Professor Ian Macdonald
Consultancies:
Thai-Australian Science and Engineering Assistance Project (TASEAP).This AusAid funded project took selected Australian Academics, each expert in their field, to Thailand to help develop the teaching of Science and Engineering in Thai universities. This project was very well received by the Thai academics, resulting in many further collaborations, return visits independent of TASEAP, and hosted visits of Thai academics to Swinburne.
As the Short Term Advisor on Science Teaching Methods I spent a total of 7 months spread over 2 years in Thailand running:
"Science Teaching Methods"
- seminars and workshops in Jan-Feb 1998,
- seminars and workshops in August/September 1998
- follow up visits, seminars and workshops in January/February 1999 and
- further follow up programs, seminars and workshops in June/July 1999
At the request of, and in collaboration with, other specialist area Advisors I also developed and team taught:
"Physics Curriculum Development" workshops with Dr Tom Edwards during Jan-Feb 1998;
"Analytical Chemistry Curriculum Development" workshops with Dr Ron Beckett in April 1998;
"Computer Degrees Curriculum Development" workshops with Ms Dianne Hagan in November /December 1999.
An important development of this work has been to encourage university Science staff to engage in action research on their own Science teaching.
"Review of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology (FCIT)"
In collaboration with Dr Ian Mitchell and funded by the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Monash (approximately $100,000). During 1994-95 we undertook a review of the teaching and learning in the Faculty and made recommendations about ongoing structures that could be set up to improve current practice. This led to the collaborative project "Exploring Learning and Teaching in Undergraduate Programming Courses" with staff of the Programming subjects in two departments on two campuses during 1996-97. This is also an ongoing active collaborative research issue.
The intervention has already produced dramatic improvements in students' outcomes, tutoring staff morale and commitment, and the quality of teaching. Ms Angela Carbone (the Computer Science collaborator) has since gone on to become Australian University Lecturer of the Year.
A Computing Education Research Group (CERG) has subsequently been formed in the faculty to continue the work, with input from Dr Mitchell and myself.
"Taking Control of Learning (TaCOL) Program."
A development of the research I conducted for my Ph.D., this program is a 20 week intervention for senior secondary students to develop their independent learning skills within an ordinary school framework.
This program ran at Wesley College in Melbourne, with the direct support of the Head of the Senior School, for three years, and at King David School in Melbourne for one year, before I became too busy to sustain the extra work. Students and their parents were very positive about the outcomes.
"Creating Teaching and Learning Communities in Psychology".
Victoria University of Technology (VUT) department of Psychology employed me as a consultant to run a project to develop a more collaborative approach to staff professional development in the teaching of Psychology on their St Albans campus in semester one 1998. This is a development of the work I conducted at the FCIT of Monash University, and has proved very successful. A paper describing this project is in the publications list.
On-Line Education Project - Education and Assessment.
As part of my role at Swinburne University, I was an education and assessment consultant to the Swinburne On-Line Education (OLE) Project which aimed to have 50 subjects taught on-line by 2000. I worked collaboratively with staff developing on-line subjects to maximise good learning and assessment methods.
"Project to Improve Retention and Progression Rates in First Year Engineering and Science at Swinburne University":
This project involved the collection of data about the transition issues experienced by first year Engineering students, and the development of recommendations to improve the first year experience. I was employed by Swinburne to design and conduct questionnaire and focus group data collection, compile the data and assist in its interpretation by the university Working Party (WP). The final WP report received strong support from the university and wide interest beyond, and led to the First Year Engineering project.
Review of the Mag-Net Virtual Science and Technology Centre.
A team of Monash University academics, of which I was a member, researched the operation of the Mag-Net Centre (a state-wide Internet based Science and Technology centre for Primary and Secondary Schools) and reported to the Directorate of School Education.
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