High Impact Teaching: Start with the Relationships
Prof. Nan Bahr, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students), Professor and Dean of Education, Southern Cross University

Abstract: This presentation will propose a heretic view that learning design shouldn’t start with defining the “things to be learned” end of the problem, but rather needs to start with establishing a speial kind of working partnership between the teacher and the learner. It is this inter-relationship that leads a learner to their own expertise and to a level of self-respect that can underpin their success as they negotiate the contingencies of their life and career course.

Biography:Professor Nan Bahr is Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students), Professor and Dean of Education at Southern Cross University. In this role she is responsible for oversight and strategic management for improved engagement, experience and retention of students across the University. Professor Bahr also has specific responsibility, as Dean of Education, for the quality of the Teacher Education programs, research and service in the field of education for Southern Cross University. Professor Bahr has a national and international profile for educational research with over 100 publications including four books (one a best seller). Key research has been in the fields of music education, educational psychology, teacher education, adolescence, resilience, and teaching innovation in higher education. As a University Teacher, she has been awarded the University of Queensland Award for Excellence in Teaching, has been a finalist (twice) for the Australian Awards for University Teaching. Nan, as a Colonel in the Australian Defence Force, has been appointed as Honorary Aide de Camp to the Governor-General in recognition of meritorious contribution to the Commonwealth.