Presentation to visiting Chinese dignitaries including 25 senior management from universities in central and west region in China as well as senior staff and representative from the PRC Ministry of Education and National Academy of... more
Presentation to visiting Chinese dignitaries including 25 senior management from universities in central and west region in China as well as senior staff and representative from the PRC Ministry of Education and National Academy of Education Administration.
Research Interests:
Engaging students in the effective use of assessment feedback to meet learning objectives is critical. ExamBank is a software tool developed by the Sydney Medical School (SMS) to manage the assessment process for high stakes and formative... more
Engaging students in the effective use of assessment feedback to meet learning objectives is critical. ExamBank is a software tool developed by the Sydney Medical School (SMS) to manage the assessment process for high stakes and formative examinations from item and examination creation to statistical reporting and the delivery of student feedback. To-date, ExamBank has been implemented in four medical schools in Australia and overseas and in other faculties at The University of Sydney, including The School of Biological Sciences. ExamBank tracks the assessment lifecycle from creation of draft items through peer review and approval to performance in multiple examinations over time. The web-based interface means ExamBank can be accessed by academics remotely via a secure login system, which allows flexible role-based access for individual assessors. Questions can be meta tagged with key curriculum information (e.g. learning objective, subject area, unit of study, year). Statistical performance indicators for each question can be stored in the database and used to audit assessments. The implementation of ExamBank in two faculties at The University of Sydney is described to illustrate the improvement to curriculum design, implementation and administration and in feedback to students through a powerful technology-enabled reporting system that enables academics to improve the quality, integrity and stability of assessments.
O'Mara, D., Quinnell, R., Rothnie, I., Davies, L., & Pye, M. (2014). ExamBank: a Pedagogic and Administrative System to Provide Effective Student Feedback and Stable Assessment Across Disciplines. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures., 22(3), 62 - 73.
O'Mara, D., Quinnell, R., Rothnie, I., Davies, L., & Pye, M. (2014). ExamBank: a Pedagogic and Administrative System to Provide Effective Student Feedback and Stable Assessment Across Disciplines. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures., 22(3), 62 - 73.
Research Interests:
Change in higher education creates many risks to the sustainability of teaching practices. In this paper, we review some perspectives and resources on change in higher education and examine strategies for educators to participate in... more
Change in higher education creates many risks to the sustainability of teaching practices. In this paper, we review some perspectives and resources on change in higher education and examine strategies for educators to participate in sustainable change. Central to this is the role of local mission statements, formulated to consciously reflect common values and purpose within a team of colleagues, and used to guide decision making, particularly in times of change. This discussion considers changes in teaching practice, such as those required for active learning, informed by principles concerning general organisational change, and specific qualities of contemporary higher education in the sciences.
Research Interests:
Written, invigilated examinations are valued for their reliability, economy and academic integrity. Nevertheless, examinations are problematic. Final, summative examinations can disadvantage students who experience assessment anxiety,... more
Written, invigilated examinations are valued for their reliability, economy and academic integrity. Nevertheless, examinations are problematic. Final, summative examinations can disadvantage students who experience assessment anxiety, and students may not receive useable feedback. An alternative is the two-stage examination, where a traditional examination is followed by a group examination with similar questions. Students gain peer feedback on their examination performance, and can meaningfully apply this feedback. Use of this format in tertiary STEM education in universities has indicated that students prefer the format, although it has been little studied in Australia. Furthermore, its effects on reducing stress and fostering deeper learning are not well understood. The COVID-19 pandemic and switch to online learning has provided us with an opportunity to review our assessment practices and has led to a new willingness to test different examination formats. Here we provide a na...
Research Interests:
Cultural competence in professional and research practice is important to effectively deliver animal and One Health services and programs. Veterinarians work with culturally and linguistically diverse teams, clients, and communities.... more
Cultural competence in professional and research practice is important to effectively deliver animal and One Health services and programs. Veterinarians work with culturally and linguistically diverse teams, clients, and communities. Cultural perspectives on the significance and perceptions of animals and differences in consultation and engagement protocols and strategies can influence client–practitioner and researcher–community relationships, impacting animal health, welfare, and/or research outcomes. Curricula have been proposed to build cultural capacity in graduates, but these have not been reported in veterinary programs, and early attempts to integrate cultural competency into the University of Sydney veterinary curriculum lacked a formal structure and were ad hoc with respect to implementation. To address this, the authors introduced a broad curriculum framework into the University of Sydney veterinary program, which defines cultural competence, perceptions of animals, effec...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A new and emerging landscape within higher education is one populated by an increased number of education-focused academic positions. Ultimately, these appointments have created novel ecosystems within departments/schools and faculties,... more
A new and emerging landscape within higher education is one populated by an increased number of education-focused academic positions. Ultimately, these appointments have created novel ecosystems within departments/schools and faculties, where the type of research and workload allocation differs from traditional academic roles. These novel ecosystems are highly functional and productive, providing important ecosystem services for students and the institution. However, the education-focused academic population is often isolated within the school, effectively creating ‘islands’ of ideas. This leads to isolation from other academics within the school and decreased access to resources including mentorship, collaboration and education-focused academic seminars/talks/workshops. All of these can be barriers to academic productivity. Using island biogeography as a conceptual framework, we propose two alternative solutions. Firstly, we can create corridors between several small (SS) ‘island’ ...
Research Interests:
Context Using the scientific literature and communicating scientific research findings are essential components of undergraduate degree programs (Brownall et al 2013), and we have integrated academic writing and peer review into the... more
Context Using the scientific literature and communicating scientific research findings are essential components of undergraduate degree programs (Brownall et al 2013), and we have integrated academic writing and peer review into the biology curriculum since 1992. More recently the use of independent student inquiry activities has required us to focus on introducing students to the use of the primary literature (Healey and Jenkins 2009, Moscovitz and Kellogg 2011). First year students now engage with novel research experiments in laboratory courses, where they work with experimental design, data collection and interpretation, and reporting in the format of a journal article. As part of this process we expect them to access, read and incorporate information from the primary research literature into their report. Support for writing and reflection is incorporated through peer review sessions where students can give and receive feedback for further improvement of their writing. Problems...
Research Interests:
Written examinations are an established part of university assessment, part of a tradition reaching back thousands of years. Examinations have been considered useful because they are seen as objective, consistent and safeguarded against... more
Written examinations are an established part of university assessment, part of a tradition reaching back thousands of years. Examinations have been considered useful because they are seen as objective, consistent and safeguarded against cheating. Nevertheless, examinations are problematic. Solitary problem solving without access to information resources is a situation that does not occur in the modern workplace; also, final examinations are ‘dead-end’ assessments, where students usually do not receive, (or have no incentive to pay attention to), feedback. One proposal to change the traditional examination format is the two-stage examination, where students spend most of their examination time in a traditional format (Stage 1), and part in a small group working on similar or identical questions collectively (Stage 2). This allows students to gain instantaneous feedback from their peers on their examination performance, and immediately and meaningfully apply this feedback. Use of this...
Research Interests:
In many undergraduate biology courses, animal dissections are used to teach body form and function, and comparative anatomy. Additionally, animal dissection is a key skill for some careers and forms part of the professional accreditation... more
In many undergraduate biology courses, animal dissections are used to teach body form and function, and comparative anatomy. Additionally, animal dissection is a key skill for some careers and forms part of the professional accreditation for some vocational degrees. Recently, there has been increasing uptake of technological alternatives (e.g. virtual reality, computer models) to animal dissections. This adoption in biological courses in Higher Education is largely due to rising students’ ethical concerns and minimising the number of animals used in dissections. However, in making these accommodations, we need to ensure that we are not compromising the quality of learning and skill-based outcomes to which the students are exposed. We reviewed the literature into technological alternatives to animal dissection and critiqued the reasons for their implementation, student perceptions and advantages or disadvantages to student learning. We found that students were generally positive towa...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
There have been significant advances in the development of animal-borne sensor technologies, or biologgers, in recent years. This has resulted in tremendous capacity for wildlife researchers to remotely collect physiological, behavioural... more
There have been significant advances in the development of animal-borne sensor technologies, or biologgers, in recent years. This has resulted in tremendous capacity for wildlife researchers to remotely collect physiological, behavioural and social data from wildlife in circumstances that were unthinkable just decades ago. While this technology can provide us with a unique insight into the “secret lives” of wild animals, there is a need to evaluate the utility of these new sensors versus traditional wildlife research methodologies, and to critically evaluate the integrity of the data collected by ensuring that these devices themselves do not alter the physiology or behaviour of the recipient animal. This paper reports on the development of a light weight “animal borne video and environmental data collection system” (AVED), which can be deployed on animals as small as 11 kg, whilst still meeting the desired 3% body weight threshold. This AVED (referred to as the “Kangaroo-cam”) simul...
Research Interests:
COVID-19 brought about a faceless threat that impacted Higher Education, and the whole of Society, in a way that had not been seen in our lifetimes - faceless nanoscopic threat to humanity and to the way we facilitate learning as... more
COVID-19 brought about a faceless threat that impacted Higher Education, and the whole of Society, in a way that had not been seen in our lifetimes - faceless nanoscopic threat to humanity and to the way we facilitate learning as passionate educators. The impacts on students, especially those of international status, were substantial. Isolation, enforced by the Federal Government, was as new to us all as the coronavirus was to our species. As a social species, we had no prior ‘immunity’ to the experience and the scramble to adapt within the teaching and learning environment that raised many difficulties experienced by all participants. However, nowhere was this more adversely felt than in our Transitioning First Year Student (TFYS) cohort. Students, already having to adapt to the foreign experience of learning in a higher education landscape, were dealt the additional blow of doing so under Australian government enforced isolation. Most, far from home and from their social networks,...
Research Interests:
A tension exists around the pedagogical paradox of delivering hands-on, authentic Biology Practical experiences within a hands-off, remote, online learning environment. Our immediate implementation of online learning during the COVID-19... more
A tension exists around the pedagogical paradox of delivering hands-on, authentic Biology Practical experiences within a hands-off, remote, online learning environment. Our immediate implementation of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 necessitated an urgent rethink of what would formerly have been considered paradoxical or ‘practically impossible’ - hands-off, online, remote Biology Practical classes. Rather than try to eliminate the tensions, we chose to recognise their necessary role in the implementation of change and/or innovative practice. In doing so, we re-examined all of the learning outcomes associated with the Practical component of the course and assessed the feasibility of their delivery in an online environment. All learning outcomes could be adequately addressed and, in some cases, led to a pedagogical synergy which surpassed the original intended learning outcomes. We present a range of evidence-based techniques and approaches to overcome the paradox o...
Research Interests:
As availability of interdisciplinary units increases across Australian universities, we need to recognize that significant shifts will occur in the composition of the student cohort. If these units are to harness and promote the... more
As availability of interdisciplinary units increases across Australian universities, we need to recognize that significant shifts will occur in the composition of the student cohort. If these units are to harness and promote the synergistic effects of diversity to solve global problems, so too must we incorporate strategies that are truly inclusive and accommodate the diversity of students they wish to attract LGBTIQ students select mainly Arts (31%) and then Science (19%) programs (Dau and Strauss 2016). We can, therefore, expect a demographic shift in STEMM interdisciplinary units. Much maligned are transgender students. Transgender students often reject Birth Names (referred to as “Dead Names”) and adopt names that affirm their gender and separate their past from present identities. However, transgender students remain to be recognized in many university online systems. These systems (and their users) induce substantial trauma by using dead names and unintentionally “outing” stud...
Research Interests:
Students enrolled in first year Life and Evolution (Advanced) at The University of Sydney undertake a research project in partnership with industry (City of Sydney Council) at Sydney Park, Sydney. To date, the Council has limited... more
Students enrolled in first year Life and Evolution (Advanced) at The University of Sydney undertake a research project in partnership with industry (City of Sydney Council) at Sydney Park, Sydney. To date, the Council has limited information on invertebrate biodiversity at Sydney Park. This experience offers mutualistic benefits: students are exposed to an authentic experience in urban biodiversity research and the Council gains data on patterns on invertebrate diversity. Students propose their own research question, design their experiment, design sampling in situ and do all identification of invertebrates and data analyses. They are then formally assessed via a scientific report. We suggest that this approach provides multiple beneficial outcomes which increase the authenticity of the experience and assessment. This experience enhances student autonomy by promoting self-driven motivation, ownership and engagement and deeper understanding of the subject material. They understand th...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study aimed to assess the perceptions of staff and students as to the type of support required to complete a technology-based assessment task effectively and whether students see the value to their own learning in the creation of... more
This study aimed to assess the perceptions of staff and students as to the type of support required to complete a technology-based assessment task effectively and whether students see the value to their own learning in the creation of videos to explain complex biological phenomona to their peers. The post-assessment survey responses revealed a level of satisfaction with the project, but it also revealed several shortcomings, particularly in communication, planning and implementation, and the design of the individual projects. This intervention is a good example of how using new technologies in teaching can lead to clear learning and teaching benefits such as increased student engagement and improved student understanding.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Genetics, Climate Change, Conservation Genetics, Biology, Genetic Diversity, and 11 moreBiological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Araucaria, Population Size, Effective Population Size, Habitat fragmentation, RAPD MARKERS, Prediction Model, Genetic Differentiation, Araucariaceae, and Araucaria bidwillii
Callitris Vent. is the most speciose of the Southern Hemisphere genera of Cupressaceae, occupying a diverse range of habitats within Australia and New Caledonia and is closely allied to Actinostrobus Miq. and the monotypic New Caledonian... more
Callitris Vent. is the most speciose of the Southern Hemisphere genera of Cupressaceae, occupying a diverse range of habitats within Australia and New Caledonia and is closely allied to Actinostrobus Miq. and the monotypic New Caledonian genus Neocallitropsis Florin. Results of phylogenetic analyses of 18S–26S rDNA internal transcribed spacer region sequences for representatives of 12 of the 18 currently recognised species of Callitris, two of the three Actinostrobus species and the single known species of Neocallitropsis help to clarify major lineages and relationships in this group. ITS data provide strong evidence against the monophyly of Callitris as currently circumscribed, with the strongest evidence being for the inclusion of the New Caledonian monotypic species Neocallitropsis pancheri (Carriere) de Laubenfels. This species shares a close relationship with C. sulcata (Parl.) Schltr. Three representatives of Actinostrobus are monophyletic and are placed in a polytomy with C.�...
Research Interests:
Student engagement within the discipline of Botany is not always limited to scientific content. The patterns, colours and shapes that are produced when investigating plant anatomy via sectioning are highly aesthetic and can immediately... more
Student engagement within the discipline of Botany is not always limited to scientific content. The patterns, colours and shapes that are produced when investigating plant anatomy via sectioning are highly aesthetic and can immediately engage students. The boundaries between aesthetics and science are often blurred or, more correctly, imagined. Nurturing and developing the inspiration drawn from the integration of these two worlds provides an alternative way of engaging students in the theoretical content of the discipline. Student exposure and engagement with native Australian Flora and botanical education is too often limited and finding novel ways to engage students with Botany is critically important; even more so in this current era of Plant Blindness and climate change denial (Jacobson et al., 2016; Wandersee & Schussler, 2000). To combat this, contemporary neuroscience and cognitive psychology research show promise toward the use of visual mediums to enhance memory, leading t...
ABSTRACT Callitris Vent. is the most speciose of the Southern Hemisphere genera of Cupressaceae, occupying a diverse range of habitats within Australia and New Caledonia and is closely allied to Actinostrobus Miq. and the monotypic New... more
ABSTRACT Callitris Vent. is the most speciose of the Southern Hemisphere genera of Cupressaceae, occupying a diverse range of habitats within Australia and New Caledonia and is closely allied to Actinostrobus Miq. and the monotypic New Caledonian genus Neocallitropsis Florin. Results of phylogenetic analyses of 18S–26S rDNA internal transcribed spacer region sequences for representatives of 12 of the 18 currently recognised species of Callitris, two of the three Actinostrobus species and the single known species of Neocallitropsis help to clarify major lineages and relationships in this group. ITS data provide strong evidence against the monophyly of Callitris as currently circumscribed, with the strongest evidence being for the inclusion of the New Caledonian monotypic species Neocallitropsis pancheri (Carriere) de Laubenfels. This species shares a close relationship with C. sulcata (Parl.) Schltr. Three representatives of Actinostrobus are monophyletic and are placed in a polytomy with C. drummondii (Parl.) F.Muell., although indels provide some support for the early divergence of Actinostrobus in this group. Remaining sampled members of Callitris form a weakly supported clade, with C. macleayana (F.Muell.) F.Muell. sister to a highly robust core Callitris. Relationships within this core Callitris are unresolved; however, the following seven lineages are supported: C. rhomboidea R.Br. ex Rich.; C. muelleri (Parl.) F.Muell., C. oblonga Rich. and C. endlicheri (Parl.) F.M. Bailey; C. gracilis R.T. Baker, C. glaucophylla Thompson & Johnson and C. tuberculata R.Br. ex R.T. Baker & Smith; C. intratropica Baker & Smith; and C. columellaris F.Muell. There has been a marked increase in the rate of divergence of ITS sequences during the evolution of those populations assigned to C. intratropica, which perhaps reflects speciation processes within this widely distributed group.
Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Plant Ecology, Molecular Systematics, Plant Biology, and 19 moreTaxonomy, Ecology, Morphology, Systematics, Plant Morphology, Plant Taxonomy, Conifers, Phylogeny, Scientific, Educational, Lichen, Plant, Plant genetics, Systematic botany, Vascular, Callitris, Cupressaceae, Evolution of Conifers, and Australian conifers
Research Interests:
LeBard , R., Pye, M., & Quinnell, R. (2019). Assessing First Year Biology Students’ Maths Attitudes: Does HSC Maths Foster Confidence? Proceedings Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Sydney and... more
LeBard , R., Pye, M., & Quinnell, R. (2019). Assessing First Year Biology Students’ Maths Attitudes: Does HSC Maths Foster Confidence? Proceedings Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. 2 - 4 October p 62 ISBN: 978-0-9871834-8-4
KEYWORDS: biology, biomaths, mathematics confidence
BACKGROUND
From 2019, science students at the University of Sydney will be required to have high school mathematics. Our research has highlighted biology students lack confidence in mathematics (e.g. Quinnell & Wong, 2007; Quinnell, Thompson & LeBard, 2013; LeBard, Thompson & Quinnell, 2014) and this lack of confidence can be associated with anxiety. We are interested in whether the new HSC maths requirement will impact biology students’ attitudes to, and conceptions of, mathematics, particularly mathematics confidence. Here we offer an early assessment using current data.
APPROACHES
We surveyed first year biology students in 2015 and 2018 using the Attitudes to Mathematics survey instrument (modified from Fennema and Sherman, Doepken et al; confidence n=12, usefulness n=12), would recommend maths to others (Wismath & Worrall, 2015; n=2), conceptions of Biology (Quinnell, May, Peat & Taylor, 2005; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10), and conceptions of mathematics (Crawford, Gordon, Nicholas & Prosser, 1998; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10). Statistical analysis investigated ATAR (or equivalent), performance in first year biology, and median scores for attitudes to mathematics.
FINDINGS
The mathematics confidence of first year biology students with or without HSC maths, were not significantly different; noting 6.7% of the 2015 cohort and 2.8% of the 2018 cohort did not have HSC maths.
FUTURE
We argue that requiring mathematics is unlikely to lead to improved students’ attitudes to mathematics as building numeric confidence strategies that sit beyond simply ‘learning maths’.
KEYWORDS: biology, biomaths, mathematics confidence
BACKGROUND
From 2019, science students at the University of Sydney will be required to have high school mathematics. Our research has highlighted biology students lack confidence in mathematics (e.g. Quinnell & Wong, 2007; Quinnell, Thompson & LeBard, 2013; LeBard, Thompson & Quinnell, 2014) and this lack of confidence can be associated with anxiety. We are interested in whether the new HSC maths requirement will impact biology students’ attitudes to, and conceptions of, mathematics, particularly mathematics confidence. Here we offer an early assessment using current data.
APPROACHES
We surveyed first year biology students in 2015 and 2018 using the Attitudes to Mathematics survey instrument (modified from Fennema and Sherman, Doepken et al; confidence n=12, usefulness n=12), would recommend maths to others (Wismath & Worrall, 2015; n=2), conceptions of Biology (Quinnell, May, Peat & Taylor, 2005; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10), and conceptions of mathematics (Crawford, Gordon, Nicholas & Prosser, 1998; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10). Statistical analysis investigated ATAR (or equivalent), performance in first year biology, and median scores for attitudes to mathematics.
FINDINGS
The mathematics confidence of first year biology students with or without HSC maths, were not significantly different; noting 6.7% of the 2015 cohort and 2.8% of the 2018 cohort did not have HSC maths.
FUTURE
We argue that requiring mathematics is unlikely to lead to improved students’ attitudes to mathematics as building numeric confidence strategies that sit beyond simply ‘learning maths’.