Abstracts
Personal learning environments symposium
Chair: David Jones
Recent advances in technology are creating an opportunity to genuinely support and promote lifelong learning in ways radically different from what has gone before. The concept of a Personal Learning Environment
(PLE) is just one of the conceptualisations of the new possibilities. The goal of this symposium is to bring interested parties who are thinking about and working with theories, approaches and technologies that fit under the broadest definition of a PLE.
Information literacy symposium
Chair: Helen Partridge
Hosted by the Australian Library and Information Association Information Literacy Forum and chaired by Dr Helen Partridge, the Information Literacy Symposium will cover a range of topics in the area of information literacy. In addition to the 10 presentations from speakers around the world, delegates are encouraged to bring their issues and discussion items to the forum.
Learning communities for framing lifelong learning futures symposium
Chair: Mark Tyler, Catherine Arden & Patrick Danaher
Overview:
Learning communities are increasingly posited as vehicles for reflecting on and harnessing successes in lifelong learning and for framing equitable, productive and transformative futures that will generate substantial and sustainable outcomes for all their members. In view of these claims, it is timely to hold learning communities up to scrutiny in relation to lifelong learning – what are they, what are they for, do they work and how do we know?
The goal of this symposium is to map both the pressures on, and the possibilities of, learning communities in framing futures for lifelong learning in a number of different contexts and sites. The intention is to interrogate possible links between learning communities and lifelong learning, and to discern possible future trends that might help to maximise the potential and claimed benefits of learning communities.
Enquiries about possible approaches by potential contributors to the symposium are very welcome, and should be directed to Mr Mark Tyler (email: tylerm@usq.edu.au).
Format:
Unlike the other presentations at the conference (typically 20 minutes of presentation followed by 10 minutes of discussion), presentations will have the following format:
- Presentations will be partnered with others with like themes (maximum: 2)
- First presentation (maximum of 10 minutes)
- Feedback on the presentation by discussants (3 to 5 minutes)
- Second presentation by the partner presenter (Maximum of 10 minutes)
- Feedback on the presentation by discussants (3 to 5 minutes)
- Discussion by symposia attendees tending to the themes that have emerged from both presentations (5 to 7 minutes)
Move on to the next pair of presentations.
ANZIIL Conversation
Chair: Debbie Orr & Cecily Martina
Information Literacy outcomes: framing futures for success in learning, teaching, researching and career paths.
Contributors:
Sue Collins, Liaison Librarian (School of Management & Brisbane Graduate School of Business), QUT
Alex Radloff. Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic Services), CQU
Hilary Hughes, Coordinator & Lecturer – MLI (Teacher-Librarianship), QUT
Graham Black, A/Director DTLS, CQU
Overview:
The aim of this conversation is to give interested delegates the opportunity to discuss a range of issues associated with information literacy. There are 4 contributors and each will speak for a maximum of 10 minutes, before inviting audience participation.
Particular questions for the day include:
- Why is information literacy important in learning, teaching, researching and planning your career path?
- How is it enacted by people within these groups?
- Where is the evidence that information literacy leads to positive outcomes?
- How do we measure success stories?
- How do we move forward and frame our future?
Practical teaching strategies: accommodating the needs of international students in university classrooms
Chair: Ian Johnson
Overview:
University teachers in Australia are experiencing unprecedented numbers of international students in their programs. Currently, 25% of students at Griffith University are international students and this percentage is rising. Universities, to remain relevant and in the interests of internationalising their curricula, need also to focus attention on equipping staff to deal with ever- changing and diverse student populations in their classrooms.
Lifelong-learning discourse, in the present and in the future, needs continually to incorporate issues of intercultural communication between shifting populations, whether institution-based or community-based.
The workshop will promote a three-pronged approach to these issues, with discussion of strategies for academic staff, language support services for students and the so-far-rarely-discussed area of considering how to help domestic students communicate and interact successfully with their international classmates. Inevitably, underlying discussion of these matters, is Robert’s (2003) notion that “intercultural learning is not an automatic outcome” despite the intercultural experiences of staff and students, and successful “Internationalisation” may require the creation of a “third space” or “sphere of interculturality” (Guilherme, 2002; Kramsch, 1993; Crozet and Liddicoat, 1997). It is hoped that such a “space” will be created for this workshop!
Discussion sessions
Always catching up: what is the role of lifelong learning in adopting new technologies in higher education?
Chair: Henk Huijser
