* Deadline Extended: Call for Refereed Paper Abstracts HERDSA 2017
* HERDSA News Vol. 38 No. 2 is now available online
* Director: Learning and Teaching Development - Otago Polytechnic
* Director: Learner Services - Otago Polytechnic
* Western Sydney is Recruiting!
* Register for the ODLAA conference
* Invitation: Pedagogical Approaches Questionnaire    
* Call for Papers, IJAD special issue on Academic Development Towards High-Impact Undergraduate Research and Inquiry
* Higher Education in the Headlines

To submit an announcement for this list complete the online form at http://herdsa.org.au/herdsa-notices

A full list of HERDSA Notices is online at http://www.herdsa.org.au/latest-news

To unsubscribe or change your email details see http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/herdsa

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Deadline Extended: Call for Refereed Paper Abstracts HERDSA 2017
Closes 23 October

The HERDSA 2017 Conference Committee warmly invite you to submit abstracts for refereed papers for presentation at the 40th annual conference of Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, to be held 27-30 June 2017 at the ICC Sydney.

The theme for the conference is Curriculum Transformation. This theme provides an opportunity to explore curriculum as a framework for student learning and experience rather than as simply an organising framework for disciplinary knowledge. It provides a platform to examine how quality sits at the centre of the process and the approaches needed to support for staff in curriculum development and innovative teaching practice.

For full details and to submit your abstract please  visit the HERDSA 2017 Conference website at www.herdsa2017.org

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HERDSA News Vol. 38 No. 2 is now available online

The latest issue of HERDSA News focusses on the recent HERDSA Conference with a feature article by conference keynote speaker Alastair Summerlee, conference photos, prizes and reflections. The issue includes news from the HERDSA community with regular columns including: Who’s Who; branch happenings; HERDSA NZ and Ako Aotearoa; Fellows and New Scholars. Perspective writers keep us entertained and informed with the addition of a new "Postcards" series. Two Reviews and two Showcases complete this edition. 

You can download HERDSA News Vol. 38 No. 2 free from the HERDSA web site at http://herdsa.org.au/publications/herdsa-news/herdsa-news-vol-38-no-2

If you have not yet given the Editor your feedback on HERDSA NEWS please take just two minutes to fill out the online survey at http://goo.gl/forms/2cRcQ6SUmM7BaToy2

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Director: Learning and Teaching Development - Otago Polytechnic
19 October 2016    

At Otago Polytechnic, we continuously work hard to put the learner at the heart of everything that we do.  As a result, we are embarking upon an exciting journey of progressive transformation, and strengthening our leadership to help inspire and navigate the way forward.

We are looking for an experienced, creative and collaborative, learning and development practitioner who is committed to ensuring an outstanding learning experience for our students.  Someone who is able to ensure that Otago Polytechnic programmes and courses are designed to best practice standards and that our academic staff have the full range of skills to facilitate learner success.

You will be responsible for providing leadership for the uptake of learning technology consistent with our focus on blended and online learning.  You will have a strong learner and customer focus and bring with you a positive attitude to organisational change, along with a firm belief in a distributed and empowering model of leadership.

This exciting opportunity reports to the Deputy Chief Executive: Learning and Teaching Services, and will support the ongoing development and implementation of our learning and teaching strategy across the Polytechnic, including education for sustainability, education for learner capability and the embedding of Maori knowledge and perspectives within all of our programmes.

For a position description or to apply please visit http://www.qjumpers.co.nz/job-seeker/job-detail/26003/.  For specific information, please contact Michelle Barron (Chief Executives Office) on 0800 762 786

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Director: Learner Services - Otago Polytechnic
21 October 2016    

At Otago Polytechnic, we continuously work hard to ensure our learners not only succeed but also are delighted by the service they receive from us.  To this end, we are embarking upon an exciting journey of progressive transformation, and strengthening our leadership to help inspire and navigate the way forward.

We are looking for a collaborative, creative and experienced learner services practitioner who is committed to ensuring that our learners, both on campus and distance learners, receive the services and support necessary for their academic and employment success.  Someone who will work in partnership with our schools and colleges to lead service provision for learners which gives practical effect to the learner voice and in general enhance the learner experience at Otago Polytechnic.

You will have a strong learner and customer focus and bring with you a positive attitude to organizational change, along with a firm belief in a distributed and empowering model of leadership.

This exciting role reports to the Deputy Chief Executive: Learner Experience, and offers the opportunity for an innovative leader to develop a comprehensive and fully integrated set of services which are themselves innovative and truly place the learner first.

For a position description or to apply please visit https://www.op.ac.nz/about-us/work-at-op/jobs/ 

For specific information, please contact Chris Morland, Deputy Chief Executive: Learner Experience on 0800 762 786

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Western Sydney is Recruiting!
Closing Date: 4 November 2016

Director of Learning Transformation (Level D, Continuing), Ref No 1465/16 

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer (3 positions available,
 Full-Time, Fixed-Term 5 Years), Ref No 1462/16

Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning Transformation) Western Sydney University

Are you an exceptional academic with expertise in innovative academic development and curriculum leadership?

These four new positions will lead transformative curriculum initiatives that cross disciplines and realise new synergies between education, research, industry and our communities. They offer the opportunity to join a vibrant young university as a member of an energetic and creative team with strong leadership and a collaborative approach to research-led educational innovation.

We are seeking a Director with the vision and research based expertise in innovative technology-rich academic development to lead a highly strategic and influential team of curriculum experts.  We are seeking academics with expertise in innovative academic development and specific curriculum leadership expertise, (transition pedagogies and pathways; experiential and work integrated learning, and contemporary higher education curriculum architecture) to join that team. 
Position Details http://www.westernsydney.edu.au/employment/home/current_vacancies

Enquiries: Professor Simon Barrie, Pro Vice Chancellor (Learning Transformation) (02) 9685 9658 or email s.barrie@westernsydney.edu.au

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Register for the ODLAA conference

It's October and that means there’s only 4 months until the ODLAA Conference on 5-7 February 2017!

Now is the time to act if you are planning on attending the conference or submitting an abstract. 

This conference is a unique opportunity because:

It's a conference for people who know about (and want to know more about)
 
OPEN, FLEXIBLE & DISTANCE EDUCATION
 
ODLAA is one of the few professional organisations around the world (and the only one in Australia) that is dedicated to advancing Open and Distance education. ODLAA exists to engage and support those who are involved in Open and Distance education. Our conferences are a key way in which we advance the research, practice and support of Open and Distance education.

If you are involved in Open, Flexible & Distance education, this is the conference for you.
 
It's a conference that is OPEN TO ALL:
 
Openness in education is one of the key driving forces of the ethos of ODLAA and its members. And Openness is one of our three key themes for this conference. We look forward hearing from presenters as they share their experiences and challenges in a growing variety of open learning opportunities around the world.

Openness is also exemplified in ODLAA's Equity Scholarship opportunity for this conference, which is offering to sponsor the attendance of eligible delegates in need of financial support to attend the conference.

It's a conference that will EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS:
 
From our diverse keynote speakers to our even greater diversity of accepted presenters, presenting in a variety of formats, this conference will stretch your mind and expose you to an exciting array of innovative research, practice, and ideas. So far we have accepted presenters attending from a range of countries including South Africa, New Zealand, the United States, as well as from all around Australia. This conference will be a wonderful opportunity to meet and network with professionals in your field, and connect with researchers and practitioners from around Australia and the world.

This is a conference not to be missed!
 
Submit an abstract: there's still time to submit a proposal for this conference (if you're quick)

Call for Abstracts - http://odlaa.org/odlaa_events/2017-conference/call-for-abstracts/

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Invitation: Pedagogical Approaches Questionnaire    

Dear Colleagues,

I will like to invite you to fill in a survey that we are conducting which explores the approaches to teaching of undergraduate teachers in different higher education systems.

We are particularly interested in migrant academics, that is migrants who teach in a system that is different to the one they were taught in.

We hope you will be willing to take 15-20 minutes of your time to fill in the survey for us: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PXSVMJR.

Thank you very much.

Anesa

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Call for Papers, IJAD special issue on Academic Development Towards High-Impact Undergraduate Research and Inquiry
Manuscripts due January 16, 2017

Scholars around the globe have demonstrated that undergraduate research and inquiry (UR) significantly improve student learning (e.g., Healey, Jenkins, & Lea, 2014; Brew, 2013; Healey & Jenkins, 2009; Osborne & Karukstis, 2009; Turner, Wuetherick, & Healey, 2008; Huggins, Jenkins, & Scurry, 2007). Like any research in academic disciplines, UR may embody diverse practices and be named differently across both disciplinary and international contexts (Healey, Jenkins, & Lea, 2014). It may take the form of supervised undergraduate theses embedded in degree programs, inquiry projects within individual courses, or stand-alone mentored inquiry experiences.

Nevertheless, UR – in all its forms – contributes to student learning, retention, and engagement (Kuh, 2008), and ethnic minority, first-generation, and low-income students are significantly more likely to graduate if they participate in mentored UR (Brownell & Swaner, 2010; Gregerman, 1999; Locks & Gregerman, 2008). UR also fosters deep learning of critical thinking, effective communication, and complex problem-solving, which are among the most valuable skills undergraduates develop during university studies (Hart Research Associates, 2015). Yet in many university contexts UR disproportionately serves students from advantaged backgrounds, those with high grades, and those with the confidence to pursue selective opportunities (Osborn & Karukstis, 2009).

Kuh and O’Donnell (2013) contend that the deepest engagement in UR occurs when students participate in all aspects of the research process in close working relationships with academic staff. Scholars also have examined academic staff mentors’ roles in supporting student learning in course-embedded UR models (e.g., Healey, Jenkins, & Lea, 2014) and undergraduate theses (e.g., Rowley & Slack, 2004), faculty perceptions about supervising undergraduate theses (e.g., Todd, Smith, & Bannister, 2006), and gendered relationships in undergraduate thesis supervision (Hammick & Acker, 1998). Despite merits of close student-staff collaboration throughout the inquiry process, university practices often distance students from full involvement in university research (Brew, 2006). Perhaps because of this distance, few investigations have focused on the academic staff mentor’s or supervisor’s role in supporting student learning across UR models, what constitutes a productive student-mentor dynamic in UR, or how institutions and academic developers can most effectively cultivate mentored UR. In order to deepen student engagement and expand access to mentored UR, whether as course-embedded inquiry or as a co-curricular activity, the staff mentor/supervisor role must be better understood – and mentoring capacities must be supported and developed in staff across the disciplines, institution types, and national and international contexts.

This special issue examines what higher education knows about high-impact mentoring of UR and how academic developers can help staff prepare for and engage in these mentoring or supervising roles – for undergraduate theses, course-embedded inquiry, and other forms of undergraduate research and inquiry. 

This special issue is intended to serve as a central resource for academic developers seeking to support new and continuing staff mentors and supervisors of UR by examining:

●    Key characteristics of mentored/supervised UR that make the experience high-impact for students and/or high-impact for mentors/supervisors
●    Ways that students’ and academic staff mentors’ and supervisors’ identity differences affect the UR mentoring relationship
●    Academic development practices that most effectively foster high-quality mentoring/supervision of UR
Timeline:
●    Manuscripts due January 16, 2017
●    Notification of decisions following IJAD’s peer review process by April 2017
●    Revisions of accepted manuscripts due June 2017
●    Print publication in early 2018 (Volume 23, Issue 1) 

IJAD articles are 6,000 words or fewer including the abstract, figures, tables and references. Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere.  A guide for authors, Word template, and other relevant information can be found on IJAD’s homepage: www.tandfonline.com/ijad   

Manuscripts must be submitted online via IJAD’s ScholarOne site by January 16, 2017: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijad   

For further information or for queries about this Special Issue, please contact:
Guest Editor, Jessie L. Moore (jmoore28@elon.edu); or 
IJAD Co-Editor, Peter Felten (pfelten@elon.edu).

For more information: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rija20/current

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Higher Education in the Headlines

Jobs dip for ‘tail-end’ graduates | JOHN ROSS | Australian Higher Eduction | 12 October, 2016
The demand-driven system has turned employment into a buyer’s market, flooding the workforce with graduates.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/fewer-fulltime-jobs-for...

The Accidental Ethicist | Steve Kolowich | Chronicle of Higher Eduction | 07 October, 2016
Marc Edwards, the hero scientist of Flint, Mich., has become a standard-bearer for watchdog scholarship. So why does he feel haunted?
http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Accidental-Ethicist/237954

UK grant success rates prompt worldwide comparisons | Author | Times Higher Eduction | 06 October, 2016
Drop in percentage of successful applications to research councils comes amid global debate over ‘wasted’ time applying for funding
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-grant-success-rates-prompt-...