MGSE staff news

Who's travelling?

The following MGSE staff will be travelling soon. If you have colleagues, potential RHD scholars, prospective students, events, or opportunities in or near the locations that they are travelling to, you are encouraged to get in touch with these staff directly to explore the potential for collaboration.

NameDepartureRouteDestinationPurpose
Jon Quach6/12/18MEL SYD MELSydneyConference
Helen Cahill9/12/18MEL NTLNewcastleConference
Joe Lo Bianco10/12/18MEL CBR  MELCanberraMeeting
Lawrence Drysdale16/12/18MEL SIN MELSingaporeOther

Travel advice

Just a reminder as we head into a time when staff and students may be planning travel to conduct academic research that all travel to countries designated at DFAT’s level three or four require the Dean’s approval. The University has determined to also include DFAT level 2 countries in the Middle East as high-risk destinations for the purposes of its travel approval and escalations, and this travel will also require the Dean’s approval. Staff are required to book all University funded travel through UniTravel. If travel is booked by a third party (e.g. travel is externally funded), staff are required to log the details of their trip using the ‘Log My Trip’ function. A complete travel itinerary for high-risk destinations must be recorded with the approving supervisor before any travel approval is granted. All University-related international travel by graduate research students must be logged via Student1. Here is the latest travel alert issued by the University.


EOI - Program Coordinator, Breadth

EOIs are invited for the leadership allocation of Program Coordinator, Breadth,to oversee the Graduate School’s suite of undergraduate Breadth offerings.

Academic staff at Level C and above are encouraged to apply, in some circumstances applications from Level B staff will be considered. The successful applicant will retain their substantive position and classification. An immediate start is required with duties until the end 2020.

Please send your EOI to mgse-hr@unimelb.edu.au marked ‘Expression of Interest - Program Coordinator, Breadth’ by 5pm, Thursday 6 December.

Calling for content - Online MGSE Partner Hub

The MGSE Partner Hub is being developed as part of the new MTeach partnership model. It is initially aimed at supporting the professional learning of our colleagues in Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary educational settings, as well as partners involved in hosting students on placement or capstone internships in our Professional Masters Programs.

MGSE is calling for contributions from staff across Research Centres and Cognate Areas to be curated for the Partner Hub, by Friday 7 December. The Hub will be updated regularly and promoted across partners supporting placements in its first iteration.

Content headings for the first iteration of the Hub are:

  • Understanding Your Students and How they Learn
  • Developing Content and Pedagogical Knowledge
  • Effective Planning and Teaching
  • Creating Safe and Supportive Learning Environments
  • Assessing Learning and Providing Effective Feedback
  • Working with Colleagues, Parents, Carers and Communities

You are invited to contribute as follows:

  1. Existing/ready-made resources can be submitted together with a short blurb (no more than 100 words) outlining the focus/audience/intended use.
  2. Research publications that might be used for Professional Learning session by our partners. If you would like to make a short video outlining your research, and current ways in which schools or early childhood centres are engaging with your material, please indicate this when you submit your suggestions for Hub context via the link below.
  3. Emerging content already in development and due for completion in 2019 can be proposed.
  4. New content/production proposals are also invited. MGSE is committed to supporting the production of a suite of webinars, podcasts and other content that may become part of a micro-credentialed learning experience.

Contributors’ work will be acknowledged and cited appropriately, and intellectual property and copyright managed. Staff contact details can be provided for queries and potential consultancy opportunities.

The MGSE Hub project is being led by our Digital Learning Leader, Jo Blannin. You are also welcome to contact Jo with questions about the suitability of your content for the Hub.

Videos for online MGSE Partner Hub

Short 60 second videos will be shared on the Hub which will introduce a specific published paper or article. This content will allow teachers to watch your video and then download the paper you are presenting with a better understanding of its context and purpose.

A videographer will be available to record your 60 second presentation on Monday 10 December from 12pm-3pm on Level 5 of the Kwong Lee Dow Building. Please sign-up for a time slot via this form.

Your recording should:

  • Introduce yourself
  • Explain the context of your paper
  • Present the problem the paper addresses
  • Explain why teachers should read the paper and/or what they might learn

Please also send Jo Blannin the document you will refer to in your video.


MGSE End of Year Celebration

The Dean and the Executive Team would like to invite all staff to attend the MGSE End of Year celebration. We would like to thank everyone for their hard work and contribution to MGSE over the last year.

Date: Wednesday 19 December
Time: 1pm - 3.30pm
Venue: Kwong Lee Dow Building, studioFive, Level 5. 
RSVP by Wednesday 12 December


Congratulations to the successful ARC Discovery Project winners

The long-awaited outcomes of the ARC 2019 Discovery projects have just been announced.

MGSE is leading one successful Discovery project, led by Dr Jon Quach. The project is called 'Does a teacher-led mindfulness intervention improve student outcomes?' and the research team includes Professor Janet Clinton, Dr Ben Deery, Dr Emma Sciberras, Dr Peggy Kern, Associate Professor Lisa Gold and Mrs Francesca Orsini.

Moreover, MGSE colleagues were involved in three other successful applications:

  • Professor Joseph Lo Bianco in a project on 'Early years languages learning in Australia led by the University of New England'
  • Dr Jessica Gerrard with a project on 'School autonomy and parent engagement in disadvantaged communities' led by Dr Glenn Savage (UWA)
  • Professor Lorraine Graham in a project 'Teaching how to learn: promoting self-regulated learning in STEM classes' led by Flinders University.

Announcing 2019 Mentoring@MGSE pilot

In February next year MGSE will begin a pilot bespoke mentoring program. MGSE has commissioned the program to help staff achieve their goals and to grow mid-career professional and academic staff. The program will contribute to the success of our strategic plan 'Collaborate, Create, Contribute' to create a positive organisational culture and environment in which staff feel valued, nurtured and able to reach their full potential.

The program comprises three-strands: dyad mentoring, where each mentee is strategically matched with a senior mentor; topic-based peer mentoring groups, where the topics and group composition are determined by mentees, and a series of workshops for mentees and mentors which support the dyad and peer mentoring processes.

The program is strongly supported by the Executive and a similar program has been successfully conducted in other faculties of the University of Melbourne. For the initial pilot, eligible employees will be mid-career academic staff, (B’s and C’s) who will have received an invitation to apply. Nominated mentors will also be contacted. The formal partnership is expected to last for 9 months but may be longer if mutually agreed. For any queries contact MGSE-mentoring@unimelb.edu.au


LMS Readiness - First half of 2019

LMS sites for most 2019 first half subjects should now be available to coordinators.

LMS Preparation Checklist

A ‘Start-of-semester LMS Checklist’ is available, a LMS guide is also available in the A-Z index. For support with updating Readings Online, please contact the team at readings-online@unimelb.edu.au.

Content Copying

If you’d like content from a previous LMS site copied to your new site you can do this manually according to these instructions. If you’re unsure, please contact Jeni Rasche to assist in performing the copy for you.

LMS Outage Friday 14 December

The LMS will be unavailable for a period of maintenance on Friday 14 December from 7am-5pm. Staff are encouraged to download required materials before the maintenance window as necessary, including Readings Online and Lecture Capture recordings.

LMS Workshops

If you are new to the LMS or looking to improve your skills in a specific area, you might be interested in enrolling in an upcoming LMS workshop

LMS specialists from Learning Environments can provide custom LMS workshops for specific groups on request. For more information about these services contact Jeni Rasche, or the team directly via a support request.

If you do not have access to a first-half subject you will be coordinating in 2019, please contact Jeni Rasche to assign an LMS coordination role for you. Any staff member with a coordinator role in the LMS can assign staff roles to other staff members.


New Staff appointments

Congratulations to the following staff who have been promoted to Level D (Associate Professor) effective from 1 January 2019. These promotions reflect outstanding achievements from each individual:

  • Dr Jane Page
  • Dr Margaret Kern
  • Dr Terence Bowles
  • Dr Vicki McKenzie

New Gerry Higgins Chair

Following an extensive world-wide search to fill this position, Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick has been appointed as the new Gerry Higgins Chair In Positive Psychology. The Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology is funded by John Higgins in the name of his father Gerry.  This appointment will further advance the international research reputation of the Centre for Positive Psychology within MGSE.

Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick was appointed due to her strong international reputation in positive psychology, combined with local applied research, particularly in Positive Education. This includes multiple ARC Linkage grants, development of the Wellbeing Profiler to assess student wellbeing in Australia and overseas, and close linkage with Victorian DET, Geelong Grammar School and Maroondah City Council to develop a place-based Positive Education Hub and most recently work with the Bio-Dash bio-feedback tool to work with young people to build wellbeing skills. Reporting to the Dean via the Centre Director, Professor Vella-Brodrick, building on her time already at MGSE where she has chaired the MGSE Human Research Ethics Committee,  will make a huge contribution to research leadership within MGSE and across the University.


Professor Ruth Fincher leader international portfolio

Professor Fincher has been appointed to the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor International.Ruth has taken over responsibilities from Provost Mark Considine, who has been covering this key strategic area since Professor Carolyn Evans left to take up her new role of Vice-Chancellor at Griffith University.

As you are well aware, the University's International work is vital to our future. Ruth is one of the University’s most distinguished academic leaders -- a former President of Academic Board and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, and eminent in her discipline as Professor and Head of School of Geography.


Payroll cut-offs during Christmas and New Year

Please note that while HR will try and clear all payroll processing before the close down for Christmas, they now have to prioritise based on receipt of documentation for terminations and end of contracts received by 30 November 2018.  If you have any late notifications of terminations or resignations, we will end date the record to ensure there is no overpayment but cannot guarantee full processing of the termination pay until the new year. HR will endeavour to process all forms/tickets however cannot guarantee that requests received after the cut-off date will be processed in time for the pay due 28 December 2018, because HR need to finalise pay run early due to Christmas break.

Critical Dates and Cut Offs for Casual Pay-C13 due 20/12/2018

  • Paper cut-off to Payroll Services – 12/12/18
  • Themis Cut Off at 4pm on 14/12/2018

Critical Dates and Cut Offs for Fortnightly Pay –F13 due 28/12/2018

  • Paper cut-off to Payroll Services-14/12/2018
  • Cut Off for fortnightly pay due 28 December 2018– changed to 4pm on 19/12/18 for approval through Themis.

For full amended deadlines/payroll processing dates for Christmas and New Year, please refer to the 2018 Payroll Calendar which can be accessed via the Staff Hub.


Annual Leave Loading

Annual leave loading will be paid to eligible staff in the pay due on 14 December 2018. The maximum annual leave-loading amount is $1,445.30.