
Hope through love and service
News 23 AprilA message from the Provost Professor Julie Cogin.
25 November 2020
Share
Three innovative projects involving ACU staff were shortlisted in the recent Australian Financial Review (AFR) Higher Education Awards 2020.
ACU congratulates the nominees who were finalists in the categories for Education Technology, Industry Engagement and Employability. Their achievements were honoured at dinners in Sydney and Brisbane on 18 November.
The Improving the Quality and Impact of Teacher Education project is led by an ACU team which is forging collaboration in complex performance assessment, digital infrastructure, data and visualisation in order to improve assessment of teaching graduates.
The team created a new system, Evidence for Quality in Initial Teacher Education (EQuITE), which uses customised IT infrastructure built to collect, store, analyse and visualise digital data for using a common standard and as feedback for learning.
EQuITE enables the annual intake and analysis of data essential to building public confidence in the quality of graduates entering the profession. A key element is that it collects large-scale data online from multiple universities, including scores from the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA), a test of professional readiness for teaching graduates. This team’s work on the GTPA has also been recently awarded second place in the European e-Learning Excellence Awards by Academic Conferences International.
The project is being undertaken within the GTPA Collective of 18 higher education institutes from across Australia. Around 15,000 preservice teachers will have completed the GTPA by December 2020, receiving scores across aspects of professional competence. The learnings provided by developing the assessment and the scoring rubric and innovative data analyses in EQuITE is being used to improve the quality of teacher education through collaborative partnerships with universities, sector authorities, and government at state and national levels in Australia.
The project was led by a multidisciplinary team from the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, including experts in teacher education, assessment and evaluation research, digital architecture and information systems, and statistical data analysis.
Team members include: Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith, Professor Michele Haynes, Dr Andrew Smith, Alex Chen, Dr Chantelle Day, Dr Melanie Spallek and Associate Professor Lenore Adie.
The Future-Proofing Education project has seen ACU partner with Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) to create an Executive MBA qualification that is the first of its kind in Australia. The MBA program is specifically designed to equip school principals with the knowledge and skills to run modern schools.
Some private schools have employed former business CEOs with no teaching/education background to be principals, which can lead to a misalignment of the culture and fit required to run a school. ACU Executive Education has taken a different approach with our philosophy to empower those already in the education system to have the confidence and capabilities to understand, thrive and lead in an ever-changing school ecosystem. The MBA’s workplace assessment also allowed for more individual focus and alignment to apply learnings to solve the real-world issues facing principals.
The partnership aims to bring into line the function of school principals as CEOs. This innovative course highlights that schools are in the business of educating young people. Like many other businesses, principals face the same challenges of ensuring financial viability, ensuring the school ‘product’ is fit for purpose and aligned to an ever-increasing range of stakeholders. and that the latest HR practices are utilised and aligned to support achievement of the schools objectives. The MBA challenges principals to consider how contemporary business models can embrace ethical values and sustainable growth, and how these two apparently competing ambitions are, in fact, intertwined and interdependent.
The initiative has improved CEM staff retention, creating a pipeline of talent with the right skills across the 330-plus CEM schools.
Team members include: Tom Ristoski, Dr Ricky Chan and Jodie Beckmann.
The Interchange project is an inter-university initiative that has been recognised for its contribution to supporting job-readiness skills in undergraduate and postgraduate international students. Interchange has been available for international students since 2016 and is a collaborative project with ACU, UNSW, UTS, Western Sydney University, UON, CQU, Sydney University, Notre Dame University, StudyNSW and the FRANK team.
In July and August 2019, more than 180 students from the Greater Sydney area participated in ‘Interchange – Change yourself, Change the World’. Over four consecutive weekends, students were led on a fast-paced learning journey aimed at developing their inner entrepreneur. The event culminated in a Gala Pitch evening, where students pitched their ideas to a panel of selected judges from industry and start-ups.
Interchange puts students into teams and challenges them to solve ‘real-world’ problems in order to develop key business and employability skills such as communication, innovation, leadership and networking. English is a second language for many participants, who must work with others from more than 20 countries to produce a video pitch and a live presentation. The event also brings together accomplished industry representatives and entrepreneurs, who impart their skills as mentors and keynote speakers.
The ACU Career Development Service and ACU International teams devoted to the program worked collaboratively with the wider Interchange team. They were responsible for advising on program content, promoting and recruiting for the program, and supporting students throughout the program.
In 2019, a total of 19 ACU Sydney-based international students completed the program, in addition to four peer mentors and six volunteers. In 2020, the Interchange program moved to 100 per cent online delivery in response to COVID-19 restrictions, and 37 ACU students from six campuses completed the program.
ACU team members include: Kathryn Williams, Linda Reardon, Peter Freeman, Susan Cowin, Diana Stevens and Brigitte White.
A message from the Provost Professor Julie Cogin.
Join us for an online session designed to help you get the most out of EndNote when working on your thesis or publications.
Include an additional survey item in the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT) survey for units that are offered in Semester 1 (202530) and Professional Term 3 (202515).
Curious about how ACU is turning its equity commitments into real-world impact? Explore how teams across the university are creating meaningful change through widening participation projects.
The Digest from Academic Board meeting 01/2025, held on 19 February 2025, is now available.
All ACU staff and students are invited to a commemorative prayer service at your local campus ahead of Anzac Day. Please join us at your local campus to remember and honour our service men and women w...
As we move towards the celebration of Easter, Pope Francis reminds us of the meaning and joy of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Register to attend the first Aquero Lecture of 2025.
A message from the Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Woods.
As ACU positions itself as a leading university in human flourishing, it is important to consider the value of community-engaged practices. The ACU and DePaul conference provides a perfect opportunity...
Please be aware of the following changes to payroll processing dates next week.
As reported in various news outlets, a recent cyber incident has impacted a number of Australian Superannuation funds. UniSuper has confirmed that they are not impacted by the incident but remain vigi...
Advance your career in teaching and learning with the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. Enrol by 14 April 2025 to get started in Professional Term 4.
Applications for the 2025 Teaching Development Grants and Citations and Awards programs open soon. Register for an information session to learn how to be recognised for your contributions to teaching ...
ACU Library’s Research Engagement team is running their Research Essentials skills sessions again in 2025. Metrics Week 1 aims to introduce you to the types of metrics you can use in grant application...
A message from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Abid Khan: ACU is integrating our research excellence within a comprehensive framework focused on human flourishing.
Thank you to everyone within our ACU community who engaged with Respect at Uni Week 2025. This year we focused on Shining a Light on Respect.
The Student Administration teams have been extremely active during the first quarter of 2025.
ServiceNow will now be used for receiving and referring complaints, as well as communicating with stakeholders regarding complaints and feedback received. Learn more about this and the recent changes ...
Student Communications (MER) compiles, edits and sends a monthly Student News and Events bulletin. This bulletin is sent to all students, nationally, and includes a broad cross-section of news, announ...
Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.