DOOKIE DIARY by Professor Tim Reeves, Professor in Residence, Dookie campus, University of Melbourne
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In what now seems to be another age, but in reality was only at the beginning of March (and, important to note, before we had any restrictions or even indications around social distancing), we held a unique event at University of Melbourne's Dookie campus.
For the first time, all of the University of Melbourne’s first-year Bachelor of Agriculture students started their year with a Discovery Week at the Dookie campus, rather than at the Parkville campus, which had been the case in previous years.
The idea was that, by spending their first week together at Dookie, the students would not only get a better ‘feel’ for agriculture and the regional community, but would also have an opportunity to meet and develop friendships and communication opportunities among themselves and with staff.
We had about 180 students participating in a full week of activities and learning opportunities for the newcomers to our Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences.
Each day commenced with a keynote lecture from one of our professors.
I started their week off with the opening keynote on Sustainable Agricultural Production — Agriculture in 2030.
The students were then split into seven groups for a rotation of discussions on such topics as: sustainable agriculture; ‘survival on the moon’ — all about thinking creatively to solve problems; data analysis; academic integrity; academic skills; laboratory safety; and a visit to our robotic dairy (always a favourite!).
One of the well-received sessions was an industry panel comprising local industry and community leaders — all of whom were Dookie graduates, including the chief executive officer of the Committee for Greater Shepparton, Sam Birrell — sharing their stories with the students and participating in a Q and A session.
The students also participated in a wide range of other activities and presentations and these included: cultural awareness, presented by one of our regional First Nations leaders; wellbeing; safety awareness; wine production; and others.
We are now doing all our teaching remotely and, while this is challenging for everyone involved, it is not something that is new to the university.
Another major activity with which I am currently involved is as part of a large team working to develop a proposal for the establishment of the One Basin Cooperative Research Centre, which will be seeking funding under the Federal Government’s forthcoming call for new Cooperative Research Centre bids, expected later this year.
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