Susan Rowland
Susan Rowland is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Her work focuses on the development of professionalism and self-efficacy in undergraduate science students through authentic learning experiences and contact with professional practice. Susan has a particular interest in undergraduate research experiences and science communication. As a Biochemist who moved into Science Education she also gives back by working with colleagues in the sciences to develop their Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Address: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Bld 76-404
UQ St Lucia, QLD, 4072
Address: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Bld 76-404
UQ St Lucia, QLD, 4072
less
Interests
Uploads
Papers by Susan Rowland
What research question will my students investigate
What makes this ALURE authentic
What do I want students to learn? How will I assess them?
What equipment, training, and resources might I need?
Why am I implementing this ALURE?
What outcomes will I get and what challenges will I face?
Why would my colleagues be interested in this ALURE?
What challenges might my colleagues encounter?
How will I recruit students to ALURE and who do I want to recruit?
What are the learning objectives for these students? Is the ALURE activity appropriate?
What support is needed for students as they experience additional cognitive load and responsibility during the ALURE?
How will I source, train, and support appropriate teaching assistants for the ALURE?
Who are the stakeholders who will want to know about this ALURE?
For what purpose will they use the data?
What data will they need?
How will I collect and analyse it?
on innovative laboratory teaching programs, which
features three articles from Australia. As many of our
readers may not be familiar with the Australian tertiary
education system, I felt it would be helpful to provide
some information about the Australian education landscape
first, before I discuss the articles.
What research question will my students investigate
What makes this ALURE authentic
What do I want students to learn? How will I assess them?
What equipment, training, and resources might I need?
Why am I implementing this ALURE?
What outcomes will I get and what challenges will I face?
Why would my colleagues be interested in this ALURE?
What challenges might my colleagues encounter?
How will I recruit students to ALURE and who do I want to recruit?
What are the learning objectives for these students? Is the ALURE activity appropriate?
What support is needed for students as they experience additional cognitive load and responsibility during the ALURE?
How will I source, train, and support appropriate teaching assistants for the ALURE?
Who are the stakeholders who will want to know about this ALURE?
For what purpose will they use the data?
What data will they need?
How will I collect and analyse it?
on innovative laboratory teaching programs, which
features three articles from Australia. As many of our
readers may not be familiar with the Australian tertiary
education system, I felt it would be helpful to provide
some information about the Australian education landscape
first, before I discuss the articles.
A part of an OLT Leadership Project we have been developing and resourcing academics as they devise and deliver authentic large-scale undergraduate research experiences (ALUREs). During the project, we have gathered information from 4 separate Australian university sites by speaking with academics and support staff who were implementing an ALURE practical. In total 21 implementers in various roles were interviewed about their experience of introducing undergraduate research to their existing courses. The interviews were semi-structured, and inductive analysis was performed on the interview transcripts to analyse the types of challenges the implementers experienced, and the coping strategies they used.
We show that there is a distinct difference in the factors which support or challenge implementers, depending upon the role that they play within the process of running an ALURE practical. Interestingly, our participants placed a the low level of emphasis on the financial and organisational constraints that the literature in the field suggested would be a major challenge. While this finding warrants further investigation as to the cause, one possible explanation is that the ALURE model effectively provides students with an authentic research experience in a way that is sustainable and cost effective for the institution; this may alter the change enabler’s perception of value in a positive way. We will present all of our findings from our different implementers, with an emphasis on the participants’ methods for dealing with complexity and uncertainty during their journey.
The practical laboratory is central to science education, and all undergraduate students will spend considerable time (up to half of their contact hours) in the teaching laboratory. For students who experience well-designed teaching programs, the teaching laboratory can be an exciting place of challenge, discovery, and collaboration. Too often, however, this is not the case. The learning objectives of an ALURE and the method for selecting the research topic allow variation in the amount of independence the students have and the level of creativity they are expected to contribute. Accordingly, a large-scale project in the undergraduate laboratory may allow students more scope to learn and practice varied laboratory skills, to synthesise a question themselves, and perhaps to design their own experimental methods. We submit that research experience for students, before they attempt to enter a professional research laboratory at the late second-, third-, or Honours-year level creates better, more productive students who are more confident working with the complexity and uncertainty associated with research. We will also highlight the additional support needs of students that arise from the additional level of independence and creativity inherent in an ALURE program.
ALURE serves large groups of students - up to 500 at a time. Authenticity is created by giving the students (i) a real research problem and (ii) an audience who care about their results.
There is concern about how ALURE implementers cope with the workload (Spell et al., 2014). We used interviews and transcript analysis to identify factors that support and challenge ALURE implementers.
The writing and production of SURJ is a collaborative process. The presenter (who is Editor in Chief), academic mentors, student mentors, and student authors work together to produce the journal and its contents. We use the journal as a forum for publishing student work, and also as the subject of student research projects in and of itself. The twin processes of producing SURJ and studying its production have taught us a lot about how to run an undergraduate journal. They have also led to a deeper understanding of how and why students write, and the types of support that they need to successfully produce an article of publication quality.
Perhaps the most interesting results of our work are the insights about students’ ability to communicate outside of familiar genres. Many students have excellent ideas for potential contributions, but they find the actual writing of an article difficult and time-consuming. Although some students are naturally articulate and concise writers, most struggle to develop a claim, give reasons why this claim is of interest, and provide evidence to support their arguments. Rather than telling stories that appeal to a general audience, most students fall back on the standard laboratory report format to present their ideas. If they stray from this genre they regularly fail to develop an article that has a key message. Almost all of our writers are unable to articulate why components of their writing are good, and they have no language around how to improve their writing. Interestingly, our best, most confident, and most flexible writers are Arts and Education dual degree students who have actively participated in review and revision processes before they wrote for SURJ. These issues are eerily reminiscent of the typical complaints that academics and employers have about science graduates. Although SURJ is a specialist writing forum, the journal has many messages for educators, as well as for its student writers and audience.
pre-ISSOTL International Symposium will take place on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014 at Quebec City Convention Center. This symposium will focus exploring on how undergraduate research programs can provide individuals and institutions opportunities to nurture creativity and passion in students and faculty. Participants will work with colleagues from other institutions to craft practical strategies related to the following themes:
1. Leveraging innovation, design thinking, and creativity in
undergraduate research;
2. Fostering interdisciplinarity and collaborative scholarship;
3. Ideating transformative learning spaces and structures;
4. Engaging external stakeholders and building partnerships.
The program for the day will include brief keynote addresses, poster sessions, and table discussions. We will conclude with a discussion on how to foster international conversations on undergraduate research.
Hosting staff:
Rowland, S., Green, M., Lawrie, G., Myatt, P., Pedwell, R., Wang, J., Worthy, P., Zimbardi, K.
Background context:
The model of undergraduate research where students undertake a research project over an extended period of time under the supervision of a researcher, has been associated with high levels of student engagement, academic success and a wide range of student benefits. The problem with this model is the numbers of students who can participate; most URE programs in Australia are still aimed at elite students, and in many cases only a small number of students can be accommodated each year. We have developed a model for up-scaling undergraduate research experiences to cohorts of several hundred students. We are now leading a national project in Australia to support the uptake of these Authentic Large-Scale Undergraduate Research Experiences (ALUREs) and provide the benefits of research experiences to thousands of undergraduate students; 2014 is the last year of the project.
The aims of this workshop:
In this workshop we will guide participants through the proces of developing and implementing an Authentic Large-Scale Undergraduate Reseach. Examples of ALUREs from the biosciences (ranging from physiology to molecular biology) will be provided to highlight key components and considerations for ALURE design and implementation. Workshop participants will then engage in the development of their own ALURE using a detailed checklist derived from our extensive experience in supporting faculty in the development, implementation, and evaluation of ALUREs.
After this workshop delegates will be able to return to their host institution with a working plan for the introduction of an ALURE into their undergraduate curriculum. They will be aware of the factors and people who can help them in their implementation, as well as be armed with strategies for identifying and overcoming possible hurdles they may encounter during their ALURE journey.
Timeline of activities:
We will present different ALURE examples in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology, interspersed with discussions on the participants' own ALURE ideas. Each ALURE example will highlight a different feature of the ALURE design and implementation process.
We will also work with attendees to examine methods and strategies for (i) negotiating with stakeholders about ALURE implementation, (ii) demonstrating the value of an ALURE, and (iii) making an ALURE implementation sustainable.
A light lunch and morning or afternoon tea will be served (financed by the team).
In 2012 we published our first edition of UQ SURJ, the University's Science Undergraduate Research Journal. Of our 25 initial applicants, seven authors completed articles, and one completed a photo-essay. In 2013 we are producing two new editions of the journal. The presenter is the Editor in Chief of the journal.
In this workshop we will work from an abbreviated version of the OLT Award Application Guidelines (file attached) to refine your own proposals.
Things don’t always turn out the way you think they will, but following your passion takes you to some very interesting places. In this talk I’ll explain why you should do what you love, and how you can position yourself to make your passion into a career.
a) Examine your personal experiences (including academic history and story).
b) Evaluate your TF Level against the UQ TF criteria.
c) Consider the evidence you have to substantiate your claim.
d) Work on a plan for your academic future.
e) Examine The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning – how to turn your teaching, service, and outreach, into a publication stream.
Those of us in academia who have channelled our energies into teaching are delighted with this development. It means that many committed tertiary teachers can now look forward to a new level of recognition and security. But the acknowledgement of teaching-focused staff as ‘real’ academics at research-intensive Australian universities has created two unforseen problems: research higher-degree (RHD) student supervision, and publication.
• explain what TLO 4: Communication entails by discussing each aspect of TLO 4.1 and elaborating on the meaning and implications of those aspects
• review the literature on scientific communication, from the perspective of both the curriculum designer and the professional science communicator
• compile an annotated bibliography of literature and resources for scientists and science communicators, which will include sources from a variety of media and exemplars of student work within each modality
• provide detailed examples from Australian undergraduate science programs of curriculum design, teaching and assessment tasks that exemplify good practice in promoting science communication skills.
Welcome to the second edition of SURJ@UQ.
In this edition we are showcasing six terrific articles from UQ students, as well as some beautiful photos from John Griffin. We have three biotechnology articles in this issue: Anika Merley discusses the prospects and perils of genetic engineering, Evan Owens examines new treatments for HIV, and Dolyce Low reports on her vampire bat venom research. We have a fascinating piece from Celine Santiago in which she asks “Is sickness all in your mind?”, while Jacinta Kong reveals the secrets of the honours student. Finally, Thisun Piyasena gives us a round-up of some of the most bizarre research papers ever – including an explosive reveal of the pressure generated when a penguin poops.
This edition of SURJ would not have been possible without the help of three dedicated and highly skilled UQ students - Tze Chen Lim, Zac Pross, and Jacinta Bowler.
Chen and Zac completed their honours projects in my group in 2013. They ran and evaluated a peer-mentoring program in which the student authors for SURJ wrote pieces and then helped each other improve. Zac and Chen also personally mentored our student authors and Zac has continued to volunteer as an editor for SURJ through¬out 2014. As a consequence of Zac and Chen’s hard work we now have this edition of SURJ, and another edition well on its way.
Jacinta Bowler is an undergraduate science/journalism student who has done all the page production for this beautiful edition. She has been working on the project throughout 2014 as a School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences Intern, and she will get well-deserved UQ Advantage recognition for it when she graduates. Jacinta will be going to The University of Toronto in 2015 on exchange. We wish her well, but we will miss her miracu¬lous capability with InDesign.
If you are a UQ student and you would like to work on future editions of SURJ as a writer, editor, or designer, let me know ([email protected]). Team SURJ is always keen to welcome new members.
We hope you enjoy this edition!
Susan Rowland