Academicians to share methods in teaching and learning at Miri conference

Miri – 21 June 2011 – Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) announced today that it will be co-hosting a 2-day international conference on teaching and learning in higher education with its parent campus in Perth, Western Australia (Curtin Bentley) in Miri this November.

The Enhancing Learning: Teaching and Learning Conference will be held on 25 and 26 November 2011, with pre-conference workshops at the Curtin Sarawak campus on 25 November and parallel conference sessions at the ParkCity Everly Hotel Miri on 26 November.

It is being organised by Curtin Sarawak’s University Teaching and Learning Committee in partnership with the Office of Assessment and Teaching and Learning at Curtin Bentley. The Dean of Teaching and Learning at Curtin Sarawak and the Director of Teaching and Learning at Curtin Bentley are the conveners.

The conference will provide a forum for academicians to share proven and innovative methods in teaching and learning at the higher education level. Academicians and curriculum developers will present papers and posters, and facilitate workshops on teaching and learning issues such as curriculum development, innovative teaching methods and learning styles, first year experiences, improving retention, assessment and feedback, technology in the classroom and other related topics.

Higher education presentations are invited from academicians from all disciplines who are engaged in teaching, research in higher education, and curriculum development.

According to the Dean of Teaching and Learning at Curtin Sarawak and one of the conference conveners, Beena Giridharan, the conference will feature two prominent international keynote speakers, Professor Lynne Hunt and Professor Margaret Mazzolini. They will also be among the experts conducting the pre-conference workshops on 25 November.

Professor Hunt is Emeritus Professor at the University of Southern Queensland and Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia. She has worked as an Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Professor and Leader of the Teaching and Learning Development Group at Charles Darwin University (CDU), and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at the University of Southern Queensland.

She publishes in the fields of health sociology and tertiary teaching. Her co-edited book The Realities of Change in Higher Education: Interventions to Promote Learning and Teaching was published in the UK in 2006. She is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (JTLHE) and of the Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, as well as the Board of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).

Meanwhile, Professor Mazzolini is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Campus, and inaugural Chair of Swinburne’s new Academic Senate. She is currently also managing the development of an integrated policy and performance indicator framework for Swinburne’s TAFE and Higher Education sectors as part of the establishment of the Academic Senate as a single academic governance body. Over the last five years as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning & Teaching), Professor Mazzolini was responsible for the implementation of the university’s Professional Learning Model through a process of institutional curriculum renewal across all undergraduate programmes.

Professor Mazzolini is co-leader of an ALTC project, ‘Learning without Borders’, together with Professor Shelley Yeo of Curtin University, and in collaboration with their colleagues located at the Australian and Sarawak campuses of both universities. The project is focused on recognising and supporting staff involved in transnational education, and its impact on student learning.

The call for papers for the conference is now open. Abstract submissions are to reach the organisers by 1 July 2011, and following notification of acceptance, full paper submissions are due by 26 September 2011. Final manuscripts are to be submitted no later than 24 October 2011.

The conference welcomes full papers in two categories – refereed and non-refereed, as well as poster presentations. Selected papers will be published in journals, and the refereed conference proceedings will be published on CD-ROM and distributed to all participants at the conference.

Both Malaysian and international participants are encouraged to register for the conference and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students will be given special rebates. Full details on the event, including information on registering, can be obtained by visiting www.curtin.edu.my/TL2011/.

The conference secretariat can be contacted by phone and fax at +60 85 443 858, or by e-mail to [email protected]