AUCEA

Spring 2011 e-journal

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:35:31 +0000

The Spring 2011 edition of the Australasian Journal of University Community Engagement has now been uploaded to the journals page.

Public perceptions of Australian Universities.

donna — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:08:32 +0000

Universities Australia recently commissioned consultants to undertake a major study on the public perceptions of Australian Universities. In this request, the consultants are seeking to ensure they have access to the most relevant literature to inform their work. Please support this work in any way you are able, in particular by providing the Consultants as soon as possible with any relevant literature and/or studies you are aware of or think will assist their work. Please provide the material direct to the Consultants as outlined in their request.

LITERATURE REVIEW REQUEST – PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF AUSTRALIA’S UNIVERSITIES

You may be aware that Universities Australia has recently commissioned the Allen Consulting Group and Wallis Consulting Group to conduct research on public perceptions of Australian Universities. The research will be completed by mid 2012 and will involve focus groups and one-on-one consultations across a range of stakeholder segments and sub-groups of the population, and a national survey of the business and general community. This is an exciting research project. It aims to allow Universities Australia to improve its practices and models of engagement to positively influence decision makers. It will also give options to improve universities’ reputation and standing in the public sphere.

The project will commence with a literature review on existing research on community and stakeholder perceptions and expectations of universities and the higher education sector. This literature review will focus on any Australian evidence about public perceptions, as well as identify any similar research in comparable countries, especially the UK, Canada and the US.

Much of this literature will be publicly available, however, we are aware that many universities may also have conducted similar research for their own organisational needs. To ensure that the literature review is as comprehensive as possible to inform our empirical work, we are asking if you would be able to share any relevant research you are aware or may have conducted for your own organisations on a confidential basis, as well as inform us of any publicly available research that you think we should be aware of. Please forward any material directly to Allen Consulting Group c/o Senior Consultant George Onisiforou. You can contact George on 02 8272 5100 or e-mail him on gonisiforou@allenconsult.com.au.

TAME Literature Review now available

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:57:02 +0000

Following the workshop held on the Gold Coast in October 2011, Dr Megan Le Clus has finalised her review of current Engagement literature. A full copy of the report can be downloaded from the TAME page in the Shared Resources section of our website.

Chair’s welcome

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:17:27 +0000

Firstly I’d like to welcome two new Directors to the AUCEA Board, Carol-Joy Patrick and Traci Gamblin, and I’m looking forward to their active participation at Board and Committee meetings as well as at other AUCEA events and activities.

Carol-Joy is an AUCEA Associate Member (Individual) and was the founder of the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN). Carol-Joy continues to be a very active ACEN member and she is currently the Coordinator of Service Learning at Griffith University. Traci is our first community-based Director and she is currently the Senior Manager of Development with Volunteering WA in Perth. Traci has an active involvement with all WA-based universities, particularly in the areas of Service Learning and related research.

Earlier this month the Board held a very productive two-day workshop in Sydney to review the current Strategic Directions and to determine our focus for 2012-14. I invite you to read our – 2011 in review – document. A number of the items are highlighted in this e-news, and as always your feedback is welcome.

And finally, I’d like to acknowledge what an active and engaging year 2011 has been. I also take this opportunity to thank my fellow Directors, our committee members, our Secretariat, and all of you who are an intrinsic part of AUCEA. I look forward to 2012 as we all continue to build AUCEA and University-Community Engagement scholarship and practice within and beyond Australian higher education.

Professor Peter Creamer
Chair, AUCEA

AUCEA Membership

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:14:01 +0000

At the November Board meeting the Directors determined that all staff members of Member Universities will be able to access resources and member discounts offered for AUCEA conferences, workshops and other activities.

We NEED YOU!!

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:13:49 +0000

That’s right we have recently introduced a Member News link on the front page of the AUCEA Website and we invite and encourage you to contribute information about what’s happening with University-Community Engagement within and beyond your institution.

Tracking and Measuring Engagement (TaME)

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:12:53 +0000

AUCEA is committed to developing a range of tools and resources to facilitate and support the growth a of culture-of-engagement in Australian higher education. A Tracking and Measuring Engagement (TaME) workshop was held at Southern Cross University (Gold Coast campus) in October 2011. The workshop attracted 30 participants from 14 universities, 21 on location and 9 via videoconference, teleconference or Elluminate link.

Professor Barbara Holland’s excellent contribution via Elluminate added significantly to the workshop and her power point presentation is now available on the AUCEA website. Barbara referred to importance of allowing for institutional context when developing a TaME scheme, and she also emphasised the need to ask the following questions:

Why track and measure engagement?
What are we tracking and measuring?
What are we going to do with the information?

Apart from the University of Western Sydney Tracking and Improving Community Engagement (TICE) system and the recently developed E-DNA system at Central Queensland University, none of the other universities represented have TaME systems in place. This lack of TaME systems clearly provides AUCEA with an opportunity to develop a tool that our members could utilise.

There was broad support for AUCEA to take a much stronger leadership role in this area, and workshop participants identified three areas for AUCEA to pursue:

Develop a TaME system
Develop best practice
Provide advocacy:

Workshop participants do not expect AUCEA “to do it all”, and they identified areas they need to address within their own universities, including:

Discussions with Academic Standards Framework team to develop Community Engagement indicators;
Discussion with Engagement Task Group to inform ranking of activities as a starting point; and to
Digest material and identify potential application.

We encourage you to do likewise. AUCEA is currently developing a White Paper, including a TaME framework with input from workshop participants The paper will be available for distribution to our members in April 2012. For further information please contact Dr Jan Strom at jan.strom@scu.edu.au.

Professional Development

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:11:41 +0000

AUCEA is proud of our long-running Visiting Scholar and Experts programme. This is a Member Only programme and over the years it has introduced a diverse array of engagement perspectives from international academics, prac-ademics and professionals to academic and non-academic staff and community members across Australia.

Six of our member institutions (Central Queensland University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Newcastle, La Trobe University, Victoria University and Swinburne University of Technology) will be hosting our next Visiting Scholar – Associate Professor Trae Stewart in March 2012. Trae is a Service Learning specialist and he is currently the Associate Professor, Education and Community Leadership and Co-Director, International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change at Texas State University.

2012 AUCEA International Conference – Next Steps: Community Engaged Learning

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:10:09 +0000

Our next conference will be held 9-11 July 2012 at the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology campus in Brisbane. The Call for Proposals will be distributed next week and we encourage prospective presenters to answer the call. Proposals are due to be submitted by 31 January 2012.

We’ve already had enquiries from people wishing to register, so conference registrations will open on Monday 12 December 2011 at www.auceaconference.org.au.

The Student Showcase poster exhibition and presentation was very well received at our 2011 conference and we hope it will be even bigger and better in 2012. More information about this will be distributed early in the new year.

For further information about any of these items please contact our Executive Officer Dr Jan Strom on (02) 6659.3900 or at jan.strom@scu.edu.au.

SCU celebrates engagement

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:24:38 +0000

Southern Cross University’s inaugural Excellence in Community Engagement Awards attracted 28 entries. Shortlisted nominations can be seen on the Office of Community Engagement’s website www.scu.edu.au/engagement

By: Donna