SESSION 4C

Will Law-Davis, CELT University of Western Australia
Learning and Academic Risk Taking

Abstract
The prospect of failure may be perceived as inconsistent with adult learners achieving academic success. However, taking risks can be beneficial to adults who fear failure and struggle with academic achievement. The research outlining how adults learn to become risk takers is still limited but the need for future students to be agile, global, collaborative and open to risk (Wise, 2013) indicates the importance of incorporating risk- taking in our classroom and pedagogy. This session will focus on ways to develop, teach and assess intellectual risk taking.

Bio
Will is a highly-experienced teacher with a broad education background having worked at all levels of education both in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. He has worked on curriculum development in the areas of adult literacy and numeracy and special projects with the National Heart Foundation, Isolated and Distance Education and Boys in Education with the Abu Dhabi Education Council. Will has lectured and tutored on numerous teacher education programs linked to Deakin University, Melbourne University and the University of Western Australia. He has recently been working with the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development in the area of adult literacy and numeracy within the VET system and is currently working at the Centre for English Learning and Teaching at the University of Western Australia.