Te Komiti Ako|
Learning and Teaching Committee
NGĀ ĀMIKI/MINUTES
Rā Date:
Friday, 30 June 2023
Wā Time:
10.00 am
Wāhi Venue:
Council Chamber Level 6 Matariki and via Zoom
Tangata i tae mai
Professor C Moran (Chair), S 9(2)(a) OIA
Present:
Tangata i tae mai
S 9(2)(a) OIA
In Attendance:
Whakapāha
S 9(2)(a) OIA
Apologies:
Welcome: The Chair welcomed S 9(2)(a) OIA to the committee as the new Secretary, as well as
welcoming S 9(2)(a)
on behalf ofS 9(2)(a) OIA
, S 9(2)(a) on behalf of S
,
S 9(2)(a) OIA
on behalf of S 9(2)(a) OIA , and
S 9(2)(a)
on behalf of
9(S
.
9(2
1.
Minutes of the previous meeting
Moved by the Chair:
That the minutes of the LTC meeting held on 28 April are a true and accurate record.
Carried
2.
Matters Arising
(i)
S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
S 9(2)(a) OIA
noted that there were concerns about AI Chatbot Support in LEARN at the
Business School LTC. In particular, staff were concerned that students’ engagement with course
outlines and lecturers/course coordinators may be lost, and that students may not understand that
they are actually speaking with AI. S 9(2)(a)
noted that there are discussions ongoing related
to the use of AI as one layer of the libr
ary chat service, AskLive, using a limited and clearly
delineated set of resources. Kā Waimaero has been involved in discussions around making the
chatbot capable of speaking multiple languages, and what a ‘persona’ for the chatbot could look
like.
S 9(2)(a) OIA and S 9(2)(a) noted that AI Chatbot support is still being explored S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
Professor Moran noted that any elements of AI related to teaching and
learning at the University would return to the committee.
3.
Chair’s Report
(i)
Academic audit
The Chair noted that the academic audit will be held over the 10th-12th July; this timing during
the break between semesters means that many people will be away, so the team are grateful to
those who will be able to be involved in meeting with the audit panel. S 9(2)(a) has put together
questions for a briefing and a separate debriefing for those who are schedul
ed to meet the audit
panel; this briefing will be Friday 7th July, with the debriefing on Monday 10th July. Wednesday,
12th July will be the call-back day, when they may ask to speak again with those they have
interviewed already. There will be no visits or tours.
(ii)
Teaching Quality Metrics Working Group
The Chair noted that the Teaching Quality Metrics Working Group had developed changes to the
ways in which teaching quality contributes to promotions. Two workshops have already been
held on this to help staff understand the changes. The first workshop was recorded and is publicly
available: https://echo360.net.au/public/media/90b87992-fec2-42eb-95cc-2fb634306e2d. The
promotions panel has also received support to ensure that they understand how to interpret these
new metrics and the responses to them.
4.
Faculty Learning and Teaching Plans – Update from Members
S 9(2)(a) OIA reported that the proposed Faculty of Science Learning and Teaching Plan has
been sent to Schools for consultation, in particular about what is important to them. Some
concerns have been raised regarding international benchmarking. S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
Kā Waimaero and the Pacific
Development Team are engaged in this across the university and welcome conversations with
faculties about their Learning and Teaching Plans, not only aimed at recruitment and retention of
students, but also the completion of their qualifications.
S 9(2)(a) OIA reported that the Business School has completed their Learning and Teaching
Plan. Additional roles will be sought (including for an administrator), especially for supporting
100-level students, because their S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
A full-day workshop has been held (29/06/23) looking at the five core courses of the BCom
and work is ongoing regarding support for integrated lectures across these core courses, and using
a single case study as a teaching tool across all five courses.
S 9(2)(a) OIA
reported that the Faculty of Arts Learning and Teaching Plan is
proceeding well, and will be sent to the committee for further discussion in August. Faculty of
Arts Kaiārahi have offered useful support. There are particular concerns about how frequently
academic skills need to be taught because students are not sufficiently prepared for university.
Teaching academic skills in all classes is not an efficient use of time, so it would be better to find
other ways to ensure that all students are well-prepared for their studies.
S 9(2)(a) OIA
reported that the Faculty of Engineering has completed a ‘Version 0 draft’ in
spreadsheet form, using five categories reworked from the four categories of the Learning and
Teaching Framework, as well as a category looking at the creation and enhancement of more
equitable learning and teaching environments. Feedback is currently being sought from Schools
and Departments, and the Faculty hopes to report back to the committee in more depth in August.
5.
Lecture Recording Policy
Dr James introduced the request for feedback on the draft Lecture Recording Policy, noting that
a draft had initially been sent out during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, but this has
now been reworked based on conversations with the UC Audio-Visual team and Future Learning
and Development. The aim of discussions about this now is to look at what additional
functionality will be required (e.g. the ability to mute/pause, which components of lectures should
be recorded, and when a recording is released) so that this can be developed and incorporated into
the policy sooner rather than later. Some feedback from S 9(2)(a) OIA
and
S 9(2)(a)
was sent toS 9(2)(a) directly.
OIA
S 9(2)(a) OIA noted that staff at the Business School are becoming more comfortable with the
idea of recorded lectures. The general preference from the Business School would be for a pause
button rather than a mute button, provided that a clear indicator that a recording was in progress
was also incorporated. Staff also noted that ending a pause automatically might cause issues
(because they wouldn’t necessarily know exactly how long the pause would be needed) and that
the Business School preference would be to record lecture slides and audio with a small corner
shot of the lecturer. A delay in releasing the recording is necessary to ensure that any issues with
it can be dealt with, but this does not need to be long – an hour or two should generally be enough,
with the potential for a lecturer to delay it longer if required. Based on current numbers in the
Business School, the use of lecture recordings for linked lecture theatres will be needed.
S 9(2)(a) OIA
noted that in feedback from the Faculty of Engineering, the preference was for
both a mute button and a pause button, but if only one option is available it should be the mute to
facilitate private conversations with students. The view was expressed strongly that a clear
recording indicator is needed so that everyone in the lecture theatre is aware of when the recording
is in progress, and it would be ideal for students watching online to have an indicator that a
recording has been muted/paused so that they know it isn’t a glitch. The ability to edit after a
lecture would be useful, e.g. through some form of efficient video-editing software. It was also
recommended that an auto-reset of the lecture recording system be included at five minutes after
the end of each lecture and before the next lecture (allowing for block lectures). Three separate
recording streams would be ideal – the screens with lecture slides, the audio, and the entire room,
and it would be useful to have a tool that allows lecturers more control over what is or isn’t being
captured, such as the ability to turn off elements of a capture in advance of a lecture. S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
It was also noted that Echo-360 has a number of capabilities that staff don’t
use – it could be helpful to offer workshops on how to use the current system better.
S 9(2)(a) OIA
noted that the capacity to mute lecture recordings is particularly important for
the Faculty of Law given that some aspects of lecture content and discussions are particularly
sensitive, and that an automatic delay in releasing a recording must be included to allow this
sensitive information to be managed retrospectively. S 9(2)(g)(i) OIA
S 9(2)(a) OIA noted that the Faculty of Science also have concerns about engagement, but not
having recordings would not necessarily be a ‘magic bullet’ to improve engagement. The Faculty
of Science primarily only requires a mute capability after lectures, not mid-lecture. The most
important streams would be for lecture slides, a document camera, and a room camera in addition
to audio, and adjusting these different streams is currently quite convoluted. Lecture capture in
first year classes is particularly important because of their large size.
In reference to the discussion about streaming, S 9(2)(a) noted that linked lecture theatres have
been used both at UC and at other universities, and
that it is extremely important that another
member of teaching staff is in the second room to ensure the space is viable for learning. Several
members expressed that these must be managed effectively, and that the proximity of lecture
theatres must be considered as a factor in the choice of spill-over rooms to ensure that students
weren’t rushing across the university to find a space. The Chair suggested that further discussions
with academic representatives from each faculty who are involved in teaching large classes might
be worthwhile.
S 9(2)(a) OIA
noted that the Faculty of Arts hasn’t yet had the chance to fully
consult about the draft policy, but that preferences for either a mute or a pause button would likely
be split down the faculty. The inclusion of cameras for the full classroom, the whiteboard, and
the lecturer would depend on course. An automatic delay on releasing a recording would
absolutely be necessary, and the ability to choose whether or not a lecture was livestreamed would
also be preferred.
S 9(2)(a) thanked the committee for their feedback; S left the meeting.
6.
Bicultural Graduate Attribute Review
S 9(2)(a) introduced the review of the graduate attribute of Bicultural Competency and
Conf
idence, noting that this is just the first step of a general review of the graduate attributes by
the University. There have been ongoing discussions about this, including around how the
attribute might be incorporated into learning outcomes and assessment.
Drawing on the recent establishment of Pou Whakarae and UC’s unique status as a Te Tiriti led
institution, the proposed graduate attribute is ‘Te Tiriti Partnership’, with the goal of providing
students with the background knowledge to allow them to engage with Te Tiriti in NZ society.
Same of the original kaupapa of BiCC are still included, but they have been merged into five new
kaupapa, with the application of these kaupapa to a student’s own discipline sitting at the
postgraduate level.
There was discussion among members that the new framework offered a more specific and
targeted graduate attribute. This could be beneficial in some ways, but some aspects of the current
attribute may not have been fully incorporated (e.g. the fifth kaupapa of BiCC) and it could also
make it harder to incorporate the attribute into courses across the University. Faculties may need
additional support to implement it, and/or separate courses or modules may be needed specifically
on the kaupapa of this graduate attribute S 9(2)(b)(ii) OIA
S noted that these types of additional courses could be very valuable, but feedback was received
approximately a decade ago that they can be difficult to incorporate into degrees with very
prescribed structures (such as Engineering and Teacher Education). The topic of these additional
cour
ses/modules may get a better reception in the current environment. Some courses have
incorporated elements of these kaupapa already, but it is generally felt that it is better not to ‘force
the
fit’ into courses where it isn’t suitable.
There was also discussion about how best to ensure that international postgraduate students are
supported in learning the material needed to allow them to not only learn the kaupapa of this
attribute, but also learn how it can be applied to their own disciplines.
S 9(2)(a) noted that the next step would be to head out to faculties, and thanked the committee
for the
ir feedback.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 11:35am.
Professor C Moran (Chair)………………………….. Date…………………
