A Connections workshop
As teachers, it is important to support our students studying online and face to face. How do we know what they need? What strategies can we use?
In this two hour interactive workshop you will learn from frontline student support staff, Nicole Zhang and Darcy Keogh about the struggles students face in their learning.
Workshop co-facilitator, Dr Thomas Britz from Science, recipient of the 2021 Vice-Chancellor's Student Wellbeing Award, will provide practical examples of how you can create personalised learning environments that support students and their individual needs.
Participants will be split into groups where you can share experiences, and actively consider actionable steps to apply to your own course.
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About the Speakers
After receiving his PhD degree in pure mathematics from Aarhus University in 2003, Dr Thomas Britz held postdoctoral positions in Canada and Denmark, before joining UNSW in 2006 as postdoc. As Senior Lecturer at the UNSW School of Mathematics and Statistics, Thomas is presently the Editor for the School's venerable maths outreach journal Parabola, as well as President for the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia. He enjoys teaching and feels fortunate to be teaching such lovely and excellent students as those at UNSW. He cares deeply for and about students and their education, and he would like to see a larger role for caring in teaching.
Nicole Zhang joined the UNSW Student Support team in April 2021. Previously, she worked three years as Student Advisor at UNSW Global which offers UNSW pathway courses to international students. As a Student Support Advisor, Nicole works closely with students providing them with personalised advice and support. She enjoys forming bonds with students while guiding them through their requests and challenges. Nicole loves being supportive, resourceful, and inspiring to all her students.
Darcy Keogh has been a Student Advisor in the Student Support Team for the past two years. In this role he works with students struggling with a wide range of concerns including mental health, welfare and academic issues. He enjoys many aspects of this role, but in particular, the opportunity to offer students time and space to be deeply listened to. Previously he worked on a university-wide mental health initiative at RMIT where he worked with students, academic staff and professional staff to improve mental wellbeing outcomes for students.
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This event is a part of the Connections series, consisting of seminars and workshops that provide you with the opportunity to learn from your colleagues to inform your own teaching practice. This year, Connections will align with the Educational & Student Experience themes of “Listening, Challenging, Supporting”.