Keynote Speakers

Final Information

International Higher Education

Curriculum Design and Academic Leadership

Symposium

Higher Education Curriculum Design:
Reclaiming Quality Education  

4th December 2012

Keynote Speaker One

Kieran Hewitson (Te Wananga o Aotearoa)

Keynote Title One
Abstract pending

Keynote Speaker Two

Dr Timote Viaoleti (University of Waikato)

Keynote Two Title:
Abstract pending

Keynote Speaker Three

Susan F. Stevenson (New Zealand Curriculum Design Institute)

Susan has been involved in educational leadership, teaching and research activities for over 30 years.  Initially she was educated and worked as a primary school teacher before moving into secondary teaching, management and leadership roles in secondary schools, museum education, university, polytechnic, indigenous wananga and Pasifika organisations, private tertiary education and business contexts. Areas of special research interest to Susan include Higher Education   curriculum design and development, quality teaching and learning,  effective quality assurance systems, practice-based research, experiential education, tertiary staff capacity building, educational leadership and equity in educational provision.
          Over her thirty years in education Susan has lead or contributed to over 38 degree qualification designs or re-development projects. Founding House of Montrose Limited in 2006, Susan is now a ‘hands on’ Director leading House of Montrose Education Consultants’ and the ‘New Zealand Curriculum Design Institute’ who are a NZQA Registered and Approved Course Owner.

Keynote Three Title:
Excellence in Curriculum Design: A perilous journey through Decisionland

Abstract pending

Higher Education Academic Leadership:
Unlocking Your Capacity to Influence

5th December 2012

Keynote Speaker  Four

Dr Linda Leach (Massey University)

Linda Leach is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University, Palmerston North. She has been involved in adult education since the late 1970s, initially in adult and community education, then in polytechnics and university. She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in adult education, preparing tertiary teachers for their varied roles across the whole tertiary sector.  Her recent research, much of which is collaborative, has focused on student outcomes, student retention, student engagement, assessment, the transition to tertiary education, and embedded literacy, language and numeracy. Linda has co-edited the book Reflection to Transformation: A Self Help Book for Teachers which recently appeared in a second edition. She has also published widely in journals, and written book chapters on topics related to her research projects. In 2011 she was jointly awarded, with husband Associate Professor Nick Zepke, the Tertiary Education Research in New Zealand (TERNZ) research medal.

 

Keynote Four Title: Leading and learning:
Enhancing the influence of academic leaders

It is a truism that academic leaders can have a key role in the success of tertiary institutions. They contribute to and influence the quality of teaching, research and administration, and the achievement of students. However, there are various understandings of who academic leaders are. Some understandings limit leaders to those who have positions as administrators or managers within their institution. In this address a broader perspective of academic leadership will be used. It will inform an exploration of ways that academic leaders can influence institutional success, teaching and student achievement – especially at a time when Government policy is emphasising the vocational purpose of tertiary education, preparation of people for the workforce. Selected findings from research projects on student transition into tertiary education, student retention and student engagement in New Zealand tertiary contexts will be used to highlight some actions academic leaders may take to enhance the success of students and their institutions. Some of the ideas are not new. They have been around for decades in various forms but are still not being consistently implemented. Others will offer a different view of what leaders might do to enhance learning and teaching in their institutions.

Keynote Speaker Five

Keynote Speaker Five  Professor Lynne Hunt

Lynne Hunt is Emeritus Professor, University of Southern Queensland, and Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia. Professor Hunt has provided leadership to promote university teaching at faculty and university levels in three Australian universities. She is the recipient of three university-level awards for teaching excellence. She received the 2002 Australian Award for University Teaching in the Social Science category and the 2002 Prime Minister’s Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year. In 2009 she won an Australian Executive Endeavour Award to study quality assurance in university teaching in Malaysia. She has co-edited two books about change leadership to promote university teaching: The realities of change in higher education: Interventions to promote learning and teaching (2006) and University teaching in focus: A learning centred approach (2012). Professor Hunt was a member of the Board of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and has served internationally in external review roles for the University of Pretoria and the University of Botswana (2003-2005).  She has also served as a HERDSA Fellow and mentor, a member of the Academic Committee of the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (2005-2006).

 Keynote Five Title:  A systems approach to leadership:
Getting the context right to promote university teaching and learning

This presentation explores leadership in the context of cross-institutional planning to promote learning and teaching. It identifies the essential elements of a capacity building approach, and refers to the need for clear systems, policies and processes that make it difficult for university teaching staff to get things wrong.
It will address the importance of getting the context right to support student learning. It will also adopt a case study approach to illustrate the usefulness of the student learning journey concept as a unifying framework for change. Key strategies to promote learning and teaching are identified. These include cross-institutional planning, graduate attributes, assessment, teaching and learning scholarship, integrated professional development, and teaching awards.
         The presentation also carries the message that “It’s not just what you do but that way that you do it” that counts. Accordingly, it addresses empowerment philosophies and process driven change. In so doing, it deconstructs notions of academic freedom as they pertain to ensuring high quality student learning outcomes. The argument in this presentation is that the only way to achieve sustainable outcomes in any activity to promote learning and teaching is to embed them firmly in university processes. 

Keynote Speaker Six Dr John Hinchcliff

Keynote Speaker Six Title: THE FUTURE OF LEARNING

The future of learning will be affected by contextual drivers within our society and tertiary institutions. Hopefully, our society and educational institutions will be shaped by the best possible learning practices. 
 
Drivers are many and complex. They include the demands of the Knowledge Society, the exponential growth of new technologies, the low numbers of new high-tech jobs, the urgency to be employed and secure a good salary, the changing global electronic marketplace, information overload,  the international migration of high value jobs, soaring costs of classroom teaching and administration, the efficiencies and effectiveness of e-learning, and the success of “edu-preneurs”, dropping birth rates, social and political unease, serious threats to our survival, etc.
 
Our learning should be shaped by the demands of life-long  and collaborative learning, careful and critical thinking, imaginative and intelligent creativity, boundary-riding and interdisciplinary searchings and re-searchings, practical and effective altruism, and the urgent need to be responsible citizens caring for our future.
 
Our students should be empowered to ask questions such as why? or how? or who? without fear of failure or ridicule, to recognise their learning connects with their future, to enjoy their quest for comprehension and evaluation, to recognise how crucial are arts of reading and communication and become confident reflective practitioners.
 
We should maximise our use of technological innovation such as employing the advantages of cyberspace but without letting the Promethean ‘Technical Fix’ cause us to lose the fundamental humanity of our learning engagement. We should with humility respect holistic wisdom, the inevitable uncertainty and ambiguity of our ideas, and our human limitations within a complex and diverse experience. 
 
In our learning we should balance the order of Cartesian and Newtonian thought with the insights of Quantum Physics, Chaos Theory and Existentialism. We should respect rather than become infatuated with research. We should balance theory and practice. We should be able to declare that our learning and research will make a worthwhile difference.
 
We should engage outside the ivory tower with our learning and refuse to be sycophantic and deferential to self-interested funding agencies . We should learn as if our future depends on it because it does.

Dinner Keynote Speaker

Lawrence Green

One of New Zealand's best kept secrets, Lawrence is an international level leadership development specialist and professional speaker. He has over 20 years experience in developing people and over 15 years in working with leaders and the challenges of leadership in the corporate, sport and arts sectors.  Lawrence is the Director of Leader Greatness Ltd., a leadership development consultancy; and the Legacy Leadership Training Programme now a primarily koha-based, long-term accelerated leadership programme.  Lawrence is changing the face of applied Leadership education in New Zealand through his personally inspiring and change-creating insights, and effective individual and group processes.

Keynote Five Title: Leading The Dance of Change

The critical skill for any leader is being able to lead change successfully. Unfortunately the majority of leaders struggle to do so. A major reason for this is that the leaders themselves do not understand 'the dance of change'. Instead they attempt to lead change from a flawed model of how they believe people and organisations should change rather than working with the 'reality' of what is in front of them.  The focus of this address is on building the awareness leaders need to lead the dance of change more effectively.  That is, to read it, respond to it and to stay three moves ahead.