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.
| Name | Departure | Route | Destination | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Watterston |
27/2/20 1/4/20 |
MEL SYD MEL MEL YVR YYC SFO |
Sydney Canada |
Meeting Conference |
| Lisa McKay Brown |
28/2/20 5/ 3/20 |
MEL LAX IND IND JFK MIA | USA | Conference |
| Lindsay Oades | 2/3/20 | MEL LAX JFK | USA | Conference |
| Joanne Blannin | 5/3/20 | MEL AKL MEL | New Zealand | Research |
| Sophia Arkoudis | 6/3/20 | MEL CBR MEL | Canberra | Meeting |
| Chi Baik | 6/3/20 | MEL CBR MEL | Canberra | Meeting |
| Dina Uzhegova | 6/3/20 | MEL CBR MEL | Canberra | Meeting |
| Jan van Driel | 14/3/20 | MEL YVR PDX | USA | Research and Conference |
| Anne Suryani |
20/3/20 27/3/20 | MEL SFO DTW DFW SYD MEL | USA | Conference |
| Jeanne Iorio | 20/3/20 | MEL DIA BCN BLQ FCO | Italy | Teaching |
| Larissa McLean Davies | 1/4/20 | MEL LAX JFK DCA SFO | USA | Conference |
| Sonja Arndt | 15/4/20 | MEL SFO SYD MEL | USA | Conference |
| Marian Mahat | 15/4/20 | MEL SFO MEL | USA | Conference |
| Fazal Rizvi | 17/4/20 | MEL SFO MEL | USA | Conference |
| Bernadette Murphy | 18/4/20 | MEL CNS GOV MEL | USA | Teaching |
Travel advice
Last week the Australian Government announced the extension of the restrictions on travel to and from China until the 29th February in response to COVID-19. Travel to China is at DFAT Level 4 which means no travel to China for University staff without the Vice-Chancellor’s approval. The Australian Government has also lifted travel warnings to Japan and South Korea to Level 2 – which means exercising a high level of caution. Staff who are planning overseas travel should keep monitoring DFAT travel warnings.
Reminder of supervisor responsibilities - Travel
The University's Travel Policy requires supervisors to ensure that staff they supervise undertake travel in accordance with the policy and in a manner that ensures that the University is able to maintain its employer duty of care and fringe benefits tax (FBT) compliance.
Staff intending to travel for business must communicate their travel plans with their supervisor and the supervisor must: ensure the traveller books flights and accommodation through the University's endorsed booking platform; confirm that the travel is being undertaken for legitimate University business; and, if there is a personal component to the travel, confirm that the dominant purpose of travel is for University business. Guidance on supervisor responsibilities, and dominant purpose definition and common examples can be found on the UniTravel webpage. For any enquiries contact: gareth.payne@unimelb.edu.au
Messages from the Office of the Dean
Download the messages sent to all staff in the last fortnight that you may have missed:
- 19/2/20 - OOTD#1 MGSE Refurbishment Project Update - February 2020
- 20/2/20- OOTD#2 MGSE International Women's Day (IWD) Morning Tea
- 21/2/20- OOTD#3 MGSE Australian Indigenous Curriculum Taskforce
- 24/2/20- OOTD#4 MGSE Annual and Triennial Academic Performance Reviews - Amended Deadline
- 26/2/20 - OOTD#5 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
- 26/2/20 - OOTD#6 Staffing Announcement - Course Coordinator, Master of Education
CPECE Award
Congratulations to Nicola Yelland, 2020 recipient of the AERA CPECE Distinguished Career Contribution Award. The CPECE award is to acknowledge researchers who have made significant and sustained contributions to the dissemination and understanding of critical perspectives on early childhood education at local, national, and international levels.
The purpose of the award is twofold: to honor scholars whose work has informed and influenced critical inquiry in early childhood education; and to draw attention to the work of CPECE in the larger context of educational research.
Course advice and support regarding the novel coronavirus
The University has prepared course specific information for the student community affected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) on the Novel coronavirus: student advice and support page.
Digital newsletter for Canvas/Project Evolve
The latest edition of the Project Evolve Digital Newsletter is now available
In this edition:
- Uploading Video & the COVID-19 Virus
- Get Help! Migrating Multi-Media Files to Kaltura (complete survey here)
- Canvas Support for staff
- Canvas and Readings Online
Join the MGSE Go Green team
MGSE Go Green is currently recruiting new team members for the Green Impact Initiative in 2020! This initiative is a behavior change and engagement program that supports staff and students, in teams, to become more sustainable in their workplace. Whether you have a lot or a little time, Green Impact is for you! If you think you can contribute a little bit (or a lot) to make MGSE more sustainable, please reach out and join the team in 2020! MGSE Go Green has achieved Bronze and Silver levels in 2018 and 2019 and is aiming to smash the Gold level in 2020. For more information, check out the Green Impact page and see what’s involved. To join please email Pian Zhang at pian.zhang@unimelb.edu.au before Friday 13 March.
MGSE Australian Indigenous Curriculum Taskforce
An Australian Indigenous Curriculum Taskforce has been established to assist in meeting the learning and teaching goals in the Divisional Indigenous Development Plan (DIDP).
The core aim of the Taskforce in semester 1 is to facilitate the integration of Indigenous content within MGSE subjects, beginning with the MTeach. The Taskforce have designed a very brief 5 question survey to assist in relation to this goal.
The group is hoping all staff teaching across all subjects and courses can take the 2-4 minute survey by Wednesday 4 March.
Information collected from the survey will be used by the Indigenous Curriculum Taskforce to design strategies to support MGSE staff to incorporate these perspectives into their learning and teaching. Please contact Jessica Gerrard if you have any further queries.
Join the new UoM Emergency Services Volunteer Network
If you are you a University of Melbourne staff member who also volunteers for an Australian or Victorian emergency service there is an opportunity for you to join the newly-established Emergency Services Volunteer Network - a community for those actively engaged in volunteering roles focused on emergency response, relief and recovery.
The network comprises a CFA volunteer firefighter and community safety coordinator and a VIC SES operational volunteer and training section leader. They are keen to connect people to share experiences, knowledge, skills and advice to support each other in undertaking the important yet challenging volunteer work we all do. Please get in touch to find out more and get involved. Send an email to uom-esvn@unimelb.edu.au for more information and registration or call 0409 847 060.
Bushfires mental health resources
Phoenix Australia - Centre for Post-traumatic Mental Health has developed a range of resources informed by best practice to support health practitioners, first responders and community members after the bushfires. This summer's bushfires have caused emotional distress among thousands of people who were directly or indirectly affected . While for most people the distress will only last a few days or weeks, some will go on to develop mental health issues.
Learning more about the impacts of trauma and skills to help manage distress can help with recovery. Find a wide range of tip sheets, booklets and other resources for download at the Phoenix Australia website.
Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
Multifactor authentication will soon be introduced to all University of Melbourne staff and students in a phased manner. MFA is a response to the significant increase in cyber-attacks on IT systems globally and will act as a second factor of verification when logging into key University applications.
To be ready for MFA go to https://sso.unimelb.edu.au/ on your computer's web browser and log in to pre-enrol your mobile device. Detailed instructions are available on Knowledge Base article KB0021449.
For more information about MFA and the deployment approach, please visit the Multifactor Authentication page.
Works on a world-class Parkville student precinct have commenced
The Project includes nine buildings and will deliver 37,300m of new or refurbished internal and external building and landscape space. A signature project of the University’s Reconciliation Action Plan 3, the Project will deliver on a number of key University strategies including the Sustainability Plan 2016 – 2020 and Food and Retail Strategy. Uniquely, the Project has also benefited from the contributions of over 15,000 students who have influenced the direction of the Precinct through our co-creation approach.
The Precinct has been designed by a consortium of architects and landscape designers, led by Lyons Architecture. Kane Constructions has been appointed to build the Precinct, with construction commencing in February 2020:
March 2020 – September 2020 Refurbishment of 1888 Building (January 2020 Graduate Student Association relocated to Doug McDonell building)
April 2020 Demolition of Alice Hoy Building. Optometry and Vision Sciences to relocate out of Alice Hoy prior to Easter break.
28 June 2020 – September 2021 Eastern Resource Centre inaccessible due to redevelopment. Essential resources for Semester 2 2020, Semester 1 and 2 2021 will be located and accessible to students in other libraries on Parkville campus. Scholarly Services staff will communicate with subject coordinators to ensure that all prescribed and recommended text books, readings, and other resources are easily accessible by students during this period. All other ERC resources will be located in off-site storage and accessible via request to all staff and students. Specific information will be channelled to affected faculties, schools, departments as project proceeds.
July 2020 – November 2021 construction of new Arts and Culture Centre
July 2020 – July 2021 construction new Student Pavilion.
Visit the New Student Precinct page for more information.
New fee payment sanctions in Canvas (LMS)
From May 2020, the University will be reporting student data to the Federal Government on a fortnightly basis to meet the new TCSI reporting requirements.
To ensure student data is ready for reporting, the TCSI project team have been working with key stakeholders to implement new fee sanctions in Canvas (LMS) to encourage students to pay their fees on time. On Monday 17 February when Canvas is implemented for Semester 1 2020, fee sanctions will appear when fees are due or overdue. Sanctions include 'warnings' for late payment, 'blocks' when upfront fees for CSP students remain unpaid by the census date and 'block' sanctions for international students applied to each unpaid subject in Canvas 20 working days after the payment due date. A solution to exclude students who are not able to return from China due to the Coronavirus is being considered.
More information about key activities and timelines for the implementation of the TCSI reporting requirements is available on the TCSI Project Website.
MyTimetable reaches significant milestones
Monday 3 February marked the end of preference entry period for Semester 1 for MyTimetable, a notable milestone for the project. Timetabling teams across the University worked hard allocating students their Semester 1 timetables, with the aim of maximising the number of students who received their first or second preference. Over 200,000 preferences were processed during the sort, with almost 250,000 allocations made in the system with single-sitting activities. A smaller cohort of students participated in preference entry for Summer, January and February intensives, with over 90% of students receiving their first or second preference. MyTimetable was released to students on 10 February to review their allocated timetable, and make adjustments. Students are being supported via Timetable help pages: Review/adjust your allocated timetable and the How to review and adjust your allocated timetable video.
Students can also visit the help pop up located in room 109 at 757 Swanston Street. Enquiries: Martin Andersson, MyTimetable Coordinator in Student and Scholarly Services. Enquiries: Martin Andersson 9035 8131
Upcoming changes to the University's mobile phone service
New features will reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities, streamline the process of resetting a forgotten passcode, wipe data off lost phones and arrange faster replacement phones. To enable these features, University-owned mobile phone users will soon be asked by email to download and install the 'MobileIron' mobile app. All University-owned mobile phone users are expected to install the app, which assists the University to support mobile phone users. It can't be used to view or share mobile phone data. For more information visit the Knowledge Base or for assistance please raise a Service Now ticket.
OneCRM Program Toolkit and resources
The OneCRM Toolkit has been launched and has details what the program is, what we have delivered, and how you can get involved.