Faculty of Human Sciences Senior Learning Designer Rebecca Ritchie discusses her pipe dream of a MQ Doggy Day Care Centre.
Work stuff
I’ve been at Macquarie for…
Seven-and-a-half years.
In a nutshell, my job is to…
Provide support and best practice advice in all things related to learning and teaching in the Faculty of Human Sciences.
The question I hear most often in my work is…
Why can’t I give letter grades in Turnitin? (Turnitin is the software Macquarie uses for text matching and online feedback for written assessment tasks).
The top three things on my to-do list today are…
1) Answer these questions.
2) Review a new program proposal.
3) Work on an online unit standards document.
If I could do any other job at Macquarie (with instant qualifications/knowledge) it would be…
It hasn’t been created yet, but it would be the Manager of the MQ Doggy Day Care Centre.
A Macquarie staff member who impressed me last week…
My team member Kylie Coaldrake. She is incredibly patient and knowledgeable in guiding the Faculty of Human Sciences through the Curriculum Architecture project.
I get my campus coffee fix from …
Cult over in 10HA. Best coffee on campus!
If you were given $50 million to create or build something at Macquarie, what would you do with it?
That’s a lot of money, so many possibilities! Top of the list would be to set up a Doggy Day Care Centre and develop a ‘Dogs at Work’ policy. Second, would be to install solar panels on all buildings.
Personal life
Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Hanging out with my pooch, Samuel and drinking coffee.
I’m really looking forward to…
A trip to Hobart with my friend, Sal. We’re going to visit MONA, eat good food and drink good wine.
The most amazing place I’ve ever visited is…
The pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico.
If I could have dinner with anyone (living or dead) it would be…
The artist Louise Bourgeois.
The last great book I read was…
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, by Peter Frankopan.
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Rebecca I love the way you think! I was just talking to my colleagues about bringing in my new puppy to the office. Everyone was actually really for it and I even went to HR to ask but they said we don’t have a policy and did not give me the green light. Anyway, if you ever do work on a policy, I would be happy to help!
Oh and your idea of solar panels is also great!
Love the idea! I spoke to MQ Policy and Governance about this the other day and they confirmed that there is no official policy but that they would look into it (yay!) as they had quite a few requests. I brought in my dog to work a couple of months ago and both colleagues and students loved having him in meetings and during consults. Same here, I’d be more than happy to help to work on a dog on campus policy!