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.

Travel advice

A reminder to staff that all University-related travel must be booked in the UniTravel system, which enables the University to fulfil it’s duty of care to staff and students travelling on our behalf. This is particularly important where risk to travellers can escalate quickly, such as in the case of recent advice regarding the risk of travel to Iran.

Booking travel within the UniTravel system also eliminates the need for a travel diary for staff, where the dominant purpose of travel is University business.

2019 Staff Influenza vaccination - May/June

Bookings are now available for the 2019 Staff Influenza Vaccination Program. Bookings can be made via the Health & Safety website. Enter the generic username and password to make your booking:

Username: unimelb
Password: fluvax2019

National Reconciliation Week 2019

The theme for this year’s National Reconciliation Week NRW is Grounded in Truth: Walk Together with Courage. To foster a positive relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must be grounded in a foundation of truth. Such a journey requires all of us to walk together with courage.

National Reconciliation Week will be held from Monday 27 - Monday 3 June and UoM has a fantastic range of events you can attend to learn more about Indigenous histories, cultures, priorities, and achievements. A committee member for the University's NRW has launched a new Reconciliation Resource space in the Dr Margaret Williams Weir Lounge. This includes digital resources on the TV screen in the lounge area and a number of collectible PDF resources for teachers. The digital resource will continue to evolve and be added to, with teaching and learning material and supports for teachers. We hope to build on our collective practices through our Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to create a generative education resource for MGSE.

NRW occurs annually across the nation and spans two important dates: 27 May - marking the date of the 1967 referendum, and 3 June commemorating the 1992 High Court's Mabo decision. The theme for this year's NRW is 'Grounded in Truth: Walk Together with Courage' Find out more about the events around the University on the National Reconciliation Week 2019 page.

Acknowledgement of Country statement at meetings

The members of the MGSE Learning and Teaching Committee have endorsed the proposal that MGSE committee meetings (i.e. those within the current governance structure) should commence with an acknowledgement of country. This is in line with moves by other University of Melbourne faculties and is endorsed by both the University of Melbourne Diversity and Inclusion committee and the MGSE Diversity and Inclusion committee.

Download the guidelines.

Open discussion session - Feedback on the Melbourne Declaration

Date: Thursday 30 May
Time: 8am - 9am
Venue: 100 Leicester Street, Level 9, Room L915

A light breakfast will be provided, please RSVP for catering purposes to Claudia Sandoval

It was agreed at this week’s Executive meeting that MGSE should provide a detailed submission on the Review of the Melbourne Declaration discussion paper. To that end, we are seeking input from any interested colleagues to ensure that MGSE is able to draw on our collective expertise and experience in order to influence our Nation’s approach to education in a changing and globally competitive world.

The timeframe is quite short with submissions due in by midnight on June 14, but it is important that Australia’s leading Education faculty provides a contemporary and innovative submission to help guide stakeholders to focus on an education that liberates, empowers and engages to ensure optimal success for all.

If you are unable to attend this discussion session please feel free to forward your input to MGSE-officeofthedean@unimelb.edu.au by Monday June 3.

Diversity & Inclusion Staff Survey

Thank you to those of you who have participated in our D&I Staff Survey so far. Your participation will help influence the diversity and inclusion work being driven by the University’s leadership team.

We want to learn more about the diverse makeup of our workforce and gather your perception and experiences in our work environment. The D&I Staff Survey is an initiative to obtain an organisational view of Diversity & Inclusion which is the first step in an organisational wide effort to build a strong, diverse and inclusive workforce.

All salaried professional and academic staff should have received an email invitation to participate in the survey on Monday 20 May and a follow-up reminder on Friday 24 May if you didn’t yet participate. If this is not the case for you, please check your Clutter/junk folder in Outlook. Some staff have experienced that the survey email automatically ended up in the Clutter/junk folder due to their Outlook settings.

If you are a casual staff member, you will be asked to participate in a tailored survey at a later date.

The Vice-Chancellor will share the overall results with all staff across the University and this information will cascade to the faculty/area specific results once finalised.

Refurbishment Updates

If you missed the MGSE Talks presentation last week, the slides and other information about the Leicester Street Accommodation Refurbishment are available on the Intranet.

Towards Strategy 2030

The Vice-Chancellor has shared his initial thoughts on the University's strategy for 2030 which can be found on the Staff Hub. Here you will also find a video presenting a range of views on why our strategy is important, information on how staff members can share ideas and contribute to the strategy, and the roadmap for how our conversations and the strategy-writing process will take shape over the coming weeks and months.

The University's existing strategy will conclude in 2020 giving staff an opportunity to re-engage in interesting and important discussions about what a university does and why. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to discuss and decide what our University of Melbourne can become in the next decade.

MGSE Success With ESPRIt Hallmark Seed Funding Scheme – Dr Kathryn Coleman

MGSE congratulates Dr Kathryn Coleman on the funding success for her research project Identity, Community and Social Participation: What do these have to do with the Art and Science of Practicing Together? A study with SciCurious Science Gallery Melbourne. Dr Coleman’s innovative research project involves collaboration with colleagues from the Interaction Design Lab, the School of Bioscences, and the Faculty of Arts, and with valued partners from Science Gallery Melbourne and Science Gallery International.

2019 INEI Summer School

Congratulations to Dr Duncan Symons and students Emma Every, PhD Candidate and Ben Howes, Master of Teaching (Primary) student for being selected to participate at the INEI Summer School in Beijing Normal University, China.

The new Canvas LMS

MGSE along with the rest of the University will be migrating to Canvas, this newsletter will keep you up to date on:

• Key Features and Benefits of Canvas
• Learn about Canvas LMS and the Pilot project that is currently underway.
• Have a look at Canvas - under the hood [video]
• Submit your questions to our FAQ document
• Next steps.

Visit the newsletter to find out more about the project.

Mapping survey - Digital Learning and teaching at MGSE

In line with the University initiatives and MGSE 2018-2021 Strategic Plan MGSE is undertaking a mapping exercise via a survey to identify where staff capacities, skills and understandings currently are in relation to digital / blended and online learning. The data we gather from this mapping survey, designed by our digital learning team,  will inform how MGSE plans, builds on and extends the current work that is occurring in the Graduate School.

Please complete the survey by COB Friday 31 May.

Now open - Subject Experience Surveys (SES)

SES surveys are open for most standard Semester 1 subjects and will remain open until Sunday 9 June. Teaching staff are encouraged to promote the survey to their students to help ensure effective response rates. Materials to help with survey promotion and contact details of Faculty SES representatives are available on the SES website.

Expression of Interests extended - MGSE Seed funding

The date for applications for the Learning and Teaching Seeding Grants will be extended to 4pm Friday 7 June.

The Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) is committed to facilitating local research projects designed to generate significant impact on the Learning and Teaching (L&T) practice of MGSE staff. By providing L&T Seed Funding the MGSE seeks to encourage and support innovative ideas and interdisciplinary collaborations.

MGSE is offering eight grants of between $10,000 to $12,000 each for short-term local teaching projects that align with the learning and teaching priorities. This year MGSE is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) for research projects that target one or more of these priorities:

• Digital, blended and flipped delivery.
• Peer review of teaching.
• Microcredentialing and short courses.

Academic staff can apply for L&T Seed Funding by completing the EOI. Submissions should be between 800-1000 and responses can be provided as dot points. A simple budget for allocation of project funds must also be included.

A detailed Learning and Teaching Seed Funding Information Pack will provide further details on this funding.

MGSE Staff Awards Evening 2019

The Awards Evening annual event is a highlight of the Graduate School’s calendar and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our students, graduates, and staff. This year the event will take place on Tuesday 4 June in the Copland Theatre, The Spot, and all staff are encouraged to attend.

If you haven't had the chance to register and would like to attend, please send an email to education-events@unimelb.edu.au.

Please contact Liz Carter if you have any questions regarding the event.

Green Impact Update

Staff may have noticed green compost bins in the kitchens of KLD Ground Floor, 100 Leicester St level 4 and 9. Thank you to Jenny Lowe for setting this in place, this is a pilot initiative, which will get us closer to a zero-waste sustainable future.

A friendly reminder about completing the MGSE Travel Log before end of the month.

Survey - Teacher educators for diversity

You have the opportunity to participate in an ARC research project titled “Educating preservice teachers to teach diverse learners.” Recent research has shown that graduate teachers do not feel well prepared to teach diverse groups of children in their classrooms.  We are interested in how teacher educators in all discipline areas think about and respond to this challenge. We are investigating teacher educators’ reflexive decision-making processes and the ways in which these can influence and promote a greater sense of preparedness for preservice teachers in teaching to diversity.

Participation will involve completing the following survey: https://survey.qut.edu.au/f/193026/12a3/

You will be asked to respond to items such as:

• Identifying where diversity is addressed in your course
• The importance of aims, thinking processes and decision-making around teaching to diversity
• Identifying the enablements and constraints around teaching to diversity
• Teaching practices related to diversity
• Changes you would like to see in your context
• Personal demographics

It is estimated that completion of the survey should take 20 minutes.

If you have any questions, please contact Professor Jo Lunn via email j.lunn@qut.edu.au or phone 07 3138 3333.

Please note that this study has been approved by the QUT Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 1800000010).

2019 Professional Staff Conference

The 2019 Professional Staff Conference to be held on Thursday 19 September, is an enjoyable and interesting full-day, staff-led event, bringing together committed and motivated individuals to share skills and transfer knowledge. Now in its fifth year, the conference aims to encourage the exploration of best practice, reporting of project outcomes, sharing of new trends and opportunities while engaging staff through motivational and creative practice. Delivered within a project framework, the conference focuses on broadening networks and collaboration across the different campuses of the University while contributing to the sustained excellence of services supporting learning, teaching, research and engagement at the UoM. Registration and program details to follow. Contact Debra Menser for any enquiries.

2019 MGSE Results Submission dates

Results are due to mgse-results@unimelb.edu.au by the following dates:

Mid-year: Monday 1 July
End of year: Monday 25 November 2019.

Non-standard subject results, (e.g. Summer, Term 1, Term 4): within 20 days of the end of the assessment period.  Check handbook for assessment end date.

More information about results can be found on the 2019 MGSE Result Information document or on the MGSE intranet.

Contact mgse-results@unimelb.edu.au