Within our schools, mid-year check-in for staff’s PPDR progress is underway. It is also a great time to check on your scholarly activity goals. As outlined in the CSU Guidance Note on Scholarly Activity in the process of “doing” your scholarly activity, ensure you are checking progress, documenting changes and observing how it is improving or impacting on your teaching and learning practice.
Show and tell
I thought in this post, I could share how I have been documenting my own Scholarly Activity journey this year. In January 2025, the Organisational Development team at CSU sent out a 15-day New Year Challenge. It was made up of 5-10 minute micro-learnings based on Linkedin Learning videos. I had not been very active in engaging with asynchronous professional development, so I thought I would add this activity to learn about incorporating micro-learning into my practice. Read about my experience here.
In the same blog space (VIBE Artefacts) I have returned to my undergraduate roots of creative writing. In 2023, I entered the Western Australia short story of the year competition. I did not win, however, what I found was a rediscovered outlet for sparking my creativity. I bravely share with you the story I submitted here. What this helped with was stepping out of my normal work task. I was able to clear my mind and that allowed opportunities for new thoughts and ideas to formulate which by the way I was able to apply to challenges I had to work on in my CSU role.
Talking about generating ideas. Get inspired | Watch Kirby Ferguson’s “Get Ideas in 4 Steps” video [running time 11 mins 38 secs]
Moving towards Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
I am celebrating the publication of Prof Yeslam Al-saggaf and my chapter in the edited book Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education. Our chapter, “Reimagining the sage-guide dichotomy: A life-long learner’s story of teaching and learning in higher education” was a slow but growing conversation between Yeslam’s teaching practice and learning design. We initially had casual conversations about how his changing teaching practice impacted on his teaching experience and his students’ learning experience; which then developed into a submission to the CSU “Change one thing” award in 2023, where we were one of the successful recipients; and finally we found an opportunity to share our practice for feedback with peers across the globe with our book chapter, which embodies the goal of SoTL. So wherever you are at, the journey can begin.
Start your journey
Why not share your stories with our faculty community. Please consider participating and attending the Faculty L&T Symposium (online | 2 & 3 September 2025).
