1. ACDS T&L Conf 2017 The Wrapup

2. Session 1: Leading Uptake Beyond Individual Innovators
Strategies for engaging Heads and Deans
Change is inevitable, race to be known for ‘best practice’
Benchmarking with other schools/institutions
Indicate savings or revenue, addressing attrition
Innovation needs to be incentivised
New role: AD (strategy & innovation)???
Scaling up:
Peer observation needs to be embraced
Showcasing best practice to the ‘middle ground’
Where seed funding is being used, is it being used well?

3. Session 1: Leading Uptake Beyond Individual Innovators
PD and training:
Embrace a cultural of ongoing PD.
Delivered by ‘central’, or ‘in-house’?
Frame narrative around ensuring ‘best practice’
Value of informal PD – The open classroom
Integrated PD into workload
Educational technologies
Technology is the means and not the end
Need for better tech in some areas
Technology as an enabler, not to increase workload
Support! More suited to central support?

4. Session 2: Supporting Session Staff
Is TA Training Important? Yes!!
Gerry Rayner: Models for customised and continual PD and training. Need to rethink the argument for cuts.
Aishling Flaherty: Invest in sessional staff, and change their self-perception to empower them. Inherently changes the way they perform. Impact of student retention and quality.
Mauro Mocerino: Provide proper training. Worth investing in.
Career Development
The value proposition of a strong sessional workforce
A 4 year PhD Scholarship that incorporates TA allocation?

5. Session 3: Pathways for Leaders in Science Education
Future leaders regularly come through first year programs
New T&L leaders don’t always enter these roles well prepared (policy/procedures/leadership), but have the drive, motivation, management skills to succeed.
The ‘accidental leader’.
Potential future leaders need to be identified early, and nutured, provided opportunities. Deans need to consider succession planning
Perception exists it can be the poison chalice. Genuine concerns for some if research outputs suffer.
What are the incentives for the next leaders, given that so many are driven by a pure desire to ‘improve things’.

6. Session 4: Work-Integrated Learning
WIL Group conversation
Group: Deans HoS – How we enable the WIL agenda
Some placements are well organised, but some are bespoke and wide spread: eg IT education
Should the chief scientist get involved in STEM WIL?
A new role? AD (WIL)???
Adjunct and alumni – are we co-ordinating to leverage this?
Are we embedding WIL in the curriculum?
Group 1. Challenges:
Biggest challenge – developing, maintaining a list
Use professional organisations to help build this list
Importance of a strong institutional framework – HR and Technical, within the university – administrative and academic.
Think WIN WIN – collaboration and partnership – the more we address strategies the better
Standardised contracts
Challenges working with small business
Central or faculty based – faculty based
Scaling up takes time
What to do with students who are difficult to place
Group 2. What can Faculty leaders do to advance the WIL agenda?
Provide fabulous support
Encouraging everyone to use every relationship, linkages projects, using returning students
Importance of drawing on alumni relationships – giving alumni a reason to stay in contact
Look for real problems to address in the curriculum
Faculty leaders to hire and do it as their job
Asking alumni to give back not just give money

7. Session 4: Work-Integrated Learning
Group 1. Challenges:
Biggest challenge – developing, maintaining a list – and that scaling up can take years
Using professional organisations to help build this list
Importance of a strong institutional framework – HR, Standardised contracts etc.
Challenges working with small business
What to do with students who are difficult to place

8. Session 4: Work-Integrated Learning
Group 2. What can Faculty leaders do to advance the WIL agenda?
Really think about WIL as a collaboration between us and industry
Encouraging everyone to use every relationship, linkages projects, using returning students
Importance of drawing on alumni relationships – giving alumni a reason to stay in contact
Look for real problems to address in the curriculum
Asking alumni to give back not just give money
We need to start the WIL conversation with students from Year 1 onwards …

9. Session 5: FYiS network
What are the top 5 issues identified by this group?
Transition to university
Diversity of Student Backgrounds
Admin, organisation, management (getting data, id at-risk)
Retention
Engagement
But how does this align with what FYCs themselves think?

10. Session 5: FYiS network Potential role of FYiSM network
Giving staff space to share perspectives
Networking forum – formal and informal sharing
Sharing variety of ways in which unis create/structure this type of role
Combining/sharing best practice, strategies, resources to engage students more effectively
This allows discussion of consistency and timing of assessment, as well as supporting innovation and sharing
Create sense of identity – validation and confidence
Needs to be a structured way of feeding positive outcomes back to Deans etc

11. ACDS T&L Conf 2017 The Wrapup