AUGEN NEWS - September 2021
From the President
Hope you all enjoyed last month’s newsletter, we’re back already (and hoping to keep up with monthly newsletters) with some exciting plans and announcements!
It’s mid-semester break for many of us and I hope that those of you teaching at the moment have been able to have a few days rest and recreation to recharge. It has been encouraging to see a number of Universities providing “recharge” days to both academic and professional staff in acknowledgement of the challenges of online teaching, lockdowns and myriad change processes.
I’ve been lucky to get into campus once or twice in the last month, to kickstart Masters student lab work and to rescue many of our rock and mineral samples from teaching labs prior to an upcoming renovation. I found some lovely samples that will be useful in teaching going forward, however a lot of other potentially useful samples that are without ID labels, or location. It’s sobering to think of the number of such samples whose usefulness is greatly reduced (or completely eroded) by the lack of this information. It puts me in mind that we could start a list of excess samples in different places that could be usefully redeployed elsewhere - a rock, mineral, sample exchange? Let a member of the team know if you have interest in helping with this.
One of the highlights this week in SE Australia was the M5.9 earthquake near Rawson. See below for some links to great explainers on the event. Certainly for me in inner Melbourne, the shaking was quite something. My whole house shook and then rolled for about 20 seconds!
Below you’ll see announcements of our two exciting new initiatives - AUGEN Conversations and our Geoscience Education Research Discussion group. Also please save-the-date for a virtual meeting in mid-February 2022 - more on that event in next month’s news.
Remember to reach out to colleagues to encourage them to join AUGEN. Pop an AUGEN sticker on your office door! And reach out to any members of the team if you have ideas for a presentation or event.
Best, Sandra
A/Prof Sandra McLaren
School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Melbourne
sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au
Inclusion and diversity
An excellent paper has recently been published discussing important aspects of diversity and inclusion in geoscience field work:
Lawrence, A. & Dowey, N. (2021) Six simple steps towards making GEES fieldwork more accessible and inclusive. Area , 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12747
This is a journal, published by the Royal Geographical Society (UK), that many Universities in Australia may not necessarily subscribe to. Please contact Sandra who received a copy from the authors, or contact the authors directly
Announcing: AUGEN Conversations
One of AUGEN’s objectives is to encourage and support excellence in teaching and learning in geoscience across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. To this end, AUGEN is launching a new online T&L activity:
From October 2021 onwards, we will meet on the 14th of each alternate month, online from 10.00-11.30 (AWST) to discuss T&L relevant topics from papers, book chapters, presentations etc. These topics can but need not be intimately linked to geoscience education. After all, the aim is to enrich us mutually by exchanging ideas and concepts about teaching in general and how best to implement them. There is no need to prepare or read the relevant literature prior to meeting, just join our conversation with an open mind and curiosity (also bring your lunch or a coffee and morning or afternoon tea depending on your time zone)
To boot this new AUGEN project, we will start with an old classic:
The Dr Fox study and its aftermath: Do teachers need to be field experts or performers to entice student engagement?
The study was carried out in 1973 (a real old-timer … even older than Sandra) and was revisited 40 years later in 2014. This is what the latter publication has to say: “From its initial publication, the Dr. Fox study evoked tremendous interest that has not subsided in 40 years as a focal piece of evidence in the ongoing debate over the validity of student evaluation of teaching.”
First AUGEN Conversation on 14/10 @ 10.00 (AWST)
Note that this is 1 pm in eastern States with daylight saving
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 meaning of the Conversations as well as pertinent reading material and (for those interested) will be available in an email from the AUGEN TEAM the week prior to the event.
We look forward to seeing you online and having some Conversations!
For further queries, contact Dom (Domenik.wolff-boenisch@curtin.edu.au)
Meet the Team
Associate Professor Nathan Daczko
Macquarie University, NSW
nathan.daczko@mq.edu.au
My current teaching role
First year geology
Areas of special interest/expertise
Petrography, Structural Geology, Field work, Virtual Field Work, First year geoscience teaching, Outreach (primary and secondary schools) Feel free to get in touch if you have questions on these topics!
What’s the best teaching advice anyone has ever given you?
If lead enthusiastically, students will follow a teacher anywhere!
What do you enjoy most about your teaching role?
Light bulb moments are so rewarding. I also love field-based teaching.
What advice would you give someone starting out in geoscience teaching?
Prepare your unit early because students love an organised unit where they know exactly what they have to do and when. One thing I struggled with early on was expecting that I should get all students over the line to pass my units. It took me a few years to realise that is not our job. Students have to take responsibility for their own learning and if they put in adequate effort, they will pass based on their own initiative.
What is the greatest challenge to increasing the reach of geoscience education?
Exposure to geoscience through school years. Parental influences around what makes for a good career.
Which wins for you? Rock, mineral, fossil, structure?
Structure!
WE NEED YOU! Complete the form at https://forms.gle/kPk5YQwFDXh4S8vD8 to be profiled on our website and in an upcoming newsletter!
Geoscience Education Research Discussion Group
Have you ever wondered how to get started in Geoscience Education Research?
We have the events for you!
Every second month (alternating with the AUGEN Conversations sessions) the AUGEN TEAM will be running open discussion on specific topics in Geoscience Education Research, including how to get started
Save the date for our first Geoscience Education Research Discussion Group on Monday 15 November 2021. We will circulate more information in our October newsletter. Stay tuned!
Links, reading and resources
Some recommended reading and online resources from the AUGEN TEAM:
Quality Indicators in Learning and Teaching 2020 report: https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/student-experience-survey-(ses)
Raising Our Voices for Diversity in the Geosciences: https://eos.org/opinions/raising-our-voices-for-diversity-in-the-geosciences
Are you a GSA member? If so, are you also a member of the Education Specialist Group? The Specialist Group is meeting on Wednesday 29 September (next week), join up to get involved. The SG fee is $5.50 extra on top of your annual GSA membership
Are you keeping up with @MineralCup and their annual mineral matchup? Just a week to go! Get onto twitter and vote for your favourite mineral in the daily matchups. A great teaching tool for undergraduate students too
Check you Institution: It’s that time of the year when nominations are often due for teaching awards. Nominate a colleague!
It’s Earth Science week October 10-16! Check out some classroom activities: https://www.earthsciweek.org/classroom-activities These are great to share with your local schools
Grant opportunity? https://www.aseg.org.au/news/agc-lee-parkin-australian-geoscience-information-association-grant
Through the lens
Congratulations to AUGEN TEAM committee member Tom Raimondo, who won second prize in the Research category of the @UniversitySA Images of Research and Teaching competition with this fieldwork gem: ‘This is My Office. Where’s Yours?’
Vote for Tom in the people’s choice category here: https://www.unisa.edu.au/research/images-of-research-and-teaching/form/
Earthquake!
South-Eastern Australia was rattled by a significant M5.9 earthquake, with an epicentre northeast of the locality of Rawson in east central Victoria, at 9:15 am on Wednesday 22 September 2021. With a depth of 10 km, there was extensive shaking across a wide area of south eastern Australia and the quake was felt from Adelaide to Tasmania and to northern/central NSW. Over 40,000 Felt reports were received by Geoscience Australia!
Unfortunately the event was within the mid-semester break, but many of you may be re-writing lectures for next week to take advantage of this exceptional ‘teaching moment’. Let the AUGEN TEAM know if you put together any resources for students on the event.
Official information page on the quake: https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au/event/ga2021sqogij
Check out AUGEN TEAM member Melanie Finch (@melaniefinch_) from Monash University, with her great TikTok explainer:
https://twitter.com/melaniefinch_/status/1440814549930688522?s=20
And this commentary in New Scientist featuring Melbourne earthquake geologist Dee Ninis (Seismology Research Centre (@DeeNinis) and ANU seismologist Meghan Miller (@MeghanSMiller)
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