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Dr Sonia Ferns
Associate Professor, University of Western Australia
About...
Associate Professor Sonia Ferns is an education specialist with over 40 years' experience in teaching, curriculum and assessment design, work-integrated learning (WIL), student engagement, employability, and strategic leadership. She is internationally recognized as an accomplished author, mentor, and researcher in curriculum innovations, assessment design, and WIL. She has led institutional strategic projects on curriculum renewal, establishing an institutional quality framework for WIL, and renewal of the university qualifications in partnership with industry peak bodies. Sonia has also led nationally funded projects on WIL, thereby contributing to the expansion, innovation, and quality of WIL in Australia and globally. Sonia continues to be a passionate educator in both undergraduate and post graduate programs where she inspires students through her interactive and challenging learning experiences that encourages agentic, self-driven and autonomous learners. Transformational learning experiences stimulate students to reflect on their world view and consider perspectives through a global and inclusive lens, thereby prompting collaborative, innovative, and interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving. She nurtures a collaborative community of learners premised on partnerships and co-design of learning experiences and assessment, shifting the student role from a passive learner to an active agent in the learning journey. She has published extensively on industry engagement and WIL and is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of WIL. She works collaboratively with an international consortium of researchers responsible for the design and delivery of global modules that provide professional development to teaching staff globally. She was on the Board of Directors for the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN), the peak body for WIL in Australia, for 10 years and served as President in 2019. In 2022 Sonia was awarded the prestigious life membership of ACEN in recognition of her outstanding contribution and leadership to WIL in Australia and beyond.
Keynote
Engaging and Motivating Students in their Learning Journey through Immersive and Transformational Pedagogy: Shifting the Balance of the Educational Interface
This presentation will take you on a journey of the student and teacher educational experience. The rapidly evolving social, economic, and political dynamics impacting learner characteristics, preferred learning styles, and perceived value of a university qualification are profoundly influencing how learning experiences are shaped. Employability capabilities, career transition, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and professional networking are increasingly important attributes in a globally connected marketplace. Preparing for an uncertain future characterised by evolving digital technologies and changing workplace dynamics requires learning experiences that equip students with creativity, resilience and lifelong learning skills pivotal to wellbeing and success. This shifts the educational interface to a holistic curriculum premised on the student as a partner, cooperative industry/community partnerships, and transformational learning experiences that broaden students’ worldviews. Embedding real-world learning in the form of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in the curriculum accommodates diversity, promotes student agency, enhances student outcomes, and facilitates the progressive development of skills and knowledge.
Furthermore, assessment can empower learners to be active agents in their learning journey, enhance lifelong learning, increase learner motivation, and encourage curiosity and innovative problem-solving. Assessment is also a powerful tool for teachers as educational facilitators to inform teaching/delivery focus and strategy, identify areas of strength and areas requiring improvement, and provide direction for teacher/facilitator professional development. The presentation will highlight the benefits of learning experiences that enable a life-long approach to learning and motivate the learner. The development and enactment of curriculum and assessment design to enhance the educative experiences for all stakeholders will be explored. This presentation addresses the ‘how to teach’, not the ‘what to teach’.
Masterclass
Creating a Culture of Creativity in a Collaborative and Compassionate Community of Learners: Nurturing Learners for the 21st Century
The landscape of higher education is constantly evolving in response to unprecedented job mobility and changing environmental and societal factors. This change is driving a shift in focus from discipline specific knowledge and skills to employability skills for the 21st century workplace and learning experiences grounded in highly regarded values, essential for building and sustaining healthy communities and ensuring quality graduate outcomes.
The educational journey for teaching staff and students will be explored including:
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The attributes students should acquire.
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Curriculum design – Formulating learning outcomes relevant to intended skills and knowledge students should acquire.
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Interactive and engaging learning experiences that realize the attributes and learning outcomes.
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Designing scaffolded and diverse assessment tasks that inspire students and are premised on real-world learning.
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Strategies for efficient and effective feedback that promote lifelong learning.
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Mechanisms for reflecting on the impact of your teaching for continual improvement.
Work-integrated learning (WIL) and stakeholder partnerships, a priority for higher education and university strategic visions, will underpin discussions and activities. Participants will design learning outcomes and assessments that promote student engagement, agency, and motivation. Learning experiences will reflect contexts that are highly variable, personalised and socially constructed, thereby challenging traditional assessment models which focus on knowledge acquisition as opposed to skill proficiency. Participants will devise transformative learning experiences that broaden students’ world view, facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and problem-solving, and encourage students to question their values and biases.
Assessment is a dynamic process as disciplinary skills and workplace proficiencies shift with environmental, technological, and economic change. This Master Class will explore models of assessment design that incorporate stakeholder cooperation, optimize inclusivity, maximize efficiency, and facilitate a personalized approach to ensure relevance and meaning for the learner. Assessment related challenges such as moderation, workload, and student participation and engagement will be discussed.
Case studies will be critiqued that address each stage of the learning journey. Throughout the Master Class, participants will work collaboratively to design a learning journey (learning outcomes, learning experiences, assessments, feedback and reflection) relevant to their disciplines. The facilitator will emulate best practice approaches to implementing empowering learning experiences and assessment strategies throughout the interactive Master Class.
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