Sessional Staff Professional Development

The inaugural School-wide Sessional Staff Professional Development workshop was held on Monday 19th February

Sessional staff play a pivotal role in successful student instruction in practical classes and tutorials within the University; so, with this in mind, the inaugural School-wide Sessional Staff Professional Development workshop was held on Monday February 19^th.

Taking part in the workshop were 47 sessional staff from the Departments of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Physiology, Microbiology & Immunology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Pathology, along with key academic staff responsible for delivering many of the practical and tutorial classes across the School.

The workshop covered five main topics: ‘Teaching and Learning in a practical setting’, ‘What is the role/expectation of a tutor/demonstrator?’, ‘Effective questioning techniques’, ‘Marking & Assessment: Don’t make me get out my red pen!’, and ‘Providing Feedback’.  Participants were also required to step outside their comfort zone and share their experiences in fun and informative ‘think-pair-share’ activities.  Fuelled with a delicious morning tea – gratefully provided by the School – seasoned sessional demonstrators swapped important pieces of advice with those new to their demonstrating or tutoring role.

We look forward to developing additional modules, informed by feedback from attendees, to extend the discussion about practical teaching concepts in future iterations.

Those who were involved in organising and running the workshop were Dr Amber Willems-Jones, Dr Angelina Fong, Dr Rosa McCarty, Ms Iza Orval, Ms Helen Cain, A/Prof Odilia Wijburg, Dr Jiangli Tan, Ms Nicole Kountouri, Dr Jessica Welch, Ms Louise Adams, Ms Wenjing (Angela) Hu and Dr Karena Waller.