Lightning talks 1

Susan Hopkins
University of Southern Queensland

Catch this session

Monday 4 December, 2.30pm – 3pm
Stream 4
Room L209

Abstract

This short talk by project leader Dr Susan Hopkins will introduce the HEPPP funded Life Literacies initiative and series of optional support workshops (within the USQ tertiary preparation program for non-OP and non-traditional students) launched at Toowoomba and Ipswich campuses of the University of Southern Queensland in teaching semester 2, 2017. The HEPPP funded 2017 Life Literacies project targets students from low socioeconomic areas who may be suffering from financial hardship. The program aims to make their journey through higher education less stressful, more empowering and more relevant to everyday life through innovative educational approaches and materials centred on essential ‘life literacies.’ These innovative approaches include the use of social media (and the Life Literacies closed group Facebook page) in teaching pre-tertiary students. In particular, this short talk will focus on the Digital Literacies workshop within the Life Literacies suite of enabling education workshops to consider the particular benefits and challenges of teaching digital literacy to low socio-economic, non-traditional, non-op students as part of a tertiary preparation program.

About the authors

Susan Hopkins

Susan Hopkins is a Lecturer in the Open Access College at the University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich campus. Her research interests include sociological approaches to the education of marginalised groups including incarcerated students and LSES students as well as critical cultural studies and media representations of gender and empowerment