News Archive

An exciting new initiative for staff.... FASE to launch soon

This year on the 26 ^th of March, the Faculty is thrilled to launch FASE (the Faculty Academy for the Scholarship of Education). Based on the successful model developed at the Lund Institute of Technology, FASE will be a membership organisation with the aims of enhancing the scholarship of education in Engineering, Computing and Maths; providing a scholarly framework for the development of new curricula; and providing support, training and continuing professional development in advanced pedagogical approaches based on research evidence.

An invitation to the FASE launch (a lunch-time event) will be sent to all academic staff next week and we encourage as many of you to attend as possible. Until then... please mark the 26 ^th of March in your diaries!

As part of FASE, a series of workshops will be held throughout the year, focusing on teaching and educational issues and developments. The first two workshops will be held on the 26 ^th and 29 ^th of March respectively. The workshops are open to all academics and although they are framed around technical concepts in this instance, lecturers of any discipline will find them invaluable for their understanding of student learning. The second workshop will be particularly useful for those involved in the 3 + 2 curriculum reform, as well as those thinking of pursuing discipline based pedagogical research.

Please see the information below and if interested, register your attendance (places are limited so get in quickly!) by email to Jill Venn [email protected] by 24 ^th March.

Introduction to Threshold Concepts (Workshop 1)

26 ^th March 2010, 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Seminar Room 2, The University Club of Western Australia

This workshop will be devoted to the identification of threshold concepts, using trigger examples of varying complexity in engineering, computing and mathematics.

Threshold Concepts in Theory and Practice (Workshop 2)

29 ^th March 2010, 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Billings Room, 3 ^rd floor Electrical and Electronic Engineering Building

This workshop will facilitate attendees to develop expertise in threshold concepts as a curriculum analysis tool and as a way of researching student learning in engineering, computing and mathematics.

Both workshops will be led by Professor Erik Meyer , Director of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Research in Higher Education at Durham University. Erik is the originator of the notion of ‘threshold concepts' and he substantively developed the associated conceptual framework, together with Ray Land.

This framework has attracted international attention in terms of its capacity as a curriculum analysis tool to isolate transformative gateways in students' learning journeys that occasion cognitive, ontological and epistemic shifts - the concepts that really matter and without which students cannot progress.

We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!