Hub Chats

In this episode, we chat with Dr Cat Martin, a lecturer in Creative Arts and Drama and Lead Academic Coach for the Step Ahead program at Macquarie University. Cat unpacks what drama education really is beyond the school play, and shares simple techniques that any teacher can try, regardless of subject area. We discuss how drama can build empathy, confidence and language skills in students, and how it can be woven into other subjects like English and Science to deepen learning across the curriculum. 

In this episode, Dr Jodie Torrington chats with renowned mathematics teacher, YouTuber, and Australian of the Year Local Hero, Eddie Woo. Eddie shares his philosophy for reaching students who believe they are "not a maths person," discusses the critical junction points where students are most at risk of switching off from mathematics, and reflects on what studying maths does for a person beyond numerical literacy. He also shares his thoughts on explicit teaching, the role of technology and AI in mathematics education, and his hopes for where mathematics education is heading in Australia. 

Eddie Woo's YouTube channel - WooTube 

WooTube2 for teachers  

Mathematics for Human Flourishing by Francis Su 

In this episode, Dr Jodie Torrington chats with Shaheen, learning designer at the Macquarie University Teachers' Learning Hub, about inclusive learning design and what it really means in practice. Shaheen challenges the idea that inclusive design is only about individual accommodations, and instead shows how small, intentional design choices can make learning more accessible for every student in the room. She shares practical strategies teachers can use straight away as they plan for the school year, and leaves us with one powerful question to ask when designing any lesson: who does this serve? 

In this episode, Dr Jodie Torrington chats with Associate Professor Penny Van Bergen, an educational psychologist at Macquarie University, about the science of learning and what it means for everyday classroom practice. Penny unpacks cognitive load and working memory limitations, explains why deep encoding and retrieval practice are so important for building lasting knowledge, and tackles the explicit teaching versus inquiry-based learning debate. Spoiler: it's not an either-or!

In this episode, Dr Jodie Torrington chats with Professor Sandie Wong and Dr Li Kan from Macquarie University's early childhood education team about their Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded Teachers in Early Education project. Sandie and Li share findings from Australia's first longitudinal survey of early childhood teacher education students, revealing who is entering the profession, what motivates them, and what their career intentions look like, with some surprising results about wellbeing, workforce preferences, and where graduates want to work. 

Take a look at the following links for more information about the content discussed in this episode: 

Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project 

Teachers in Early Education - Teachers in Early Education 

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) – StepAhead Program 

Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton and Dr Jodie Torrington discuss how to use AI effectively to support your planning and assessment design for your classroom. Learn how to retain an internal AI-Locus of Control while using AI technologies.

Remember to:

-know your goal

-provide all the details and context

-use an auto-interview technique

-use your own judgement and reflection throughout the process

-ask yourself: “Am I happy to put my name to this output?”

Additional resources to support your AI journey:

Prompting tips and strategies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PKNoM8tc_A&list=PLsicw0ghQckgHREOX2uCDaRTDaxNZFyNK

Prompting poster: https://zenodo.org/records/17373463

AI-Locus of Control framework: https://zenodo.org/records/17823628

In this episode, we are talking about out-of-field teaching in high schools, focusing specifically on teaching Geography.  Dr Susan Caldis and Kathy Jones talk about their new microcredential that provides comprehensive support for new-to-geography teachers. Find out what makes a geography lesson geographical, and how AI can be used effectively and authentically to support teacher planning and assessment design. 

Enrol in our “Help! I’m teaching Geography for the first time” professional learning microcredential here: https://microcredentials.mq.edu.au/courses/help!-im-teaching-geography-for-the-first-time 

Find the GEOG standards here: https://agta.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/geogstandards.pdf  

Susan’s fan diagram can be viewed here: Caldis, S. (2022). What makes my geography lesson distinctive and powerful? In M. McInerney, J. Butler, S. Caldis, S. Cranby, M. Law, A. Maude, & R. Nicholas (Eds.), Teaching secondary geography (pp. 201-217). Cambridge University Press (CUP).  

In this episode, Dr Jodie Torrington chats with The Gale History Museum at Macquarie University’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, Dr Yvonne Inall to explore practical ways teachers can integrate community resources like museums into their programmes. Yvonne shares tips on making the most of museum visits and discusses how the museums, such as the Gale Museum at MQ can be a powerful educational tool for your classroom. 

In this episode, Professor Sheila Degotardi, the Director of the Centre for Early Childhood Education at Macquarie University chats with Dr Catherine Jones, who is the preschool room teacher and educational leader at Goodstart Kurri Kurri about the benefits and challenges of applying for external funding to support your ECE context. 

Have you thought about engaging your language learners by harnessing real-life examples that they view on social media? Listen to Dr Yeong-Ju Lee talk about how to use technological innovations in language education, and how you can promote informal language learning using TikTok and Instagram. She shares pedagogical strategies for teachers to integrate multimodal and real-life practices into language classrooms and encourages students to “play” with language using social media.  

Here is the link to her book that we talk about in the episode: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003543541/social-media-language-learning-yeong-ju-lee  

**Special 20% discount (valid until 31 Oct 2025): use code 25SMA3**