Dr Liam Phelan

In this paper, we analyse the introduction of peer mentors into timetabled classes to understand how in-class mentoring supports students' learning. The peer mentors in this study are high-achieving students who previously completed the same course and who were hired and trained to facilitate Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). PASS gives students the opportunity to deepen their understanding through revision and active learning and are typically held outside of class time. In contrast, our trial embedded peer mentors into classes for a large (-250 students) first-year workshop-based course. We employed a participatory action research methodology to facilitate the peer mentors' cocreation of the research process. Data sources include peer mentors' journal entries, student cohort data, and a focus group with teaching staff. We found that during face-to-face workshops, peer mentors role-modelled ideal student behaviour (e.g., asking questions) rather than acting as additional teachers, and this helped students to better understand how to interact effectively in class. The identity of embedded peer mentors is neither that of teachers nor of students, and it instead spans aspects of both as described using a three-part schema comprising (i) identity, (ii) associated roles, and (iii) associated practices. As we moved classes online mid-semester in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, mentors' identities remained stable, but mentors adjusted their associated roles and practices, including through the technical aspects of their engagement with students. This study highlights the benefits of embedding mentors in classrooms on campus and online.

Climate change impacts cascade across scales and sectors, and present specific threats to education institutions and systems, including reduced educational access, participation and attainment by students. In this paper, we set out the pursuit of climate change mitigation and adaptation responses, grounded in commitments to equity and justice, as a renewed fundamental purpose for higher education. To this end, we suggest the understanding of public and private benefits of education that is typically applied to individuals may be usefully applied at institution and system scale. However, in the context of an accelerating climate crisis, adopting a renewed fundamental purpose will require institutions and systems to display critical awareness beyond the public-private benefits divide, towards an understanding of themselves as embedded in¿rather than separate to¿their broader communities and societies, and an acknowledgement of the particular interests that are foregrounded and privileged in the construction of their purpose.

In recent years there has been an increase in awareness and calls to action to reduce sexual assault and harassment on university campuses in Australia. This has stemmed from The Australian Human Rights Commission¿s 2017 report Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities. One response from the University of Newcastle was to adopt an evidence based accredited workshop program called Sex, Safety and Respect. The program was developed by the specialist violence prevention service the Full Stop Foundation. The University commissioned the Foundation to train around 20 professional and academic staff to deliver tailored workshops to students. The workshops seek to address cultural narratives and behaviours that can contribute to sexual violence and offer students an interactive and reflective experience that builds on content delivered in the University¿s compulsory online consent module. The rollout of the workshops is currently in the early implementation phase and has been supported through engagement with key stakeholders across the University with the aim of creating allies and making this a University-wide approach to effect positive cultural change. In this paper we provide an overview of the implementation process, challenges and successes encountered. Preliminary feedback from staff and students about their experience of the workshops and our plans for expanding the program¿s reach are also reviewed.

Scientific thinking is more than just critical thinking. Teaching the full range of ways to think like a scientist who practices high quality science is rare. A new core subject in the Bachelor of Science at the University of Newcastle was developed to allow students to explore six different ways to thinking scientifically through understanding what high-quality science is and contrasting it with poor science and non-science (pseudoscience). Our evaluation indicates that learning about how to think scientifically and be a scientist who practices high quality science is a skill that is valued by and relevant to first year undergraduate students. An evidence-based pedagogy including active learning, participatory learning, student-centred learning, constructive alignment and quality formative and summative feedback to students can support high learning outcomes.

Distributed leadership has been explored internationally as a leadership model that will promote and advance excellence in learning and teaching in higher education. This paper presents an assessment of how effectively distributed leadership was enabled at five Australian institutions implementing a collaborative teaching quality development scheme called the Peer Assisted Teaching Scheme. The Scheme brings together expertise from teams of academics, coordinators, and institutional learning and teaching portfolio holders to the shared goal of enhancing learning and teaching quality. A distributed leadership benchmarking tool was used to assess the Scheme¿s effectiveness, and we found that (i) the Scheme is highly consistent with the distributed leadership benchmarks, and that (ii) the benchmarking tool is easily used in assessing the alignment (or otherwise) of teaching and learning quality initiatives with distributed leadership benchmarks. This paper will be of interest to those seeking to assess implementations of distributed leadership to improve teaching quality and leadership capacity.

This study examined and compared attitudes of both students and instructors, motivated by an interest in improving the development and delivery of online oral communication learning (OOCL). Few studies have compared student and instructor attitudes toward learning technologies, and no known studies have conducted item response theory (IRT) analyses on these factors. Two independent and anonymous surveys resulted in 255 participants (124 university students, and 131 instructors). Exploratory factor analyses produced final item sets and a two-factor model for student attitudes (Technology Self-efficacy [TSE], and Positive Attitudes [PA]), and a three-factor model for instructors (TSE, Behavioral Intentions, and PA). The OOCL attitude factors showed strong validity through both IRT and classical test theory analyses. Comparisons between students and instructors showed students generally had higher TSE and more positive attitudes towards OOCL. The attitudes most relevant to OOCL were intrinsic interest, behavioral intentions, and perceived usefulness of the technology. This study revealed that technological self-efficacy may be useful for differentiating students and instructors, but not for assessing OOCL attitudes. Further development in this field could focus on the improvement of instructors¿ attitudes and skills, as well as exploring the role of intrinsic interest.

The Hunter Valley, in New South Wales, Australia, is a globally significant coal mining and exporting region. The Hunter economy's strong basis in fossil fuel production and consumption is challenged by civil society campaigns employing environmental justice discourses. This paper analyses how two civil society campaigns in the Hunter region (¿Stop T4' and 'Groundswell¿) have countered the regional hegemony of fossil fuel interests from an environmental justice perspective. However, the discursive dominance of the 'jobs versus environment¿ frame hinders efforts to build solidarity amongst local environmental justice goals on the one hand, and workers and union aspirations for secure, quality jobs on the other. Long-term structural decline of global coal markets adds pressure for economic transition. We argue that campaigns to open up possibilities for transition away from fossil fuel dependency to a post-carbon society can be strengthened by engaging with the 'just transition¿ discourses that are typically associated with organised labour. Doing so can create synergy for social change by aligning community and labour movement interests. Inclusive social movement partnerships around this synergy must address structural disadvantage that creates social and economic insecurity if communities are to prevail over the fossil fuel sector's hegemony.

Abstract: This paper draws on antenarrative research and writing techniques to analyse the long-running transnational campaign seeking to improve respect for human rights in the supply chains of Nike and other major sportswear companies. The antenarrative approach challenges scholars to look beyond pre-existing expectations, both in terms of which actors and processes are likely to be most influential and in terms of what is motivating participation in those processes which are significant. In this paper we construct antenarrative accounts of two aspects of the Nike campaign and counterpoint each of our antenarratives with an established scholarly account based on more traditional narrative approaches. We conclude antenarrative analysis can provide useful insights into interaction between global activist networks and global corporations, particularly by drawing attention to the generative possibilities of the complex combination of ordered and disordered processes which often characterise that interaction.

In the rapidly changing global higher education sector, greater attention is being paid to the quality of university teaching. However, academics have traditionally not received formal teacher training. The peer-assisted teaching programme reported on in this paper provides a structured yet flexible approach for peers to assist each other in reinvigorating and refining their teaching practice. Academics participated in this national, multi-institutional trial for varied reasons: the majority voluntarily, others to increase low student evaluation of course scores and some as part of a graduate certificate teaching qualification. Here we report on how academics used the scheme, and the teaching areas they focused on. Student evaluation of course scores increased in the majority of courses, suggesting the changes made had a positive effect on students¿ learning experiences. The experiences of the multi-institutional trial reported here may benefit others considering such a scheme to reinvigorate and refine teaching practice and improve course evaluation scores.

Open access (OA) in the Australian tertiary education sector is evolving rapidly and, in this article, we review developments in two related areas: OA to scholarly research publications and open data. OA can support open educational resource (OER) efforts by providing access to research for learning and teaching, and a range of actors including universities, their peak bodies, public research funding agencies and other organisations and networks that focus explicitly on OA are increasingly active in these areas in diverse ways. OA invites change to the status quo across the higher education sector and current momentum and vibrancy in this area suggests that rapid and significant changes in the OA landscape will continue into the foreseeable future. General practices, policies, infrastructure and cultural changes driven by the evolution of OA in Australian higher education are identified and discussed. The article concludes by raising several key questions for the future of OA research and open data policies and practices in Australia in the context of growing interest in OA internationally.