Archived news and updates

Registrations for CSEdX 2023 now open. Visit our website to register.

We are also welcoming abstracts from Charles Sturt University staff that focus on any area of learning and teaching. Abstracts will need to be informed by research and scholarly evidence and speak to the underpinning theme of regionality. Submissions close on Monday 26 August. This year, we will be inviting abstracts for two categories:

• Oral presentations – these are short presentations of work underway or completed.
• Roundtables – these are longer sessions that provide an opportunity for critical dialogue.

The WIL Strategy Team are hosting a series of co-design work-integrated learning (WIL) sessions with the community and industry in our regional locations. The first in the series will be held in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday, 10 April 2024. The sessions will:

• Provide a platform for local community organisations, industry partners, students, academics, and other interested staff to gain a comprehensive understanding of WIL.
• Explore key aspects of WIL, including essential skills, effective collaboration, and alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Have guest community and industry speakers who will share their expectations, and students will provide valuable insights into what constitutes successful WIL experiences.

Together, we’ll uncover best practices, foster meaningful connections, and empower students on their WIL journey.

Lloyd Dolan has a new book: A Review of the Philology, Phonology and Etymology of Wiradyuri Language.

This unique book was inspired by his over twenty years of working in language revitalisation. He realised the need for a more in-depth understanding of language. It has been six years in the making! It provides a practical analysis of the Wiradyuri language's philology, phonology, and etymology.

This book is the first of its kind and a must for advanced Wiradyuri language learners and teachers.

This book will be available to borrow from the Charles Sturt Library, and you can purchase it at the below link.

Each month, we will spotlight one of our staff and learn more about their work, interests, and hobbies.

This month, we feature Sue Wilson.

Sue is a Senior Learning Resources Officer and has been with Charles Sturt for 30 years.

She loves the variety of work her role supports and the people she works with.

She enjoys camping, fishing, motorbike riding, and doing charity rides (such as the Kids Toy Run) to raise funds for mental health. She also loves gardening, growing fresh flowers and vegetables, cooking, and doing a variety of crafts.

Since 2018, Sue has also volunteered with the Riverina Community College community visitors scheme, where she visits lonely elderly people.

Her most recent holiday was Rainbow Beach in QLD to see family.

The new Brightspace help page is now available with new content added weekly.

Visit this site for help with

• getting started in Brightspace
• setting up your site
• accessibility
• assessment and feedback

and more!

Expression of interest for the 2024 Charles Sturt University HEA Fellowship scheme is now open!

Up to six funded places are available per Faculty member, subject to a competitive selection process.

Our HEA Fellowships page has all the information you need to apply, including guidelines on how to apply and the HEA Fellowships EOI form.

Our Teaching Academy Teaching Capabilities Development Program supports staff in advancing their expertise and excellence in learning and teaching.

The program is organised around seven themes aligned to the capabilities outlined in the Charles Sturt Teaching Capabilities Framework and Self-Assessment Tool. This framework and tool support self-reflection, staff-supervisor discussions, goal setting, and professional development planning in the context of EDRS.

Charles Sturt Subject Expectations for Student Success document is now available.

This document is part of the foundational pedagogical principles we use to guide our teaching at CS.

It guides the academic and professional staff when developing subjects.

You can use the checklist to maintain subject site quality through each offering.

Teaching Capabilities Framework and Self-assessment Tool is now available.

The CS Teaching Framework Capabilities Self-assessment Tool provides a mechanism for career planning by creating a space for reflection and direction framed by the teaching capabilities that ensure we provide inspirational learning experiences for our students.

The tool can be used by academics when preparing for EDRS or promotion.

The 2024 Teaching Academy Grants scheme has been launched with improvements to the guidelines, application form, timelines, and support for staff.

Staff are encouraged to engage with the TA Grants via an information session and two writing circles now available on our professional learning calendar.

Applications close on 1 March 2024.

The Statement of Principles for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now available in the Policy Library.

As staff at Charles Sturt, it is crucial that we uphold these principles in our everyday work, our connections with our stakeholders, and our decisions.

DLT are investing in professional development in AI for our staff. We are rolling this out in 2024.

The LMS Implementation web pages have been refreshed with resources to assist staff in transitioning to Brightspace:

• training session schedules with invites you can download to your calendar
• key dates
• learning resources and recordings
• frequently asked questions
• recent communications

and more.

Training session schedules are regularly updated, so revisit this page often if interested in getting LMS training.

The Charles Sturt Executive Dean’s Teaching Awards celebrate excellence in teaching. There were six winners (individuals and teams) this year. The awards acknowledge and give recognition for consistent and valuable contributions to teaching and support the achievement of our education vision.

Congratulations to all award winners

You can see a complete list of recipients and their citations in the link below.

There were 14 successful applicants (individuals and teams) in the inaugural Teaching Academy Change One Thing Awards. The Charles Sturt Change One Thing Award provides a pathway for being nominated for the Regional Universities Network (RUN) Learning and Teaching Awards. This year, Charles Sturt's Elyce Green and the Rural Health Education Team were awarded 1st place in the RUN AWards.

Congratulations to all award winners

You can see a complete list of recipients and their submissions in the link below.

Thank you to everyone involved who helped to make it a successful event!

You can share your feedback here: CSEdX Feedback survey

In November 2024 we will return to share teaching and learning knowledge, best practices and reflection @CS. Watch out for information early in 2024.

We look forward to seeing you at CSEdX 2024!

Each month, we will spotlight one of our staff and learn more about their work, interests, and hobbies.

This month we feature Sarah Boothey. Sarah is the Project Manager TIES, Micro-credentials and Short courses and has been with Charles Sturt 14 plus years. She first started with CS in the Division of finance in 2002, Faculty of Science as a Faculty Administration Assistant on a casual basis. She then has worked in many different faculties and divisions across the university.

She loves building relationships and working with so many different people, always learning something new – no two days are ever the same.

She enjoys going to summernats each year with all things in show cars and burnouts.  She has one sad lonely shark fish who lives with three snails and one very chatty American Staffordshire named Empire Stud Spartacus aka “Sparty.”

Text generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT require re-evaluating traditional assessment methods in higher education.

We have developed some strategies for redesigning assessment tasks to mitigate the misuse of generative AI tools, complete with practical examples. To optimise the educational benefits of these strategies, we have aligned these with relevant Charles Sturt policies and guidelines.

We have two new web pages supporting course review. These are:

• Annual Course Health Checks
• Comprehensive Course Reviews

Both pages overview how DLT supports these initiatives and links to additional valuable resources. Please bookmark and share these pages with relevant staff.

We are phasing out the use of AI text detection software, including the Turnitin AI Detection Tool.

The Turnitin AI Detection Tool is not to be used for any Session 202390 subjects, and from 1 January 2024, Charles Sturt will no longer provide access to the Turnitin Tool or any other AI text detection software. Staff can use the Turnitin AI Detection Tool for all other teaching sessions in 2023, excluding Session 202390.

Registrations for CSEdX 2023 now open. Visit our website to register.  While you are there, check out our 2023 program. Program highlights include:

- 26 engaging presentations showcasing practices related to authentic assessment, a focus on pedagogy, innovative learning and teaching approaches, scaffolding critical thinking, and work integrated learning.
- Keynote Speaker Associate Professor Guy Curtis presenting on three distinct approaches to academic integrity and academic misconduct
- LMS Masterclass
- 2023 Executive Dean Awards announced
- DVCA Student Panel

The CDAP project team have been awarded as finalists in the “Operational Excellence” category, which “celebrates achievements in transforming and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of either part or the whole of the organisation. Size isn't what is important here. It's outcomes and impact.” There were 14 finalists in this category, and the winners were announced on 04 September 2023 in Auckland.

Associate Professor Guy Curtis is our keynote speaker for our 2023 CSEdX conference. Dr Curtis is currently working in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia (UWA), and has over 19 years’ of experience actively researching academic integrity.

His keynote presentation will discuss recent trends in academic integrity, like the rise in the use of ChatGPT, and highlight how to minimise academic misconduct. Read the keynote abstract here.

Please email csedx@csu.edu.au if you have any queries.

There were 17 successful applicants in the inaugural Teaching Academy grants. These staff share in over $80,000 in grant funding. You can see a full lists recipients and an overview of their projects in the link below.

In early August, TEQSA updated their artificial intelligence page with new resources about generative AI and research. This page has:

• Generative AI for HE webinars
• Academic integrity, assessment and generative AI advice
• Generative AI in research
• Incorporating AI in your classes
• Engaging with students about AI

And more! This page is constantly being updated, so please bookmark and revisit as needed.

Our generative AI page is full of useful information for staff with information on :

• Our stance on generative AI, acceptable uses and penalties
• Rethinking assessment design with generative AI in mind
• Using the Turnitin AI detection tool
• Interesting AI articles to read
• Teaching resources, including links to relevant webpages and policies

If you have any other useful resources or ideas to share not mentioned on this page, please email these to dltadmin@csu.edu.au to get these added to this site.

Have you ever thought, "I have an innovative idea that I would like to share with the PVC" or "I have some awesome feedback for DLT", but did not know where to share this? You can now share your ideas and feedback via our online form. You can do this anonymously if you choose.

We will use this feedback to improve how we work at DLT.

The Humans of Charles Sturt Charlie blog has featured  Lloyd Dolan, the First Nations Academic Lead, with the Division of Learning and Teaching.

Lloyd has shared stories from his his life, from dealing with racism, his early school experiences, his mother's influence, sporting prowess and even his favourite food.

Have you checked out TEQSA's latest information about artificial intelligence? This page has useful resources in the rapidly changing and evolving area of generative artificial intelligence (AI). It includes

• TEQSA resources
• Good practice advice from other sources

DLT also has a dedicated Academic Integrity page with valuable resources for our teaching staff. Please bookmark this page to keep up to date with the latest academic integrity information!

Here is a TEQSA report "The prevention of contract cheating in an online environment" It outlines all you need to know about preventing contract cheating, including:

• Three myths about contract cheating
• Contract cheating and assessment design
• Detecting contract cheating

And links to other key resources.

The Charles Sturt Curriculum model provides the practical ‘how-to’ for professional and academic teams to design, deliver and support exceptional learning experiences. We have outlined the model, including the following:

• Curriculum Design Principles
• Course Design Principles
• Subject Design Principles
• Assessment Design Principles

We have a new student-completion dashboard incorporating Academic Integrity and Child Safety student-facing subjects.

For both subjects, you can drill down on completions via faculty, school or course, plus switch the view from graph to completion numbers.

This replaces the original dashboard for the Academic Integrity student-completion dashboard.

Please share this link with staff in your area.

Thank you to everyone involved who helped to make it a successful event!

If you missed sharing your feedback please send it to csedx@csu.edu.au

In November 2023 we will return, to share teaching and learning knowledge, best practices and reflection @CS. Watch out for information early in 2023.

We look forward to seeing you at CSEdX 2023!

DLT has recently ordered four smart lightboards (eGlass) to facilitate a pilot using innovative technology. We aim to enhance the learning and teaching of algorithmic and diagrammatic (visual) concepts, particularly in physics, mathematics & computing and various other STEM fields. Lightboard technology enables the same affordances of virtual whiteboards with additional benefits such as active teacher presence.

Two Lightboards will be in DLT digital media spaces targeting online delivery. Another two will be in Learning Commons spaces to increase ease of access for other users and to explore a mix of online and face-to-face teaching. Initially, the Lightboards will be on the Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses.

The conference starts on 15 November at 9.30 am with the conference opening by Vice-Chancellor, Renee Leon, followed by our keynote speaker Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson at 10.00 am. See the full program here: CSEdX Program

The conference is entirely online, with many different sessions to choose from, including interactive discussions, quick talks, papers or symposiums.

Key highlights include:

• Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson, our keynote speaker on day one, 15 November, 10 am
• Regional Universities Network presentations – Peoples Choice winners - on day two, 16 November, 9.30 am
• Charles Sturt Executive Deans Teaching Award Announcements on day three, 17 November, 12.15 pm

You can register here: CSEdX Registration

With Wagga Wagga campus being located on the site of Miimibula (two sisters) and the local stories of Pomingalarna and Gobbagumbalin and in view of Yerong (The Rock) and Bomen axe quarry the opportunity for people to stand in the landscape and hear these stories and see the landscape provides an opportunity for participants to explore the role Wiradjuri people continue to have within the local landscape.

The Yindyamarra walk and talk with both morning and evening events have been occurring for several years with groups from community, schools, university students, conferences, and staff development activities. These walks and talks are often run-in conjunction with the Wagga Wagga Environmental Action Group Ensuring Restoration and Reconciliation (EAGERR), and these have been scheduled as a part of the broader commitment to Reconciliation and ensuring First Nations peoples are represented in campus events throughout the year.

“For me it is about building an awareness and understanding that Wiradjuri culture and heritage is not out there somewhere in the distance, but right here at a doorstep and surrounds the buildings that we are sitting in.” Lloyd Dolan

The latest Yindyamarra walk and talk was held during National Reconciliation Week on Thursday 2 June 2022

Just in time for the 2022 International Day of Action against contract cheating (19 October), TEQSA has created an Academic Integrity - top 10 tips poster with great ideas on fostering academic integrity like:

• continuing discussions on contract cheating beyond inductions or O-Week
• providing training and resources on academic integrity
• creating inclusive academic integrity and misconduct resources
• providing a supportive learning environment

DLT also has a dedicated Academic Integrity page with valuable resources for our teaching staff. Please book mark this page to keep up to date with the latest academic integrity information!

From Monday 18 July, this tool will be made available on all the current subject site/s. Once switched on, there will be “Ally Indicators” (red, orange, light green, and dark green gauges) next to the subject files.

Check out our new page on Blackboard Ally. Blackboard Ally is an Interact2 tool, which provides a variety of ways to assist in making content more accessible to users.

There is also an introductory workshop on using Blackboard Ally on Thursday 21 July.

Following on from the three school pilot conducted in 202230,  access to the Turnitin integration in Blackboard is being increased to a larger, capped number of subjects for 202260. Supported by DLT and DIT, the use of Turnitin’s Feedback studio within Interact2 enables students and academics to complete the following workflows within a single interface:

• Assessment submission and return
• Grading and Feedback
• Academic Integrity

The capped access will assist in gauging future support needs as the integration becomes more widely available in subsequent sessions.

TEQSA has provided some great resources supporting academic integrity:

• in creative arts
• as authentic learning
• how to embed it in the curriculum

and more.

Download TEQSA's Academic integrity in the creative arts PDF or click on the link below for more information.

Is your subject site ready for 202260? The Subject Health checklist is a simple list of tasks you may need to do before your subject site becomes available on the 27th of June. The checklist also links resources to support setup (like the zoom and the discussion tool). Further support can be found in the Subject delivery guide or on the i2 help and support site.

Please join us in congratulating our recent DLT graduands.

The following staff has completed our Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (GCLTHE):

• Michelle Wilkinson, Senior Educational Designer
• Melissa Jackman, Educational Designer
• Leanne White, Educational Designer
• Rachel Stewart Allen (currently on secondment with the Safe & Fair Communities Unit)

Emily Marsh, Senior Learning Resources Officer, has completed the Bachelor of Information Studies (Records and Archives Management)

This is an impressive achievement given this study was completed during a global pandemic that not only impacted our work but disrupted our lives in general. They have all worked hard to achieve this goal. Well done to these staff!

Our Gulaay team has worked with the School of Dentistry and Medical Services staff in securing a $3.9 million Regional Research Collaboration (RRC) Program grant. The program will be titled, ‘Training Hub promoting Regional Industry and Innovation in Virology and Epidemiology (THRIIVE): Boosting Australia’s Agriculture and Manufacturing’.

The program will:

1. Create a scholarship to promote STEM and health education in First Nations communities, as well as a short course in virology and pathobiology for practising First Nations health workers.
2. Engage with First Nations communities to promote health awareness in human populations and companion animals, and to identify and manage wildlife reservoirs of zoonotic and emerging viruses.
3. Provide First Nations cultural competency training to all THRIIVE staff and students, culturally appropriate mentoring to First Nations staff and students, and ensuring respectful partnership with First Nations communities, including consideration of cultural property rights during generation of research-related IP.
4. Create four PhD scholarships (at least one reserved for First Nations RHD students)

Gulaay will continue to support THRIIVE through governance, providing direction and leadership to achieve the four pillars of the Hub over the next three years.

The Division of Learning and Teaching is currently implementing our standard Interact2 subject site template. The template features a contemporary online design and uses the Charles Sturt brand colours that meet accessibility principles. It provides our students a consistent user experience along with ease of navigation across subject sites. Benefits of the DLT standard template:

• Accommodates different learning and pedagogical approaches on online learning.
• A standard navigation layout to contribute to a consistent student experience.
• Allows learning content to be chunked, with a "Back to Top" feature at the end of each item supporting navigation and student experience.
• Allows learning content to be converted to PDF by the student, which allows for greater student choice about how they engage with their learning content.
• Adds enhancements to mobile compatibility.

To have your subject updated please speak to your Head of School or Associate Dean Academic. They will be able to advise how your subject can be included in the subjects targeted for redesign.

The Subject Experience Survey will open on 27 May. We have created a SuES PowerPoint to promote this survey. PowerPoint can be used in-class or online as part of motivating your students to provide useful feedback through their survey participation. It is brief, and has accompanying notes for you to refer to.

With the launch of the new DLT website comes the Digital Media Showcase. This is a new area where you can explore examples of the different digital media learning resources that our Division produces. See examples of interactive simulations such as a virtual microscope or studio lighting simulation. Watch and engage with interactive 360 videos and see examples of other key audiovisual learning resources. See examples of custom graphics and a broad range of bespoke online interactive activities. This showcase can be filtered by discipline and media type if looking for more targeted examples. Alternately you can browse the collection to see what is there. This is an evolving space and we will be adding in more examples on a regular basis but enjoy the collection that is live right now.

Check out our subject delivery guide

Please find the subject delivery guide here: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-teaching/subjects/delivery/subject-delivery-guide

We have updated the site with improved navigation and simplified tasks. This includes:

• A change to the calendar invite title e.g. “SDG60 -10: Review QUASAR/Assign SO”. It now includes the session, week, and overview of the weekly tasks providing information at a glance.
• The calendar task list has also been simplified. Staff can either action the items they are familiar with or go to further support on the website. This change aims to improve the user experience for frequent users (they will not have to read the how-to elements) and those who may need greater detail provide increased information on the webpage.
• The information provided on the website has been broken up into relevant sections. The resource list has been removed and embedded in the text where possible.

If you have any questions or would like to provide any feedback, please do so via the feedback button

Teaching First program commenced last week with 30+ sessional staff joining this first time program. This is a HEPPP funded program being supported by DLT and the HEPPP retention team. It runs for six weeks and supports sessional academics teaching in 202230. The sessions will focus on topics around understanding students, teaching online, assessment and feedback, as well as providing access to the support of an educational designer and opportunity to hear about support for students. This program is based on a 202190 pilot developed and implemented by DLT and the HEPPP retention team. The pilot successfully supported 25 sessional academics and received a lot of positive feedback from its participants. If you have any questions about this, please contact Denise Wood

Welcome to our new website

Our website has been redesigned in consultation with core stakeholders and its key focus is on what will best support Charles Sturt's learning and teaching staff. This means the structure and content have been revised. It has a complete new look and feel. Please explore our new website.

If you have any questions or would like to provide any feedback, please do so via the feedback button

Check out our workshops and recordings
For all our latest workshops and related resources please visit:  https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-teaching/professional-learning/workshops-recordings

We have made significant improvements in this space. Key features include:

• a search function, just start typing and relevant workshops will be listed
• filter options include: subject area, type, delivery mode and date
• all upcoming events will be listed at the top
• on demand past workshop recordings

Scroll through or search for an event of interest. When you find an upcoming workshop you would like to attend, click on the 'add to calendar button to download it to your calendar.

If you have any questions or would like to provide any feedback, please do so via the feedback button

We can support you. Check out our peer review webpage, which has the following:

• How to make a peer review request
• Peer review information and process
• Key dates
• Templates for summative and formative peer review

07 December 2021

The Course and Subject Procedures have been updated to realign with our updated Course and Subject Policy. The updated Course and Subject procedures are now available in the policy library.

The following major changes were made because of feedback:

• Changes to delegations in accordance with the current Course and Subject Policy;
• Updated definitions of micro-credentials, non-award offerings and short courses;
• Updated Education Framework;
• Recommendations to strengthen our University's alignment to HESF;
• New clauses for non-award offerings and short courses ensuring students and staff have access to appropriate support, tools, and technologies;
• Updated information in relation to third party governance;
• Changes so process information in the original Course and Subject Policy is now captured in the procedures.

The Course and Subject Policy and associated procedures will be reviewed again in early 2022 as there will be several changes due to the CDAP implementation, as well as other expected terminology changes.

The Scholarly Activity Working Group has been disestablished. The group was established in 2020 to oversee the introduction of scholarly activity for staff, which was formally incorporated into our EDRS for all continuing and fixed term academic staff last year. In 2022, scholarly activity will also be a requirement for all academic staff, including sessional and adjunct staff, who teach across the institution.

Going forward, the Division of Learning and Teaching will manage the professional development for scholarly teaching activity at Charles Sturt, with support from the Division of Library Services where appropriate. The management of scholarly activity within the EDRS sits with the Faculties and Schools, with support provided by the Division of People and Culture.

To contact the DLT team, please email scholarlyactivity@csu.edu.au.
Your supervisor remains your first point of contact for all EDRS matters.

20 February 2022

Peer review is a collegial process that encourages reflection and collegial conversation about teaching practice and therefore, supports quality teaching. Summative peer review is used at Charles Sturt in preparation for promotion and probation review. Formative peer review is being increasingly used to support reflective practice, and to promote open collegial discussions about teaching development. DLT provides tools and guidance to assist staff in engaging with colleagues to undertake supportive PRT. Email peerreview@csu.edu.au or visit the DLT website for more information.