Keeping up to date in higher education

Posted on by

Some recent events have had me reflecting on how we, as academics, and future academics who are PhD students, can keep up to date in higher education. Those recent events were a full day of training on leadership with Amanda Phillips from APA Training, and interviewing candidates for a position at my university.

You might think – I’m so busy – I don’t have time to attend a teaching and learning event, or read up about what is happening in the university system right now. But remember, these activities are an investment in your skills as a higher education professional / academic.

Why invest? The market for jobs in higher education right now is extremely competitive. It isn’t going to be enough to have great teaching evaluation scores and strong publications. Selection (and promotion) criteria are seeking candidates who are continuously improving and evaluating their teaching practices, demonstrating leadership within their past roles (and you can demonstrate leadership, even as a casual tutor!) and have a strategy to publish in high quality academic journals.

As an accountant and auditor – I keep up to date by receiving newsletters from industry bodies (such as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and CPA Australia) and also reading the business press..

As a higher education professional, I need to be aware of key events happening in the industry of higher education, developments in research and innovations in teaching and learning. Most doctoral candidates and academics are very solid at keeping up to date with what is happening in their research discipline – but less so the higher education industry and more specifically teaching and learning.

Keep up to date on what is happening in higher education with:

  • Campus Morning Mail – a daily newsletter by former journalist Stephen Matchett – I read this every morning with my cup of tea. I used to like Campus Review, but it is now behind a paywall – some universities may have access.
  • Follow Julie Hare on Twitter or LinkedIn – Julie is the Financial Review’s education editor and always has great pieces on what is going on.
  • In terms of conferences – the AFR hosts a Higher Education Summit – however, it is VERY expensive – I’ve only attended once when I was given a complimentary ticket – but it was very good. Prof Sally Kift hosted the Needed Now conferences in 2020 and 2021 – they were excellent and reasonably priced at $200 for 3 days. Hopefully she continues the conference in 2022.

Keep up to date on what is happening in teaching and learning with:

  • Again – Campus Morning Mail – it covers not only policy, but also critical teaching issues and innovations
  • ASCILITE – many universities in Australasia are institutional members to ASCILITE which means you get free membership as a staff member or doctoral student! My university doesn’t have an institutional membership, but at $150 a year – I easily get that value back in terms of webinars on learning analytics, business education, transforming assessment, digital equity etc. There are many special interest groups that are free to join and host webinars every 6-8 weeks.
  • Teaching and Learning Toolbox – curated by 2 accounting academics from the US who are innovators in education technology
  • Your university’s teaching and learning central unit blog – at UTS it is the LX (Learning eXperience) newsletter that has regular webinars and blog posts. Don’t be shy to subscribe to blogs from other universities either – my favourites are:
  • CRADLE and Melb CSHE run a lot of fantastic free webinars as well – they are Australia’s powerhouses in research into teaching, learning and higher education policy
  • Your university and/or faculty will host teaching and learning showcase events – being a regular attendee helps you see what else is happening across your university. I’ve been inspired by practices in Science, Engineering, Nursing!

What resources or newsletters do you follow to keep up to date? I’d love to find out about them – please let me know in the comments!