Event information
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Ako Victoria is a one-day learning and teaching event in Wellington. It’s hosted twice a year by Victoria’s Centre for Academic Development.
Ako Victoria events bring University staff together to talk about learning and teaching, and celebrate successes in the field. They also give staff the opportunity to:
- meet with other academics, managers and support staff committed to improving learning and teaching
- share the outcomes of new learning and teaching research
- share innovations in digital learning and teaching
- highlight good practice in learning and teaching.
Ako Victoria
The Centre for Academic Development invites you to Ako Victoria 2018: Transitions to University Study
Keynote Address: Professor Sally Kift
Entering university study is both exciting and daunting. The complex microcosm of academic, social and cultural life can be confusing and difficult to navigate for a newcomer. For transitions to undergraduate study, challenges include learning to learn – developing independent study skills, understanding assessment requirements and criteria, and managing expectations and competing demands. Students transitioning into postgraduate study often need to reflect on their existing learning approaches, beliefs and practices. The Higher Education literature suggests that students’ experiences during these transitions affect the attitudes and approaches they adopt in their university study.
What would it take to gain a better understanding of these challenges and develop academic, administrative and social means to mitigate them at the institutional and individual levels? Participants in this year’s Ako Victoria conference will work together to answer this question.
Please register at https://vuw.libcal.com/event/4298434
Past events
Ako Victoria 2017 coincided with the launch of Victoria’s Learning and Teaching Strategy, Te Rautaki Maruako. The strategy sets out the learning and teaching values and commitments to which Victoria aspires: Rangatiratanga (leadership and supporting others to become leaders); Manaakitanga (showing respect, generosity and care for others); Kaitiakitanga (protectiveness, looking after others); Whai mātauranga (pursuit of knowledge or wisdom); Whanaungatanga (family or kinship); Akoranga (learning and teaching).
Presenters from across the University described examples of working with these values and after each presentation there were short round table discussions focusing on applying these practices in different Faculty contexts, or with different student cohorts. The presentations at Ako Victoria 2017 covered the following topics:
Whanaungatanga and the civic realm. Victoria University as a civic University that walks the talk
Slack Teaching Practice – outlining a collaboration app that can play a very useful role in the classroom (Akoranga)
Kickstart- improving the first year experience: an initiative undertaken at Victoria Business School (VBS) with the aim to lessen pre-commencement apprehension within the incoming cohort of first year students (Kaitiakitanga)
The value(s) of contextual knowledge: A set of future-focused values underlying the design and delivery of a 200 level course on Sustainable Tourism. (Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga and Whai Mātauranga)
The final session of the day involved learning & teaching leaders from all campuses who shared ideas and generated discussion about putting each of the six values into action. This session included ‘3-minute values’ – a fast and furious summary of Te Rautaki Maruako’s Learning and Teaching Values in Action, followed by roundtables and showcase applications.
More information
If you want to know more about Ako Victoria or see material from previous conferences, email cad-contact@vuw.ac.nz.