ACER Student Engagement & Experience Conference

ACER has teamed up with Criterion Conferences to present a two-day conference, Measuring and Improving Student Engagement and Experience: Increasing the quality of teaching & learning to encourage retention in higher education. Recent developments such as the advent of TEQSA and the Government’s participation and attainment targets have brought the intersection between teaching, learning and student engagement to the fore.

With presentations from over a dozen experts from a range of higher education institutions and research organisations, this conference will address:

• The impact of the wider reform agenda on projects aimed at improving student engagement
• Debate of the effectiveness of measures and standards of higher education teaching and learning 
• Issues with monitoring and strengthening quality student transitions across diverse access pathways 
• Institutional strategies to support student cohorts most at risk of high attrition. 

Pre- and post-conference workshops will explore how to use data on students’ learning to improve education an on engaging postgraduate coursework students.

The conference runs from 21-24 November at Melbourne’s Novotel on Collins. Discounted early bird registrations are available until 21 October. Further information about the conference is available from http://www.improvingstudentengagement.com

NAB Schools First winners announced

This month 110 schools were declared NAB Schools First award winners in recognition of their outstanding school-community partnerships. From a field of 863 high-quality applications, 50 schools won $25,000 Seed Funding Awards for partnerships in their early stages, and 60 schools won $50,000 Impact Awards for established partnerships that are having a demonstrated impact on students. All Impact Award winners are now eligible to become their respective State/Territory Impact Award winner and receive an additional $50,000 towards their school-community partnership. The State/Territory winners will be announced in October. Each State/Territory winner will then be in the running for the National Impact Award, to be announced on 24 November, where their total aggregate awards funding will be $500,000.

Established in 2009, NAB Schools First is a partnership between NAB, ACER and the Foundation for Young Australians. ACER is responsible for judging all of the applications, a process that involves over 50 judges each year. ACER also provides individualised feedback for each unsuccessful school. This feedback provides schools with advice on not only how to improve their application but also how to strengthen and develop their partnerships. ACER conducts an evaluation of the NAB Schools First program each year to research the benefits of school-community partnerships. By the end of this year, the program will have awarded $15 million to 310 schools around Australia. This year’s award announcements coincides with confirmation that the program will continue for a further three years. For more information visit http://www.schoolsfirst.edu.au

ACER Institute to host Bill Lucas seminar

In October 2011 the ACER Institute in conjunction with Tenderbridge will host a seminar presented by University of Winchester Professor of Learning Bill Lucas, on the topic New Thinking about Intelligence and Learning: New ideas for resourcing new thinking in schools. A former school leader and best-selling author, Lucas has helped to create five organisations: Learning through Landscapes, Campaign for Learning, The Talent Foundation, The Centre for Real-World Learning and, most recently, the English Project. During his seminar, Lucas will share his experiences of turning good ideas into resources - money, time and talents. He will discuss well-tested practical ideas drawn from across the world designed to put educational visions into practice and will suggest how educators might access funds to do this. For more information on this seminar or to register your interest please visit http://www.acerinstitute.edu.au/

CEET Annual Conference

ACER Research Director Dr Phillip McKenzie and ACER Senior Research Fellow Justin Brown will present on the topic ‘The Changing Destinations of Low SES School Leavers – the Contribution of VET in Schools’ at the 15th annual conference of the Monash University Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET), on Friday 28 October 2011 at Ascot House in Ascot Vale, Melbourne. The theme of the conference is The contribution of Vocational Education and Training (VET) to a more inclusive Australia. Further information about the conference is available from http://www.edu.monash.edu/centres/ceet/conferences/2011.html

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