I had an absolutely wonderful time at the Student Success conference. I probably should be making a LInkedIn post rather than a blog post but I don’t care – eventually I’ll do both. This first photo is me about to start my second presentation – I had over 20 people in the room and it was the last concurrent session on the last day so I was very happy with that.

I learnt a lot over the conference but that is normal – every conference hurts my brain with too much information. I went to one session just purely out of personal interest – knowing that it wasn’t going to relate to my reserach or teaching role much at all. I should do a little more of that at future conferences. This one was about data and not leaping to conclusions. They found 60-something students had swapped and changed their subject choices before census date. They originally THOUGHT it was a problem with the enrolment system and that students were confused etc. After speaking to the students they realised they were very intentional about all the subject swapping around they did – trying to create their optimal timetable, examing the assessment tasks in detail and so on. Very strategic students indeed!

It was also lovely to see “my people” in person including Karen Search, Trixie James and Anne Braund to name a few. Sarah O’Shea was there and I had a WONDERFUL conversation with Sally Kift too. Onur form Maquarie was there too and lovely to catch up with him. We had some laughs that is for sure!

This photo is me with the poster I did with Amy Claughton. I had a few people come and chat to me about it. The main thing I took from those conversations is that people agree that trauma informed practices can easily be put into the “that’s too hard” category and then educators shy away from it. I was greatly encouraged that my work in this area will be valuable long term.

That’s all for now – if you hear me mention the conference again just know that I had a great time 🙂