AUGEN NEWS - November 2021
From the President
It’s late November and for those teaching in the SM1/SM2 framework, I hope you’ve had some time to relax and recharge following assessment and submission of marks for your SM2 subjects. For those of you in the trimester system, I hope you have a break scheduled for the end of year, coming up soon.
On behalf of the whole AUGEN committee, and all of our students, I’d like to acknowledge every one of you who has worked so hard this semester to deliver excellence in teaching and learning in your institution. Your efforts are noticed and we congratulate you all on another successful year for geoscience teaching, well done TEAM!
This month brought our first successful Geoscience Education Research Discussion online! Many thanks to everyone who contributed and especially to Jackie who led the discussion. We all learnt a lot and the brainstorm of possible research questions was so impressive. Stay tuned here for working groups on a range of possible geoscience education research topics in the new year
Our next AUGEN Conversation is coming up on 13 December, check out the information below and join on the day (no pre-registration necessary). We look forward to more thought-provoking and engaging discussions at that session. Many thanks again to Dom W-B for his leadership of these events!
And a quick reminder of our 2022 Virtual Meeting, but with a slight change of date due to some committee availability constraints. This event will now be held online on Friday 4 February, 2022. Please think about topics you would like to discuss and/or a presentation you would like to make. Completely free to attend - please register on the website and submit your ideas for presentations or discussions.
Best, Sandra
A/Prof Sandra McLaren
School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Melbourne
sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au
AUGEN Conversations
Our next event is Monday 13/12 @ 10.00 (AWST)
Note that this is 1 pm in eastern States with daylight saving
“Care to find out why a T&L study got cited close to 9000 times?”
Here is the link to join via CollabUltra - you don’t need to pre-register just click the link on the day!
More information on the format and purpose of the Conversations series, as well as pertinent reading material (for those interested) is available at the Conversations page on our website
We look forward to seeing you online and having some Conversations!
For further queries, contact Dom (Domenik.wolff-boenisch@curtin.edu.au)
Who teaches what, and where?
Help the TEAM understand the current geoscience education landscape at different universities across the region.
We have set up a google spreadsheet and would like you to check and add/edit/complete the details for the Institution where you teach:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EMe3x0EhLFuNnqoNXGw4gg2c8KZlZkc8ddMyuBvy88k/edit?usp=sharing
The sheet will be open and available for editing until 20 January 2022 - we will discuss the results at the AUGEN TEAM meeting online in February. Note the level of detail we are seeking here is greater (and different) from the AGC ‘State of the Departments’ survey that is currently underway
Geoscience Education Research Discussion Group
SUCCESSFUL FIRST EVENT!
Our first Geoscience Education Research Discussion Group was held on Monday 15 November 2021 with an excellent attendance from all around Australia and with educators and academics with a wide range of disciplinary expertise keen to understand more about how they can be involved in education research.
Jackie Dohaney led us through the Geoscience Education Research framework (Summary report: St Johns et al., 2021), outlining the ten key topics in GER and their meanings. We explored a few of the key topics in a bit more detail and also had a fantastic session brainstorming research questions
You can find the recordings, chat notes and more information at the GER page on our website
The next GER event will be held in conjunction with the 2022 AUGEN TEAM annual meeting - see below for more details on that event. At that time we will be setting up informal working groups to workshop some of the research questions that were proposed. If you have an idea, or are keen to collaborate or get involved, get in touch with Sandra or Jackie
** 2022 AUGEN TEAM annual meeting **
Join us for our annual meeting!
** Friday 4 February 2022 **
(Note change of date from earlier newsletter)
Presentations on teaching and learning in geoscience are welcome, but only an informal abstract paragraph will be required. Did you approach an aspect of your teaching differently in 2021? Did you have some successes you would like to share? Did you have some failures you’d like to share? Do you have some questions to put to the team? We want you!
The meeting will be around 3 hours (with a break or two) depending on the number of presentations
1 pm NSW, Vic, Tas, ACT
12:30 pm SA
12 noon Qld
11:30 am NT
10 AM WA
Format - short talks (10-15 minutes) on teaching innovations, disasters, and successes as well as School/Department updates or Geoscience Education Research results, proposals or discussions all welcome. Only short (e.g., two paragraph) abstracts are necessary. We will also have time for discussion on topical general issues such as the future of geoscience education in the current higher education climate. If you wish to propose/lead a topic for discussion please email sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au
Registration is completely free and is now available on the AUGEN TEAM website:
Tom Raimondo, November GSA GOLD speaker
AUGEN TEAM member Tom Raimondo gave a fantastic presentation on Project LIVE and the new 360 Flinders Ranges project (in support of the South Australian State Governments World Heritage nomination for the region) at the Geological Society of Australia GOLD session on 2 November. The talk was recorded and is available here:
Check out the freely available resources from Tom and the UniSA team:
https://www.projectlive.org.au/360-flinders-ranges
With new sites and portals being added regularly, check back if a location of interest is not yet available, it will be soon!
Meet the Team
A/Prof Tom Raimondo
University of South Australia, SA
tom.raimondo@unisa.edu.au
My current teaching role
Course coordinator for introductory geology, environmental geoscience and field geology courses, Professorial Lead for STEM
Areas of special interest/expertise
Petrography, Geochemistry, Environmental Geoscience, Virtual field work, Outreach (general public)
Feel free to get in touch if you have questions on these topics!
What’s the best teaching advice anyone has ever given you?
Don't underestimate the positive impact you can have on your students. Sometimes it's really hard to see whether you are making any difference at all, but every now and then you will have a reminder of something you have said or an opportunity you have created that made a real impact. Try to always leave this positive impression on all that you teach.
What do you enjoy most about your teaching role?
Opening students' eyes to the world of geology they never knew existed! It's always so rewarding to see their thinking and level of interest mature over the course of a semester or a year of study, to the point where they can never look at the world around them in quite the same way again.
What advice would you give someone starting out in geoscience teaching?
Take advantage of the fact that you are on the same wavelength as the students, likely having been one yourself not that long ago. Being able to empathise with their situation and the challenges they face will make you a very effective, responsive and approachable teacher.
What is the greatest challenge to increasing the reach of geoscience education?
Changing the perception of who a geoscientist is what they contribute to society. We come in a huge diversity of shapes and sizes, and inform the science, policy and basic operation of so many different parts of daily life. We need more people who deeply understand the complexity of the Earth System, and that starts with building a positive identity for geoscientists from a very early age.
Which wins for you? Rock, mineral, fossil, structure?
Mineral!
See all the AUGEN TEAM profiles online
https://www.augenteam.net/contact
WE NEED YOU! Complete the form at https://forms.gle/kPk5YQwFDXh4S8vD8 to be profiled on our website and in an upcoming newsletter!
Inclusion and diversity
In our September newsletter we shared an important discussion paper on inclusion and diversity in geoscience fieldwork. This has generated some good discussions in the team. It has been great to hear that this is already considered very carefully by many, but it is important to keep this at the front of your mind when planning your teaching, not only for field excursions but for all activities that you run
We will soon make available several examples of diversity and inclusion statements specifically for fieldwork, as well as key principles documents, in the Members area of the website. If you have a statement you use for your teaching and would like to share it, or seek feedback, please send it through to Sandra
NeXUS - National Exploration Undercover School
Do you know about the NeXUS program?
The National Exploration Undercover School (NeXUS) is coordinated and led by Dr Richard Lilly and Professor Graham Heinson from the University of Adelaide. Delivered by a range of industry, academic experts, the program is designed to introduce students to key exploration concepts and technology to face the challenges of effective exploration through post-mineralisation cover. NExUS is funded by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) Minerals Tertiary Education Council (MTEC).
The program consists of workshops, interactive lectures and hands-on activities both in the field and in the classroom, with evening networking events with senior representatives from industry and professional organisations.
If you have students in third year, Honours or Masters encourage them to apply for the next intake in 2022. Applications are due annually around June/July. Richard will be presenting on the program at our February meeting and will provide details on new initiatives in the program for 2022.
Check out the NeXUS website for more information
Links, reading and resources
Some recommended reading and online resources from the AUGEN TEAM:
The Project LIVE team resources with some fantastic virtual tours of different sites suitable for geology teaching as well as public outreach https://www.projectlive.org.au/
A great introduction to Geoscience Education Research from NAGT https://nagt.org/nagt/geoedresearch/index.html
Do you know about the Frank Arnott Next Generation Explorers Award? This is a program for undergraduates and Masters students to do a real world minerals exploration project, and compete with students from around the world! This year a team from the University of Melbourne School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Science has been taking part and will make their final presentation soon - check back here for an update on how they went! A fantastic example of active learning and work-integrated-learning https://www.pdac.ca/members/students/faa/about-the-award
Are you following the Geological Society on Twitter @GeoSocAustralia and Instagram @geologicalsocietyofaustralia? You should be! Some great images and information shared by the team there
The HERDSA (Higher Education Research Development Society of Australia) have their annual grants round open at the moment. Applicants must have been a member of HERDSA for two years to lead an application but collaborators will also need to join to be named on the proposal https://www.herdsa.org.au/herdsa-grants-scheme
Did you know about the Global Undergraduate Awards program? Neither did we, until very recently! Check out the program here and encourage your final year undergraduate students to consider submitting in 2022 https://undergraduateawards.com
Through the lens
Lush regrowth following the devastating January 2020 bushfires at Cape Conran in East Gippsland, Victoria, provides a perfect foreground to the S-C fabrics of the Cape Conran Granite (source: Sandra McLaren)
Sheared Cape Conran Granite one of Sandra’s favourite S-C fabrics, with the closest thing she’s seen to feldspar-fish! #geology #SCFabrics (source: Twitter @sandramcgeo)
WE NEED YOU! Do you have a great geoscience photo to share? Email it to sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au to be featured on our website and in an upcoming newsletter!
Contributions to AUGEN News are welcome! Please send your updates, commentaries, book or journal article reviews, photos and ideas through to the team - sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au