NEW! The NATA Update!

News

The NATA team  has decided to publish a 6 weekly update here on the NATA blog which outlines the key developments of the project in the 6 weeks previous. This is aimed at better informing the public and more specifically, members of partner associations about the activities of NATA. Links to the regular blog posts will be shared with partner associations who will be encouraged to share with their membership.

The update will follow a consistent format and report progress against the project's main activities (listed below). If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, Natasha Hard, the NATA project manager, at natasha.hard@usq.edu.au 

You can also follow NATA on Twitter at @NATAonthenet

Key Achievement:

The Deed of Novation, the document which formalises the transfer of project Host Institution from Charles Sturt University (CSU) to the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has finally been signed off by all parties, signalling the completion of the transfer process. A lot of people have been involved in this protracted process, however, I would like to send out a big thanks specifically to Liz Neary at USQ and Maree Potter at CSU for all their help in making this happen.

Good Practice Report eResources

Working with Jason Myatt at USQ and Stephen Parker and Trevor Gale at Deakin, we have now developed the first draft ALTC/OLT Good Practice Report on Student engagement. These eResources provide a snapshot of the Good Practice Report developed and aim to present the information in an engaging manner with a focus on the author's own voice. We are also in consultation with other authors to develop similar resources for as may of the Good Practice Reports as possible (All Good Practice Reports can be accessed here on the OLT website). The next eResource to be developed with be the one on Technology-enhanced learning and teaching authored by Mike Keppell, Gordon Suddaby and myself.

Research

The NATA is conducting a small-scale research project looking at network leadership in established Australasian Tertiary Associations. The data is being collected via interviews with network leaders and focus groups with association executives. Almost all the data has been now collected and preliminary analysis is underway. The research i exploring three questions:

1. What network leadership strategies support good practice in leading networks to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Education Associations?
2.  What communication strategies, technologies, and approaches support good practice to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Eduction Associations?
3. What common ground exists between organisations that could provide a basis for collaboration into the future?

NATA Partner Projects

As part of the NATA project activities, NATA is providing small-scale grants to member associations to pursue a project which is aligned both with their institutional or association objectives and the key objectives of NATA.

So far we have approved three partner projects which are all in very early stages of development. AARNet's project is being led by James Sankar and has morphed over time into a series of provocative blog posts which will build on a document developed collaboratively by NATA members in response to the Coalition's Online Higher Education Working Group's Terms of Reference.

ACODE has finalised the details of their project titled 'Engaging Network Members: A NATA case study of a Contemporary Tertiary Sector Issue'. More information about this project can be found here. 

ascilite has also finalised their project proposal for their project, a 'Guide to support and advance network engagement for members of professional associations and networks in the digital age'. This project aims to develop  Guide that promotes best practice in the engagement of members of professional associations and networks. The Guide will outline design principles and engagement strategies for the use of web based resources (including social media)to support and advance community engagement in professional associations and networks.

NATA Project Event

The NATA project will host a project event on Wednesday the 6th of November, 2013 in Brisbane to showcase the achievements of the network as well as foster discussions about sustainability and the future of the network.

Upcoming Key Dates:

• 3 July, 2013, 4pm (WG609) Gordon Suddaby will be presenting 'Network Of Australasian Tertiary Associations: A Space For Discussion, Collaboration And Advocacy In Tertiary Education', at HERDSA on behalf of the NATA team and we welcome people to come along.
• 9 July, 2013, Next NATA Partner Meeting
• 1 October, 2013, Progress Report due to OLT