HERDSA Guide, 'Leading Academic Networks' now published

We are happy to announce that HERDSA has now published the guide on 'Leading Academic Networks'. This guide supported by the NATA, developed by HERDSA and authored by Shelda Debowski, is a valuable resource for those with an active role or potential interest in taking up a leadership role within Academic Associations. More information about the guide can be found here and to order a copy of the guide visit the HERDSA website http://www.herdsa.org.au/?page_id=35

Shelda Debowski also developed a concise document on leading academic networks which focuses on three phases of the network leadership cycle; 1. Getting started as a network leader, 2. Leading your academic network, 3. Concluding your leadership role. This document is freely available here online http://www.slideshare.net/SheldaDebowski/tips-for-leading-academic-networks-deboswki-2013

 

NATA acilite Symposium 2013

Ascilite 2013 Symposium Presentation

 

Understanding network leadership in Australasian Tertiary Associations:  

Communication a key element of success

 

Wed 4th Dec at 11:00am -11:40am

 

Presented by Mike Keppell, Gordon Suddaby, Helen Carter and Caroline Steel

Click here to view the complete ascilite conference program 

Symposium Overview

•  About NATA
• NATA Activities
• Emerging Themes
• Importance of Communication
• ACODE Project Overview
• ascilite Project Overview
• Network Leadership
• Key Resources

Symposium questions to engage to audience:

Network Engagement

1.What networks are you currently a member of?

2.With which do you feel most engaged with and why?

3.What do you see as the value of belonging to such a network?

 

Understanding Good Practice in Network Leadership

How do you understand network leadership? Are you or have you been a network leader? Are you a member of a network?

1.What do you see as the key functions or role of network leaders?

2.What do you see as the key challenges in effective network leadership?

3.What examples can you provide of good practice in network leadership?

NATA Project Event Coming Up on the 6th of November

NATA Project Event
The NATA Project Event is coming up on the 6th of November at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Please note, that even if you are unable to make it to Brisbane to attend the event in person, the first 2 sessions will be streamed and available to remote participants via a weblink provided by AARNet. However, whether you intend to attend in-person or via online, please contact Natasha Hard (Natasha.Hard@usq.edu.au) to register your attendance if you have not already done so.

The day has three key objectives:

1. Improve the understanding of NATA and its possible relevance to the work and professional practice of attendees
2. Improve awareness of key challenges and success factors for effective network leadership
3. Stimulate discussions about sustainability and how NATA may be able to return future benefit to the sector

The day will be facilitated by the NATA project leaders, Professor Mike Keppell, Executive Director of the Australian Digital Futures Institute and Gordon Suddaby, Higher Education Consultant. Representatives from the NATA partner associations, including ACODE, ascilite, CADAD, HERDSA, ODLAA, AARNet and Netspot will attend and contribute to the days proceedings. We are also happy to announce that Suzi Hewlett the General Manager Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) and Lindy Baker from the OLT will also be present on the day.

The event will begin at 11:00am and conclude at around 3:45pm in the afternoon with lunch provided for those attending from 1:00pm - 2:00pm. The day will be broken down into three key sessions.:

Session 1 (11:00am - 12:00pm) - NATA Activities & Achievements
This session will focus on providing a brief overview of the development and journey of the NATA before exploring some of the Key Activities engaged in by NATA. These include the promotion of the Good Practice Reports, research in the area of Network Leadership and the development of Projects led by NATA Partner Associations.

Session 2 (12:10pm - 1:00pm) - Exploring Emerging Themes & Issues
In this session Suzi Hewlett will provide a short address before a range of key questions will be discussed centred on topics around dissemination, network leadership, network communication and member engagement. These discussions aim to further elucidate the experiences and findings of the NATA as well as drawing upon the experiences of those present.

Session 3 (2:00pm - 3:45pm) - Future Possibilities
This session will begin with an overview of the NATA project evaluation approach as well as some of the key findings that have emerged through that evaluative process. Some of the key benefits of participation by network partners will be highlighted before a facilitated discussion about the future and sustainability of the network commences. This discussion will explore the following questions:

1. How could your association (NATA Partner) potentially benefit from on-going collaboration?
2. What are the possible forms of on-going collaborations? Learning from what other successful models may have done.
3.  What would the members of NATA Partner associations like to see from further collaboration?
4. In what ways could a continuing NATA provide value back to the sector?

 We really hope that you can join us on the day and contribute to a successful and engaging event. Please be in touch if you have any questions (Natasha.Hard@usq.edu.au).

Please follow our blog and Twitter account to keep up to date (@NATAonthenet)

The Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows (ALTF) network - Understanding the impact of Fellowships

The Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows (ALTF) network supports quality learning and teaching in higher education. With some 62 fellowships from across 24 institutions now having been undertaken since 2006, the network supports this group of leading educators to undertake strategic, high profile activities in areas of importance to the sector.

In May this year the network released a brief 4 page guide to the network titled "Take advantage of the passion and expertise of the Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows" which provides an overview of the network as well as detailing some key findings on the positive impacts of the Fellowships.

For more information on the network please visit the website or contact:

Professor Dawn Bennett (ALTF Convenor): D.Bennett@curtin.edu.au
Dr Diane Costello (ALTF Project Manager): altc_fellows_forum@curtin.edu.au

Networking - What could NATA potentially offer your higher education network?

We would like to explore ways in which NATA and NATA related activities might be able to work with and support different OLT funded networks. We have reviewed our current activities and foci and distilled the following key points which we feel might be of interest and potential value to other such networks.

NATA research into network leadership

We have now finished the data collection as phase of the NATA Research into network leadership within established Australasian tertiary education associations and have begun analysing the data. This research explores three different research questions:

1. What network leadership strategies support good practice in leading networks to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Education Associations?
2. What communication strategies, technologies, and approaches support good practice to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Education Associations?
3. What common ground exists between organisations that could provide a basis for collaboration into the future?

Whilst these questions are focused on leadership within Australasian Tertiary Education Associations, the first two questions offer potential insights into successful leadership strategies, communication strategies and the effective use of technology in networks which may be applicable to other higher education networks, regardless of their specific focus. The findings and relevant publications from the research will be highlighted on the NATA blog as they are developed.

The research will also inform the content of a HERDSA Green Guide being developed as part of the NATA project. This will be a practical guide about leading academic networks and will include such topics as:

• The role of the network leader
• Leading strategically
• The political landscape
• Communicating with your stakeholders
• Assessing your leadership effectiveness; and
• Finishing your term as network leader.

NATA Partner Projects

The NATA has approved and supported ascilite, ODLAA, HERDSA and ACODE to develop their own small-scale projects which support not only the needs of their own associations, but are also aligned with the NATA Key Objectives as well as offering value back to other NATA partners. The projects cover a range of topics, however, promise to deliver:

• Design and development of communication architecture for ODLAA as a contemporary and future proofed and forward looking/gazing professional organization. The results of which will be extrapolated to include the development of an architecture that would be attractive to related professional organizations and reported in the briefing document/report.
• A Guide that promotes best practice in the engagement of members of professional associations and networks.  The Guide will outline design principles and engagement strategies for the use of web based resources (including social media) to support and advance community engagement in professional associations and networks (ascilite).
• Description and documentation of the process to engage networks in a contemporary issue of general concern including a simple how-to document and template for generating a briefing document.  Development of case study on Media Management (ACODE).
• HERDSA Green Guide on leading academic networks (as discussed above).

Thus, we feel that many of these outcomes and resources developed will have applicability to other higher education networks and we will encourage you to engage with them as they come to fruition - at the end of 2013 and into early 2014.

OLT/ALTC Good Practice Report eResources

As part of the NATA we are promoting the 11 OLT/ALTC Good Practice Reports. Our dissemination strategy includes the development of short eResource videos (voice over slides) which highlight these reports and the potential value they afford the sector. We have now completed some and hope to launch them in the upcoming months. Once these resources have been published we would encourage those of you who are interested to promote them through your own communication channels, especially those of most relevance to your networks.

Lastly, if you have any questions, feedback or would like to utilise the NATA blog to disseminate your network's activities please be in touch (nataonthenet@gmail.com or Natasha.Hard@gmail.com).

What higher education networks are supported by the OLT in Australasia?

Networks in Australasian Higher Education

Did you know that the Office for Learning and Teaching has funded discipline based networks, state based networks and national networks to support the dissemination of grant project outcomes and embed good practice in learning and teaching in higher education? The funding of these networks including NATA, aims to consolidate existing connections in the sector and help foster new collegial and cross-institutional links to generate high-level collaborative approaches to teaching and learning issues. A list of all the networks (by category) including the name of the network coordinator can be found below. 

National Networks

• The Network of Australasian Tertiary Associations (NATA), Professor Mike Keppell and Associate Professor Gordon Suddaby
• Discipline Scholars Network, Professor Jonathan Holmes
• FellowsNetwork: Scholarship, leadership and advocacy: a network for the support of quality learning and teaching in Australian universities, Professor Dawn Bennett
• Facilitationof advocacy and leadership in enhancing learning and teaching in the higher education community by HERDSA, Winthrop Professor Shelda Debowski

Discipline Based Networks

• Australian Engineering & ICT Education Support Network, Emeritus Professor Robin King
• Network of Associate Deans Learning and Teaching in the Discipline of Education (NADLATE), Professor Brenda Cherednichenko
• The Australian Business Deans Council Teaching and Learning Network, Phil Hancock
• Occupational Therapy Academic Leaders Network (OTALN), Professor Sylvia Rodger
• Australian Pharmacy Network: Learning Outcomes for Pharmacy Curriculum, Professor Ieva Stupans
• Chemistry Discipline Network, Dr Madeleine Schultz and Dr Glennys O'Brien
• Collaborative University Biomedical Education Network (CUBENET), Professor Philip Poronnik
• The Law Associate Deans Network, Dr Julie Clarke
• Learning and Teaching Network for Architecture and Building, Professor Susan Savage and Associate Professor Sidney Newton
• Vision and Innovation in Biology Education (VIBE.net), Dr Charlotte Taylor and Associate Professor Pauline Ross
• Australian Indigenous Studies Learning and Teaching Network, Dr Katelyn Barney
• Journalism,Media and Communication Network (JoMeC), Dr Rhonda Breit
• The Creative Arts Learning and Teaching Network (CALTN), Professor Jonathan Holmes
• National Forestry Education Network, Professor Peter Kanowski
• Australian Mathematical Sciences Learning and Teaching Network, Associate Professor Dann Mallet
• TheAustralian and New Zealand Paramedic Learning and Teaching Network, Dr Paul Jennings

State Based Networks (PENs- Promoting Excellence Networks)

• South Australia and Northern Territory State/Territory-based Promoting Excellence Network (SANTPEN), Ms Helen Stephenson
• State-based Promoting Excellence Networks - Victoria/Tasmania (VTAS), Associate Professor Angela Carbone
• State-basedPromoting Excellence Networks - NSW/ACT, Professor Stephen Marshall
• Q-PEN -Queensland Promoting Excellence Network, Ms Karen van Haeringen
• WesternAustralian Network for Dissemination (WAND), Ms Andrea Fraser

If you are involved in one of the OLT funded networks and would like to share what your network is up to, please be in touch (nataonthenet@gmail.com) as we would be highly interested to communicate your activities. In addition, I have tried to include links to network websites, and where I was unable to find such websites, a link to the OLT network summary page has been provided. If your network has a project website which is not linked to, please let me know and I will update.

*The information on this page has been taken from the OLT website where more information can be found http://www.olt.gov.au/networks