The in-person component of the Third Space Symposium was everything that we had hoped for and more. Capping off the last two weeks of sharing, discussion, learning and jokes in the Slowposium, 80 third space colleagues gathered at the University of Melbourne to extend the conversations with a wildly diverse range of sessions. (See the full program here)
In one way, this event was too successful, as the number of contributions (20) meant that we had to run parallel streams, making it somewhat difficult to see everything. (Even with our advanced 3S powers of organisation). We explored the practicalities of the third space at work, concocted visual metaphors and dived into theory to advance our understanding of our relationships, shared the innovative and imaginative projects that we are working on, planned grand future projects, considered how we can nudge our institutions to be more equitable, workshopped models to demonstrate our value, discussed dealing with change and establishing credibility, reviving online discourse on Bluesky with the #3SS tag, and enjoyed the rousing strains of the North Melbourne club song.
The vibe for the entire day was one of enthusiasm, positivity, good humour and collegiality. We all want each other to succeed and thrive and the generosity on display in the countless hours of effort that so many people put into this alongside all of their real-world work was phenomenal. Many thanks have already been shared but it’s worth mentioning them again.
My great appreciation for the Symposium and Slowposium goes to Meredith Hinze, Sue Sharpe, Wendy Taleo, Penny Wheeler, Elizabeth Black, Keith Heggart, Sharon Altena, Puva Arumagam, Dan Laurence, Gosia Drewniok, Maeve O’Dwyer, Rowan Peter, our volunteers on the day - Bronwyn, Asli, and Bettina (apologies if I missed anyone, things got hectic toward the end), ML Huppatz and ATEM, the Uni of Melbourne, the ASCILITE conference organising team, and Roger Brown.
And, of course, you. Whether engaging, participating, contributing, or observing, this event would have been nothing without this community.
What next then?
We will keep the Slowposium site open for the next few weeks and please do keep engaging with content and sharing your responses.
We have added a couple of new posts to the social forum to hear your thoughts about how we can harness the momentum and keep things moving as well as a space for general reflections and observations about the 3SS.
Are you at ASCILITE 2024 now?
We - the TELedvisors Network - have a lunchtime get together session scheduled on Tuesday 12:45 - 1:15 in Room 156. Grab your lunch and come and join us. (Are all of the SIG sessions scheduled at the same time? Of course they are. Would it be ASCILITE if they weren’t?)
3S Highlights for Monday:
11:00 Is scalable 'students as partners’ possible? Presented By Mollie Dollinger (B101)
11:00 Navigating the complex terrain of online professional learning Presented by Ekaterina Pechenkina (153)
11:00 Navigating the places we now inhabit: Stories of migrant learning designers Presented by Bettina Schwenger et al (453)
11:20 Design Thinking: Putting academics at the heart of Professional Learning Presented by Rowena Ulbrick (453)
11:20 Entanglement of learning spaces, pedagogies, and technologies with the global polycrisis Presented by Laura Czerniewicz (456)
11:30 The Funnel Transformative Model of Science Education Presented by Jorge Reyna (B101)
12:00 Insights from co-designing an interdisciplinary programmatic Presented by Diana Turnip (456)
13:30 Creating humour in learning spaces: DIY videos for teaching difficult concepts in methods of research Presented by Kay Hammond (453)
14:00 Learning designers: A socio-material snapshot of the profession Presented by Stephen Abblitt (B101)
14:00 Challenges and opportunities in using ChatGPT as a team member to promote code review education and self-regulated learning Presented by Paula de Barba et al (153)
14:00 The Virtual University as a Frontier for Navigating New Learning Spaces, Pedagogies, and Technologies Presented by Michael Sankey (253)
14:30 Co-designing an artificial intelligence (AI) literacies framework for learning designers Presented by Adelle Ryall (B101)
14:30 Efficient learning design: What do educators identify as key factors? Presented by Mickel Godsk (256)
16:00 Navigating integrity and innovation: Case studies of generative AI integration from an Arts Faculty Presented by Josephine Hook et al (153)
See you there
Colin Simpson
Third Space Symposium Organising Committee