2024 AALL Symposium

AALL online symposium

The 2024 AALL Professional Development Committee facilitated an online AALL Symposium on 6 December 2024.

Theme: ALL about AALL

Welcome & Overview:
Steve Campitelli, AALL Professional Development Committee Chair, University of Melbourne

Session 1: Keynote address

A vision for academic language and learning education in programmatic assessment
Dr Andrew Kelly, AALL President & Manager, Learning Support, Edith Cowan University
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) tools requires a deep rethink about the future role of academic language and learning (ALL) educators in higher education. Our collective practice must evolve, and evolve quickly, so that the ongoing value proposition of ALL educators is well-articulated alongside the learning support opportunities that AI now offers. Within this context, the sector-wide shift towards programmatic assessment provides new opportunities for ALL practitioners to enhance curriculum development, deliver professional learning for teaching staff, and build student learning communities. This presentation explores what such a future for ALL practice can look like, and how we get there.

Session 2: Short presentations

Harnessing Ed Tech and Gen AI tools to maximise student learning and engagement
Chair: Sue Gollagher, James Cook University
Presenters: Jane McGettigan, Australian National University; Renee Shibuya, University of
Queensland College; Justin Park, University of Melbourne
This session focuses on how our peers use common Ed Tech and Gen AI tools to enhance their practice. Three experienced ALL educators will briefly share how they use Wordwall, H5P, and GenAI tools to plan and scaffold learning and to maximise student engagement.

Session 3: Panel discussion

AALL online resource development: Practices and insights from universities
Chair: Alice Lee, Australian Catholic University
Panel: Sue Gollagher, James Cook University; Steve Johnson, Murdoch University; Leah Rosales, Edith Cowan University
Online resources enhance ALL learning experiences and complement human-centred ALL services at institutions. What are some of the approaches to online resource development, how do institutions manage their processes and what are the challenges and rewards? This session consists of panellists from three Australian Universities who speak about aspects of online resource development at their institution and answer questions from attendees.

Session 4: Short presentations

The embedded support continuum – where are we at?
Chairs: Huifang Li, University of New England & Alexandra Garcia, University of Sydney
Presenters: Shooshana Dreyfuss, Wollongong University; Ha Nguyen, University of Melbourne
Research has consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of embedded, discipline-specific academic language support. As students increasingly gravitate towards specialised assistance, it’s crucial to explore the diverse modalities and delivery options currently implemented across Australian institutions. This session presents approaches to embedding
taken by two university academic language and learning centres.

Presented by the AALL Professional Development Committee 2024:

  • Steve Campitelli
  • Alex Garcia
  • Susan Gollagher
  • Alice Lee
  • Dr Huifang Li