News

Examinations as frequent high-stakes assessment have a significant impact on our students’ experience. From Semester 2 2021, a new description for examinations has been included in the UQ Examinations Policy (PPL 3.10.11). ITaLI Teaching and Learning Manager Dom McGrath explains what this means for examinations at UQ and the related considerations for assessment.

Reflecting on the grades students receive and the distribution of those grades should be embedded in our practice each semester. What should you do if you discover something at odds with what you expect students to achieve in relation to an assessment task or as an overall grade for the course?

What does remote emergency teaching and learning look and feel like? As university educators and students, after one frenetic week in March, our connecting point became a series of ‘windows’ on a screen. We began to learn – or choreograph – new steps and sequences which would become a pathway into a fully online world across the weeks ahead.

How will you contribute to the ongoing conversation about teaching and learning in higher education? We have been so busy doing, reacting, and responding to the relentless demands of teaching, learning, assessment and educational administration this year, it seems important to pause and reflect... and why not reflect through writing?

UQ was recently awarded a Universitas 21 (U21) grant to explore how academics have responded to COVID-19 – changes to teaching and assessment, networks leveraged to support that change, and reflections on what was gained and lost in the process. We now invite course coordinators to participate in the study and signal interest in sharing a short case study of your course.

We are teaching in a global pandemic. This is uncharted territory that changes ‘what good teaching looks like’. While we handle it differently, we are all under new cognitive, social and emotional demands. More than delivering content online, good teaching now involves compassion and caring. Associate Professor Kelly Matthews opens up a conversation on practising compassion as teachers and colleagues.

What are identity-verified assessment with hurdles (IVAH) and why do we need them at UQ? It is controversial or common sense, depending on your teaching context and beliefs about the role of assessment, academic freedom and academic integrity. A/Prof Kelly Matthews sat down with President of the Academic Board Prof Peter Adams to discuss the new IVAH.

National and UQ teaching award winner Dr Tammy Smith shares her journey of applying for teaching and learning awards, grants and fellowships across her career. A rewarding experience but not all smiles and celebrations. She offers guidance for others in navigating the hard work, time commitment and emotional process of putting yourself out there for judgement.

Questioning why students would query their grade, Associate Professor Peter Lewis realised that it wasn’t just ‘about them’ and their quest for the next grade band – it was something he could likely influence in his teaching.

How are you creative in your teaching? What does creativity mean? How can academics be creative teachers? We asked an expert in creativity – award-winning creative writer and UQ academic Associate Professor Kim Wilkins – who translates the abstract idea of ‘creativity’ into action through ‘creative practice’.