The former Graduate School of Management (GSM) received a high commendation for its teaching and learning in the UWA bi-annual distinguished teaching and learning awards for schools in 2006. The GSM was runner up to the Humanities School in a field of eight schools and this is indeed an outstanding result for the former GSM. Congratulations to all staff involved.

The new Teaching and Learning (T&L) Committee has now held its first two meetings and indeed by the time this newsletter is circulated the third meeting will have been held.

The following is a summary of some of the major items likely to be of interest.

Tutor training and CEQ grant

We have now conducted the third tutor training workshop for all new tutors in the Business School. There were 20 participants and six staff who participated in the two hours workshop designed to provide some basic skills to assist new tutors to be more effective in the classroom. The workshop received very positive evaluations from the new tutors. I would like to acknowledge and thank Eileen Thompson and Michael Sutherland for arranging and participating in the workshop. I also wish to thank Naomi Seagal, Giri Parameswaran and Ingrid Kristoffersen for their assistance in leading discussion groups during the workshop.

The school has also received a CEQ grant of $11,000 to develop resources for new tutors. Part of the grant has been used to develop additional online resources for tutors in the Business School and these are now available on the T&L web site at: http://www.biz.uwa.edu.au/home/teaching_and_learning2/teaching_and_learning

Teaching and learning month

We held a student panel where several students were invited across our programs to talk about their experiences at the UWA Business School. This type of forum is held at the annual T&L Forum and it is very enlightening to hear from students about their experience. You may be surprised at what you can learn from our students.

Learning and Teaching Performance Funds

UWA was again successful with its rating in the Learning and Teaching Performance and as a result received over $4 million from this federal government funding in 2007. The Business School will receive in excess of $300,000 from the LTPF in 2007. A number of exciting initiatives for the use of these funds have been accepted and here is a summary of them:

Improving student engagement in tutorials

There will be a combination of strategies to try and achieve greater student engagement in tutorials ranging from reducing class sizes to increasing tutorial time from one to two hour sessions depending on the unit. Initially the strategy will focus on first year units.

Peer Assisted Student Study sessions (PASS)

PASS is a peer facilitated, cooperative student support scheme for all students. Research in the UK, USA and Australia has consistently demonstrated that students who regularly attend PASS schemes can expect an improvement in their academic achievement.

PASS attendance will be voluntary but highly recommended. It is not a remedial program for "struggling" students, but rather, a program for all students who want to improve their academic performance.

PASS will involve weekly timetabled sessions where trained, senior student PASS peer facilitators will lead study sessions with students from lower years. They will be trained to foster student learning and to facilitate active engagement. Their role is not to re-teach lecture material or to replace existing tutorials, but rather to facilitate discussion and active learning.

Revised orientation and transition program for new international students
The School intends to run an orientation program to include study skills sessions for all new international students. We also intend to launch a new scheme which will involve second and third year students acting as mentors for new international students, to assist students to adjust to a new learning environment, and to the challenges associated with adapting to a new country away from family and support networks.

Excellence in Teaching Awards

These awards will be modeled on the Carrick awards, with possibly six to ten awarded annually. The process and the criteria for the awards are still to be finalised by the T&L committee. I will report on the categories in the next newsletter.

Grants to support research into teaching and learning

The Business School Teaching and Learning Committee seek to promote research activities associated with the scholarship of teaching and learning by the provision of a research grants scheme. Funding is accessible through a competitive application process. In 2007, grants will be awarded following two rounds of applications and the first round will be circulated in May/June. A total of $50,000 is available and grants can be for amounts up to a maximum of $20,000.

Preference will be given to proposals that relate to the Business School Teaching and Learning Operational Priorities, available at: http://www.biz.uwa.edu.au/home/teaching_and_learning2/operational_priorities

Postgraduate Student Experience Coordinator