Planning (more) engaging and effective SGDE in your courses

What is SGDE at the UoA? Principles of the Small Group Discovery Experience: Students are actively engaged with the content and an experienced academic. The Small Group Discovery Experience will enrich the on-campus experience. The scholarship of discovery is central to the learning activities of the University. The first year SGDE sets the foundation for a continuum of the scholarship of discovery. It will be a core component in a credit-bearing course of every undergraduate program. Guidelines of the Small Group Discovery Experience: The SGDE will be led by experienced academics. It will involve an active participation by students. It will be based on a formal collaboration between the students and academic. It will be part of every first year level of any undergraduate program from 2014. The SGDE will involve at least two face-to-face encounters with the academic per course. The size of group will be determined by what will deliver the optimal learning outcomes deemed appropriate by the discipline.  

The ‘cut down’ version Small groups of students will collaborate with academics to actively discover(y) broader and deeper aspects of the core components of their course. The experience will provide students with an authentic co-creation experience with experts in the field, and nurture their research skills from year 1 at the university.

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Nursing SGDE Exemplar 1 Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Nursing 3 sessions using a ‘flipped class’ approach https://youtu.be/6D0ZhwkcSpI Session 1: Online video students watch as their first SGDE session Video featured interviews with ‘experts’ on the SGDE topic https://youtu.be/tPR3M7KcV5g Session 2: f2f session with academics where any misconceptions are clarified Session 3: f2f session where students present their findings and are assessed against a contextualised rubric YouTube Clip 1 presents the overview of the entire SGDE experience YouTube clip 2 (in session 1) shows what the students watch to learn from the experts

Faculty of Sciences, Biology 1: Human Perspectives SGDE Exemplar 2 Faculty of Sciences, Biology 1: Human Perspectives I have sent you the word doc of this case study – it could either be projected for all to look over OR printed as a handout

SGDE Exemplar 3 Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Bachelor of Oral Health http://international.adelaide.edu.au/life/expect/program/ This is the BOH SGDE video where students and staff discuss their experiences

SGDE Co-Creation Workshop (Aug 2016) 48 participants from Faculty of Health Sciences – 16 staff and 32 students All had been involved in some type of SGDE activity as either a: Student Mentor SGDE designer

Outcomes of Co-Creation Workshop Valuable and Effective Aspects Industry insight – ‘real’ perspectives Authentic assessment Real world application Putting theory into practice Small groups (<10) Interaction between staff & students ‘Novel’ – not just another lecture or tute Least Effective Aspects No structure or clearly defined outcomes Groups too large Not assessed – no incentive to participate Dysfunctional groups/uneven workload Mundane ‘meaningless’ activities Replication of tutorial – didn’t feel ‘special’ No practical application to discipline “Why are we doing this?”

UoA Survey Stubbs, Semmler et al: Evaluation of the Small Group Discovery Experience (SGDE) in Large First-Year Classes 2014/15