To celebrate the commencement of the first round of the ANU Strategic Learning and Teaching Grants, grant recipients and selection committee members gathered with the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) staff at Llewellyn Hall on 18 October, 2023 for the official launch of the program.
The Australian Government’s National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund (NPILF) backed the first phase of the Grants, which were awarded to 28 teams across ANU. The teams, consisting of over 100 academics and professional staff, were granted funds totalling approximately $880,000 to accelerate renewal and innovation in learning and teaching across the university, in accordance with the ANU Learning & Teaching Strategy.
The projects are both wide-ranging and ambitious, from the Great Writers Festival (read Claire Hansen’s article on the CLT blog) to educational escape rooms, and to the holistic redesign of first-year mathematics. They touch on a number of high-priority areas for the university, including supporting the ANU Graduate Attributes, boosting industry engagement, and enhancing the quality and real-world relevance of assessments.
Wednesday’s event, which was opened with a speech by Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Digital) Maryanne Dever, was focused on giving the newly minted grantees a chance to connect with each other, cross-pollinate ideas, and start building a community of practice reaching across school and college boundaries.
“It’s really interesting to see the diversity of the grant applications, but also how they all can be seen to integrate,” said grantee Dr Sarah Jane Burton. “I think we’ve all got the same motivations in that we do want to innovate and create a strong learning and teaching environment at ANU.”
While the event was the first opportunity for the teams to connect with each other, it certainly won’t be the last. CLT, which ran Wednesday’s event, encouraged the teams to continue to collaborate and share knowledge over the course of the grants.
The second phase of grants are scheduled to open to applications in early 2024.
More information about the grants, including a complete list of all Phase 1 recipients, can be found on the ANU Strategic Learning and Teaching Grants website.
Rhys Fenwick is an Education Designer from the ANU Centre for Learning and Teaching.
