Nurturing the next generation

Looking back over two decades as a university researcher and teacher Professor Kate Darian-Smith, who was recently given an Australian Learning and Teaching Council award for her supervision of Research Higher Degree (RHD) students in the humanities, believes the basic premise of good historical research has not changed: strong arguments based on evidence and clear communication still carry the day.

But technology has changed the landscape, revolutionising teaching style and technique, and the data gathering and analytical skills that need to be developed in RHD students.

“Years ago I tapped out my PhD on a primitive word processor, and before that my honours thesis on an electric typewriter. And I spent months in archives and libraries,” she says. “Now, with so much historical material digitised, with records searchable online and documents deliverable to a researcher’s computer desktop, along with bibliographical software, doctoral researchers need to bring a different kind of attention to their work.

“I wouldn’t say technology has necessarily made students today better writers or researchers, though they perform very well, but certainly access to a depth of material has increased hugely.”

Professor Darian-Smith’s first contact with university students was as a tutor and occasional lecturer to undergraduates while she was a PhD candidate in History. She says that tutoring while completing a PhD is a long and fruitful tradition that leads to gradual awareness of how to communicate with students.

Interested in the theory of teaching practices, following her doctorate she did a Diploma of Education – a relatively unusual qualification among university educators. This was followed by a stint as an English as a Second Language teacher that included placements at secondary schools and at the Maribyrnong Language Centre – experience she credits as equipping her with clear communication skills and patience.

“Presenting Romeo and Juliet to a classroom of teenage boys on a Friday afternoon is good training for any teacher. It drives home the importance of engaging students,” she says.

Along with changes in technology, Professor Darian-Smith thinks students do still crave face-to-face contact with their lecturers, possibly indicating the importance of personal contact in the learning process.

“It’s so stimulating to me to see my students, especially my higher degree students, develop as independent researchers and historians, with their diverse approaches to analysis and they way they ask their own unique questions.

“At the research higher degree supervision level, ‘teaching’ is really about research training: it’s about a much more active dialogue with students which is very rewarding,” she says.

In terms of subject matter Professor Darian-Smith says that more recently PhD and Masters students in Australian history have shown greater interest in embracing interdisciplinary perspectives in their work, which she believes is a welcome development. There is much interest in viewing Australia in a global context.

“Students are beginning to re-interpret or rethink some of the key questions in Australian studies; issues like national identity, the role of immigration or human rights issues. They are finding new ways of looking at history that are informed by broader changes in contemporary society,” she says.

For instance, students are still interested in the history of Australia at war, but more often they wish to look at associated topics rather than the nuts and bolts of military strategy. This includes exploring commemorative practices or the ANZAC legacy.

“Seeing my students develop and publish or present their work is my favourite part of teaching and research supervision. You’re really working with equals by the end of the PhD process, and it’s an opportunity to mentor graduate students in their career path, whether that is to be academic or in other employment,” she says.

“In all that I do, there is a very gratifying sense of nurturing the next generation of academics, or workers in other areas, with an enriched understanding of Australian society today and in the past.”

More information on other University of Melbourne citation award winners:
http://www.altc.edu.au/July2010-2010-Citation-award-winners-announced