Workshops

My workshops are probably most of interest to people working in the tertiary education sector. Most workshops were developed with that purpose in mind. However, several of the workshops have broader applications, in particular when it comes to effective communication and the design of effective training and development.

Workshops can be delivered in-person or online, depending on your needs.

Teaching Practices

  • This session is aimed at new tutors and demonstrators without prior teaching experience and covers general teaching techniques, large and small group teaching, creating a positive classroom climate and classroom management, question asking / answering strategies; typical scenarios that tutors / demonstrators may face in their teaching duties and intervention strategies.

    Duration: 2 hours

  • This session is aimed at those who have completed the basic tutor training or experienced tutors. We discuss in more depth topics around the responsibilities of tutoring, engaging students, techniques to make student thinking visible, and creating and maintaining culturally inclusive and safe learning environments.

    Duration: 2 hours

  • This session is aimed at teachers who want to effectively work in large enrolment classes. We discuss methods of engagement, facilitating group discussions, and using meaningful interactive classroom practices.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • This session is aimed at those facilitating discussions, workshops, brainstorm sessions, and the like. We discuss building rapport, ensuring student engagement, making student thinking visible, and classroom management.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • How can we teach topics that are deemed ‘controversial’ in some circles, or topics that elicit strong emotional responses among students, without the learning environment breaking down? In this session, we explore how we can keep the discussion professional and civilised. We explore how to understand and anticipate emotions and behaviours, and pro-actively manage the situation.

    Duration: 90 minutes

  • What are mistakes (beginning) teachers often make in the classroom? Why are they made and what impact do they have on student motivation, engagement, and behaviours? In this session, we explore the most common mistakes I’ve observed in my 15 years as an educational developer, their impacts on the learning environment, and how to avoid them.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • In this session, we unpack how the structure of the New Zealand Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) shapes student expectations of the tertiary learning environment and their study behaviours. We discuss how tertiary educators can help students successfully transition from the secondary to the tertiary learning and assessment environments.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • Good working relationships between supervisors and postgraduate students are critical to success. This workshop supports supervisors and students in managing the supervisory relationship, including expectations and processes, cultural norms and communication, feedback, support and how to manage the research timeline.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • How can we design activities that will engage participants? In this workshop, we explore the psychology of motivation and engagement, and apply this in different (teaching) scenarios.

    Duration: 1 hour

Curriculum and assessment design

  • Formulating good learning outcomes are at the core of curriculum development, and essential to good assessment design and quality assurance. In this workshop, we explore how to (re)write learning outcomes in such a way that they are well operationalised, concrete, and lend themselves well to inform assessment design.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • Rubrics and marking schedules are at the core of valid and reliable assessment design. They provide students and markers with the criteria that constitute good work. In this workshop, we explore how we can write rubrics that will be helpful for students, and can guide markers consistently.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • In this workshop, we work through the ideas behind constructive alignment, the internationally accepted good practice of curriculum design. Constructive alignment has been shown to lead to better designed and structured courses. We explore how to align learning outcomes to assessments and subsequently to teaching and learning activities.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • How can we make assessment more meaningful for students, and more related to the work environment that the students will enter? In this workshop, we explore numerous examples of authentic assessment, and the impacts of these assessments on student motivation and performance.

    Duration: 1 hour

  • The rise of generative artificial intelligence presents the largest challenge to assessment in 25 years. In this workshop, I share examples of how I have supported colleagues with their assessments to a) make the assessments more ‘AI-robust’, b) formulate appropriate use of AI by students, and c) use AI actively as a teaching tool.

    Duration: 1 hour