2011 Winners – Australian Awards for University Teaching

UQ has again been recognised as having some of the best teachers and most innovative programs in the country through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Awards for University Teaching.
 

The winners are:

Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning

Rangeland Management Postgraduate Coursework Program (Postgraduate Education)
Professor John Taylor, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences & Ms Patricia Andrews, Teaching and Educational Development Institute

In response to a long standing national need, the Rangelands Australia (RA) initiative has developed the only educational program specifically addressing current and emerging issues in our vast rangelands (remote and very remote areas). Through highly strategic and innovative approaches, the Rangeland Management Postgraduate Coursework Program has comprehensively met the needs expressed by the stakeholders to build capacity for ‘triple bottom line’ (i.e., economic, environmental and social) sustainability, improve access to professional development in the region of highest educational disadvantage and nurture a learning community.
RA’s curriculum and course development processes engaged over 1000 stakeholders nationally and have been widely acknowledged as ‘best practice’. The result is a set of twelve courses, accessible in multiple modes. Through innovations to attract and retain mature age students, and especially under-represented groups, participation in the program has grown strongly at a time when interest in agricultural education is waning, and it is changing attitudes to higher education.
Student evaluations and stakeholder surveys reveal that the courses are widely seen to be high quality, challenging, practical and relevant to current and emerging issues, and that industry and the wider community are deriving significant economic, environmental and social benefits from the program.

Awards for Teaching Excellence

Associate Professor Lydia Kavanagh, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (Physical Sciences and Related Studies)

Since returning to academia from industry in 1998, Lydia Kavanagh has become a leader in engineering education in Australia. She has used her background as a professional engineer to design both curricula and courses for active learning by combining real-world projects and specialist knowledge. She inspires students to develop the knowledge, confidence and capabilities essential for success in the engineering profession in the 21st century, and is dedicated to ensuring that they not only learn about engineering but also how to be engineers. Lydia has created ,implemented, evaluated, and disseminated, across institution and discipline, an impressive range of resources that support student teamwork, academic mentoring of students, providing small group learning experiences to large (1000+) classes, and assessment and learning support for the1styear transition. Her work on ensuring student team success alone has benefitted over 7000 students in Australia and overseas. Lydia’s contribution to engineering education has been recognised with institutional awards and her promotion to Director of First Year Engineering at a research-intensive university.

Dr Jane Stadler, School of English, Media Studies and Art History ( Humanities and the Arts)

Dr Jane Stadler encourages film and media students at all levels to integrate complex theory with creative and practical projects ranging from reviewing and storyboarding through curating screen exhibitions to postgraduate conferences and research publications. Her courses provide a scholarly toolbox to question, analyse, and influence how the media contribute to social change and communicate cultural values. Students use historical research, aesthetic and narrative analysis, teamwork, and information and communication technologies to contribute to screen culture and to develop the skills they will need as the next generation of film and television critics, researchers, educators, practitioners, and policy makers. Dr Stadler has co-authored two widely adopted textbooks, Media and Society (Fifth Edition, 2011) and Screen Media (2009), and collaborates with colleagues in South Africa and Norway to publish research about pedagogical strategies in the rapidly changing environment of the digital humanities. Her contribution to teaching has been recognised in academic articles analysing case studies of her pedagogical practice and through the University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award (2008), the Faculty of Arts Teaching Excellence Award (2008), University of Cape Town Teaching Merit Awards (2004 and 2005), and the Murdoch University Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (2000).

Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees.

A full list of winners can be found on the ALTCwebsite. http://www.altc.edu.au  

UQNews article: Article http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=23562  
 

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