A rural education expert from Canada will deliver a public lecture in the new high-technology Connected Learning Space at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst from 5pm Wednesday 9 November. Professor Linda Farr Darling, from the University of British Columbia, Canada, will deliver the lecture, Rural School Landscapes in British Columbia: Mapping the terrain for teachers and teacher educators. Associate Professor Jane Mitchell, lecturer at the School of Teacher Education at CSU in Bathurst said, “Professor Farr Darling’s talk will describe research findings about strengths and challenges faced by rural schools across British Columbia, whether recommendations from a 2003 report had been implemented, and what affect these have had. Given the geographic and demographic similarities between Canada and Australia, there may well be lessons that can be applied here”. The public lecture will be viewed simultaneously and interactively by an audience at CSU in Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga. Read more about the new Connected Learning Space at CSU here.

Thirteen Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will have the ultimate cultural experience in teaching when they arrive in Vanuatu for three weeks of teaching practice in three schools around the nation’s capital, Port Vila. The students, in their third year of the Early Childhood / Primary School and Middle School Education degrees based at CSU in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Dubbo, will teach for one week in each of the schools, starting Saturday 22 October. CSU student Ms Samantha Whitehouse is keen to move out of her comfort zone and gain a more global perspective on culture. “By being open to cultural differences and different understandings of the world, I will be more sensitive to the needs of learners as individuals, which is important for a multicultural society such as Australia. I hope to gain some understanding of the local community, interact with the local people, and learn some of their customs and norms. I might even have time to smile, laugh and have some fun.”  The students are due to return to Australia on Saturday 12 November.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer in Human Movement Studies, Dr Deborah Clarke wishes NSW  students well in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) exams but knows that good luck has very little to do with the outcome. “It’s all about preparation and these students have spent the past year preparing for these exams in one way or another,” she says. “The ones that often do well are those who have done the extra work, using resources such as study groups, tuition in their weaker subjects and online services.” Dr Clarke has been involved in the continued development of online resource, NSW HSC Online. “This is a great preparation tool for students with practice exam papers and relevant study material for 61 HSC subjects.” Developed in collaboration with the NSW government through Education and Communities, NSW HSC Online provides access to quality education resources for all students, particularly those in rural and regional areas.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) history researcher will address a meeting of local and family historians in Coonabarabran, NSW, on Saturday 22 October as part of his nationwide quest to locate relatives of Australian miners who went to the Klondike goldfields in remote north-west Canada at the end of the 1800s. “My talk is mainly about David MacGregor, a ‘Klondike Stampeder’ known to have come from the Coonabarabran area, who is quite possibly the grumpiest Australian who went to the Klondike,” said Dr Rob McLachlan, an adjunct senior lecturer in history at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Bathurst. “MacGregor has left us a remarkable account of his Klondike experiences in letters he wrote from Canada to family and friends,” Dr McLachlan said. “In them he displays a strong prejudice against Canadians and their country, yet he stayed on for 20 or so years. I hope the talk will reveal some present-day relatives who will come forward with more information about MacGregor. I would also like to hear of other Australians who may have gone to the Klondike.”

Regional health services will benefit when 20 students who have completed the three-year Bachelor of Nursing degree at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo are farewelled at a special morning tea on Monday 10 October. Ms Lyn Croxon, course coordinator for the Bachelor of Nursing in Dubbo, said “These 20 students are among a larger cohort of 122 students graduating from the School across the University this semester. The students have just returned to the campus after a four-week placement focussing on the transition to practice as a Registered Nurse, and they received invaluable support from the staff in the various hospitals in which they undertook their clinical placements. They are now are eligible to register with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority. While the recent clinical placements were in Dubbo, Bathurst, and Sydney, other placements at smaller facilities in the region over the past three years contributed greatly to the students’ education and understanding of the modern health system. The University thanks all the staff at these regional health settings for their support of our programs, as the clinical element is an integral component of the course.”

A group of five teaching students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia will spend the next four months studying at the CSU campus in Ontario, Canada. The students from Bathurst, Albury and Dubbo are studying the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary) through the Faculty of Education. Dubbo-based student, Mr Pete Minney, seized the opportunity to study abroad. “I can broaden my experience by observing first-hand the strategies teachers from another country use and whether the children benefit from a different approach to education,” he said. The exchange has been supported by CSU Global, a University initiative which aims to increase the number of students undertaking international experiences as part of their studies.

The newly-operational dental clinics at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst and Dubbo will be officially opened by The Hon. Simon Crean, MP, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development, Local Government, and Minister for the Arts, on Friday 13 May. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, said the dental clinics will be used to provide training for CSU’s dental and oral health students and to provide sorely needed dental services to the community. “The opening of the dental clinics by Minister Crean demonstrates the importance to sustainable regional development of educating the future professional workforce for rural and regional Australia in rural and regional Australia,” Professor Goulter said. The opening ceremony in Bathurst will commence at 10am and Mr Crean will be available to speak to the media at 10.45am. He will then travel to Dubbo to open the CSU dental clinic there at 1pm.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is addressing the critical need for professionals in regional Australia, such as accountants and nurses, with a program that encourages TAFE diploma students to enrol in CSU degrees. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers said CSU will guarantee entry into most of its undergraduate courses to people who have completed diplomas and advanced diplomas from any TAFE institution in Australia. “In addition, TAFE students who have also completed a Tertiary Preparation Certificate (TPC) and gained  a Tertiary Entrance Score of 157 or over are also eligible for guaranteed entry into Charles Sturt University undergraduate courses,” Professor Chambers said. This program is in addition to the existing scholarship program between CSU and a number of regional and metropolitan TAFE institutions across NSW and Victoria. “Charles Sturt University is committed to supporting the aspirations of TAFE graduates.  It provides pathways to its professional degrees from TAFE diplomas and advanced diplomas based on substantial credit for prior learning,” Professor Chambers said.  

As part of Carbon Farming Week, a conference and expo will take place in Dubbo from Tuesday 26 to Friday 29 October. Conference moderator and lecturer in the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Mr Kerry Cochrane believes events like this are a step towards better carbon management. “This conference will focus on managing on-farm carbon cycles for profit, production and protecting the future,” Mr Cochrane said. Carbon Farming involves managing the four major resources available to a farmer; the soil, the water, the sun and the wind. “The Carbon Farming Conference aims to equip landholders with knowledge needed to make decisions that take advantage of existing and future opportunities.” This conference features many new ways to enrich soil with carbon that also reduces emissions from the application of conventional fertilisers. Farmers can also harvest the wind and the sun and sell into energy markets.