Submissions were due Wednesday 25th Sept 11:59 pm AEST.
People who have submitted proposals will be contacted in the next two weeks (by 10 October 2024) and we aim to have the program available by late October.
Slowposium formats
The Slowposium will involve sharing some kind of resource tied to a Third space theme which people can asynchronously access in our Slowposium Moodle site and add their thoughts to in a discussion forum or by other means. (If you have an idea outside of this, please let us know). The Slowposium is aimed for anyone working in any area of the tertiary education third space. These will be grouped by theme and new resources and activities will be released daily.
If you would like to see how we envision the Slowposium working, visit our Slowposium exemplar (Access as a guest – this is view only)
These could include:
- Recording of a presentation / podcast / discussion
- Article / Blog post / Other writing for discussion, feedback or community annotation
- Creative piece – images, video, songs, poetry etc with a third space theme
- Interactive multimedia – e.g. H5P activity, Twine interactive story, etc
- Something making use of Moodle tools or plugins
- (or other)
Symposium formats
The Third Space Symposium (Sun Dec 1) will take a slightly more conventional approach, with presentation and discussion type activities in the morning and some practical sessions in the afternoon. The symposium is focussed specifically on people working to enable teaching in roles such as learning designer, educational technologist and academic developer (and similar).
These could include:
- Short presentations (10-15 mins)
- Pecha Kucha presentations (20 slides x 20 seconds)
- Discussion activities
- Other format of your choosing
Themes
Working in the Third Space in tertiary education is shaped by a diverse range of factors. We are keen to include contributions covering all facets of the third space experience. These are some possible topics but we are open to others.
Roles and relationships
- What are third space roles and what do they do?
- What are our professional and ethical values?
- How can we expand understanding and valuing of these roles?
- Working together better within and across teams
- Working together better between central and faculty
- Working together better between roles
- Working together better with academics, leaders and others
- Social Capital and Relationship Building (McIntosh and Nutt)
- Collaboration – Collaborative Capital (Veles)
- Understanding Academics
- Getting on the same page as institutional management
- Identity Plasticity (Veles) – taking different shapes based on context
- What is a Third Space Identity? Are we fluid by Definition?
- Why are Educational Technologists so invisible?
- Differences between working in an academic or a professional role
- Is it possible to agree on consistent titles for roles? What are they?
Contributions of Third Space practitioners
- Third space practitioners in research
- Ability to participate in the wider L&T Third Space community
- Getting a seat at the table – Contributing to decision making
- Contestation, Reconciliation, Reconstruction & Transformation – changing higher education
- Measuring our contribution to learning & teaching to demonstrate value
Wellbeing and working conditions for Third Space practitioners
- Self-care and avoiding burnout
- Creating a supportive community
- Working with organisational structures and change
- Academic belonging in the Third Space – is it a ‘step down’?
- Differences between working in small and large institutions
- Lessons from working in different sectors – VET, Corporate, HE, Schools
- What different theories tell us about living and working in the third space
Professional and Career Development
- New options for Career Progression and Pathway (Sustainable careers – Veles)
- Developing Third Space Practitioners – Formal and Informal Training and Resources
- Showing your value: demonstrating expertise
- Developing confidence in your competence
- Recognition and Rewards
- Professionalisation and Accreditation – pros and cons
- Is writing in/for the Third Space different?
Overcoming challenges and effecting change
- Balancing Academic Freedom and Meaningful Change
- The Hierarchy of Knowledge: Content/Discipline, Pedagogical and Technological
- Enabling Research Collaborations in the third space
- Building resource collections
- Establishing Legitimacy
- Practical strategies for affecting change in organisations
- Options for professionalisation
- Working with organisations in the sector (e.g. NTEU)