Tabo newsletter december

Liberamente Student News | Issue 12 2013

Vocation Education & Training Graduation Ceremony In This Issue: Learning & Teaching Seminar Service of Lessons & Carols Creative Writing Program Portside Christian College - Tabor High Acheivement Award

Congratulations to Vocational Education & Training students Georgia, Mary and Adam who were awarded their Certificate III in Community Services work in a small ceremony on Thursday 21st November 2013. Tabor Adelaide Principal, Don Owers presented the graduates with their certificates.

Community Service Workers provide day-to-day support as well as emotional and practical assistance to a range of people in community settings. Students gained a range of communication skills, and knowledge of the community sector. On a more personal level, many said they also gained self-confidence.

Tabor wishes you all the best in your future endeavours.

Key dates to remember!

Remember to make note of the following dates:

10th - 14th February 2014

Orientation Week

17th February 2014

Semester 1 Commences

Ministry, Theology & Culture Information Evening On Wednesday 27th of November 2013 the school of Ministry, Theology & Culture hosted their annual information evening. The information evening provided prospective students with another opportunity to find out more about the range of courses on offer. Staff and current students were on hand for a friendly chat about pathway options.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about faith, the bible, intercultural life & work, or have an interest in TESOL – 2014 enrolments are still open.

02 | Liberamente. “freely, with liberty” Tabor Tertiary Learning and Teaching Seminar On Monday 18 November 2013 the Tabor academics gathered for the day with visitors from other Adelaide universities and interstate to hear presentations by Professor Royce Sadler, Dr Juhani Tuovinen and Rev Dr Graham Buxton and to discuss how some of the recent insights presented could be applied at Tabor Adelaide.

Professor Sadler is an international authority on assessment and so the overall theme of the Tertiary Learning and Teaching Seminar was assessment at tertiary level. He presented two sessions: Formative assessment – how assessment can be used to improve learning, and Achievement standards, grades and grading. Dr Tuovinen also contributed to the assessment theme of the seminar by presenting the consolidated report on benchmarking assessment moderation from the interviews from four private higher education colleges: Tabor Adelaide, Tabor Victoria, Avondale College and Christian Heritage College entitled Report on the Analysis of the Benchmarking of Assessment Moderation Project Interview Questions. Dr Buxton broadened the conversation of the day by presenting thoughts on the interplay of research and teaching at Tabor Adelaide. His topic was: Research-Led Teaching.

Left-to-right: Professor Royce Sadler; Dr Juhani Tuovinen; Rev Dr Graham Buxton On the value of assessment feedback for learning Professor Sadler says in one of the articles referenced in his talk: Feedback is generally considered an indispensable element in helping students become competent at complex tasks. At the same time, teachers at many levels of education typically feel frustrated by the modest impact their feedback seems to have in improving student learning. In this presentation, it is argued that the status of feedback in the learning process needs to be reviewed – downwards by one or two notches. Clearly, students must be progressively equipped to take control of their own learning and performance. An alternative way forward begins with a close examination of the conditions under which students can become better at monitoring the emerging quality of their work during the production process. This requires a reworking of teacher learner interactions, which not only challenges the dominant feedback based paradigm, but also has better prospects of developing independence in learning.

03 | Liberamente. “freely, with liberty” Tabor Tertiary Learning and Teaching Seminar He also critiqued the standards-based approach to academic quality due to the imprecision of valuebased judgements throughout the whole process of educational assessment and evaluation. He introduced one of the research articles he has written on this topic as follows: The course (module) grades entered on higher education academic records (transcripts) purportedly represent substantive levels of student achievement. They are often taken at face value and accepted as comparable across courses. Research undertaken over several decades has shown that the underlying standards against which student works are appraised are poorly understood and can vary widely from assessor to assessor. At the same time, it is commonly held that academic judgements should be respected and form the basis of any quality assurance scheme. This article is about some of the conceptual foundations relevant to a particular approach to assuring academic achievement standards. The final concept discussed is that of ‘calibrated’ academics who are able to make grading judgements consistent with those which similarly calibrated colleagues would make, but without constant engagement in moderation. The overall aims are to achieve comparability of standards across institutions and stability of standards over time.

The presentations by Dr Tuovinen and Dr Buxton are available directly from them (jtuovinen@adelaide. tabor.edu.au and gbuxton@adelaide.tabor.edu.au ). We benefitted significantly from having such high quality material presented at Tabor, which was also of esteemed value to academics from Adelaide and beyond. Many also found it valuable to discuss the implications of the presented information to their own practice.

Service of Lessons & Carols On Monday 11th November 2013, the Tabor Chapel lit up as the school of Humanities & Social Sciences hosted a Service of Lessons and Carols. The lessons were read by Tabor staff and students, and the carols were led by our music lecturer, Virginia Lakeman and her talented student Chorale.

Thank you to all those who particpated - the event was well attended and enjoyed by all. What a special way to start the advent season!

We at Tabor Adelaide would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

06 | Liberamenté. “freely, with liberty” Portside Christian College - High Acheivement Award Tabor Adelaide and Portside Christian College share a Christian ethos and core values regarding education and learning. As such, Tabor presents one worthy candidate from Portside with the Tabor High Achievement Award. The chosen candidate must exemplify academic excellence and a positive approach to learning – qualities promoted by Tabor. This year, Olivia Franov received the award presented by Tabor Principal, Don Owers. Tabor would like to congratulate Olivia on winning the award and wish her every future success.

181 Goodwood Rd Millswood SA 5034 PO Box 1777 Unley SA 5061 tel. +61 8 8373 8777 fax. +61 8 8373 1766 www.taboradelaide.edu.au

Tertiary education with a Christian perspective.

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ENROLMENTS

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Tabor Adelaide, located in South Australia, is a multi denominational Christian Education Centre offering government accredited courses at a tertiary level.

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www.taboradelaide.edu.au