your plan so you can see if you have a balance of learning activities. Padlet<\/a> is a versatile online collaboration tool (like a whiteboard with unlimited post-it notes), and University staff have access to unlimited accounts.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also including the following resources from outside Sydney, as they\u2019re free (or have good free versions) and very useful. mmhmm<\/a> for making videos integrated with slides, videos and other types of content<\/a>, and which can also be used with Zoom<\/a>. Mentimeter<\/a> is a simple online polling tool for creating charts, word clouds, etc. in real time from participants\u2019 responses. DaVinci Resolve<\/a> is a powerful and fully featured video editing app which is intuitive to use.\u00a0If you\u2019d like to try some virtual worlds (for classes, consults, conferences etc), have a look at world-building platforms\u00a0Topia<\/a> (my personal favourite), Gather<\/a>\u00a0and Hubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Working with Canvas<\/h2>\n

The Educational Innovation\u00a0knowledge base<\/a>\u00a0has searchable info on many things to do with Canvas,\u00a0including\u00a0creating, editing and captioning videos in Canvas Studio<\/a> (top tip, always check your captions and edit any errors which the auto captioning function may have made). The\u00a0Canvas online community<\/a>\u00a0also has guides, updates, forums, and 24\/7 chat and phone support available via the Help menu on Canvas<\/a>. Canvas page design<\/a> offers flexibility to present content in a variety of ways<\/span>, and Canvas templates<\/a>\u00a0offers a number of blank-slate options\u00a0which you can adapt to your purposes.<\/span>. You may also want to look into how UDL can enhance site design.<\/a>\u00a0To add graphics, try the \u2018build a banner\u2019 tool<\/a>** and sites like Unsplash<\/a>** or Pixabay<\/a>\u00a0for free stock images. If you\u2019d like to experiment with Canvas, rather than working directly into a teaching site you can request your own\u00a0playground site (or sites!) \u2013 just log into SEAMS<\/a> then Request a Canvas Site>Generic\/OLE site (type in \u2018playground\u2019 as the purpose when prompted).<\/p>\n

Inspiration<\/h2>\n

Finally, for inspiration from colleagues across the university, I recommend browsing\u00a0Teaching@Sydney<\/a>\u00a0for articles about all aspects of teaching (articles on deciding whether cameras are really necessary when online teaching<\/a>\u00a0and advice on non-visual ways to ‘feel the room’ when teaching online\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0are two personal recent favourites), including some recent open Canvas sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wild and wonderful teaching ecosystem at Sydney, and I hope this bit of wayfinding leads you to some interesting and useful places.<\/p>\n

* thanks to Sarah Humphreys for showing me this tool
\n** thanks to Ruth Weeks for showing me these two tools<\/p>\n

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