Sessional Staff Teaching and Learning Program

Development Opportunity for New Sessional Academic Staff

The Sessional Staff Teaching and Learning Program aims to orient new sessional staff to learning and teaching at Western; assist them in developing active learning environments with their students and; support staff with using enquiry-oriented methods to frame individual professional development goals as sessional academics. The program runs twice a year during autumn and spring semesters.

What is the Program about?

The Program  is designed to support new sessional academic staff to

• Examine their students' engagement in learning to adapt their approaches to teaching
• Identify strategies to improve responsiveness to culturally diverse learning environments
• Track down some of the different technological platforms available at WSU to support teaching and learning to consider how they might be used to improve the educational experience
• Use research-informed guidelines on effective feedback to reflect on the approaches to assessment within their units
• Locate a variety of sources of feedback on their teaching and their students' learning to inform their work in unit and course teams
• Exchange strategies and sources of support with other academic colleagues

This Program is facilitated through a flipped delivery mode where attendees are required to:

• complete online modules which focus on teaching practice (1 hour)
• attend an interactive, participant-focused, face-to-face workshop (2 hours).

NOTE: Non-completion of the online module activities by the required completion date will result in exclusion from the face-to-face workshop.

Register for Autumn 2020

Key dates

To register for an Autumn 2020 Session please log into MyCareer Online(opens in a new window) (type 'Sessional’ in the search window and select ‘Sessional Staff Learning and Teaching Program’).

Please note, you may be unable to access MyCareer online if your Autumn teaching contract has not been processed. If you are unable to access MyCareer online by the registration close date, please contact Learning Futures for assistance as soon as your contract is processed.

Register your interest for Spring 2020

Workshop Dates: Wednesday 5 August or Thursday 13 August
Time and Location: TBC
Register your interest today(opens in a new window)

Reimbursement: All sessional staff who complete the program can claim three hours' work (one hour’s pay for completing the orientation and independent study modules and two hours pay for attending the face to face session). Details of claiming will be sent to Sessional staff who register and attend the face-to-face workshop. Entitlements for reimbursement are only available for first time participants.

If you have any additional questions about the program, contact Learning Futures.