We are already into the second month of a calendar new year (and right in the Lunar New Year period) and given that the first semester is about to begin, this remains a “New Year” by multiple measures. For me professionally and academically however this is a new beginning in several important ways.
As an academic who finished my thesis fairly recently, I am very grateful to have secured tenure at Monash University during the latter stages of last year. This means, no looking for new contracts or new work opportunities for now. However-it does also mean an ongoing process of setting up and achieving appropriate outcomes across the goals that I have agreed with my supervisor and then ensuring that I track towards achieving those outcomes.
From a choice perspective (one of my significant areas of research), I need to ensure that I have achieveable outcomes (and that I model this behaviour for my students). It seems this idea of helping higher education students set measurable and achievable goals remains an important aspect of learning and even more so in this post COVID phase when we ‘reimagine higher education‘.
An important step for me is ensuring that I continue to develop my understanding and use of artificial intelligence in the contexts of teaching and research. I am thankful that I have a background in technologies and I look forward to building on that background into new directions and capabilities.
I am most grateful to my supportive colleagues who have invited me into new projects and opportunities (and helping me refine and progress existing projects) and I look forward to sharing details of that work a little later. I am excited about what is to come.
For now, all the best for the new experiences you are having-regardless of whether this is still a ‘new year’ for you or otherwise.
Dr Michael J Henderson 