STLHE again

One of the events that I failed to mention on my last post about the conference was the excellent opening plenary. We were entertained by a the University of Michigan Centre for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) Players performing the premiere of "The First Lecture". Through the use of music, lights, multi-media and high energy performance, the audience was engaged in questions related to student diversity and leaning as well as pedagogical innovation (Mostly copied from the publicity in the conference handbook which you can find on line at http://web2.uwindsor.ca/stlhe/downloads/stlhe-program.pdf P 37).
We were given the opportunity to reflect on the student anticipation and concern about that first lecture and to think about what they were bringing with them to the class, as well as the planning and ideas of the lecturing staff. Really did make us think. There was a second part to the production which depicted a Teaching Assistant taking a tutorial on statistics. Knowledge of statistics was the least of his worries - what about the social implication of the statistics he was using to demonstrate correlation (regression was for next week, so the student who had done that "would be ahead for next week but behind for this week"), classroom management; student interactions with each other and the tutor and so on. In true interactive style the audience was both asked to discuss issues with colleagues sitting close by, but also got to feedback both to the tutor and the students in role. That was just a most wonderful enlargement on the excellent performances. If anyone would like to club together to bring them to the southern hemishpere I will be int he ring with you.

The final plenary was somewhat different, but again was a wonderful example of what can be achieved when there are like minds addressing and issue and when the university administration is will to be accommodating. The Alan Blizzard Award is given jointly by STLHE and McGraw Hill Ryerson on an annual basis "Recognizing Collaboration in University Teaching and Learning". The winners this year are a group of 14 from University of British Columbia who together deliver Mech2. "Mech 2 is a complete, integrated, second year mechanical engineering undergraduate programme that aims to develop the analytical, practical and design skills of students." They have combined 15 previously disparate courses into 4 main courses taken in series. Lots of ideas for me to take back to Canterbury, but the thing that struck me most was the development of the student collegiality which will no doubt support these students as they develop and progress through their careers. This is a similar message to the one Nick Baker was conveying in his session. (Nick is the next visiting educational developer fellow at Windsor and will take over in the flat when I leave). He and his colleagues have been running an international experience course for 7 years now, and their data shows that this is a transformative experience for most students, but that a parallel experience in Australia (Nick is from U Queensland) does not have the same transformative effect. So building connections at overseas conferences should be really encouraged and see where they lead!

In order to avoid the end of conference anti-climax for those of us not absolutely on the point of exhaustion (or beyond) (and I think most of the conference committee is in that bracket) a multi-national (Oz, NZ, UK, Canada) party set off for the highlights of Detroit. We had a good time in the Renaissance Centre, Greektown and generally wandering around downtown once the rain had stopped. We all agreed that we would not have liked to be there on our own. Photo below to show a part of the Detroit River Days fun. And it is off to the Windsor Art Gallery this afternoon - time is running out to do the local highlights.

Nick (Oz), Bob (UK), Brad(Canada), Rachel (NZ) at the bottom of the GM tower, world headquarters of said organsiation. There were some older cars too, one included for Rowena