The University of Queensland has more finalists in this year`s Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) than any other university.
UQ`s six finalists will attend a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday, November 29, where Federal Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs Dr Brendan Nelson will present the prestigious annual awards.
This year`s ceremony will also include the awarding of $54 million in funding to universities through the Federal Government`s Learning and Teaching Performance Fund. Allocation of the funding is based on government data that ranks the quality of learning and teaching at 38 publicly-funded Australian universities.
UQ academics have won AAUTs in each of the eight years since they were introduced, including the Prime Minister`s Award for University Teacher of the Year three times overall.
The University has two individual finalists and four group finalists this year. Both individual finalists, Dr Michael Bulmer from the School of Physical Sciences and Dr Kim Bryceson from the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, have developed innovative teaching methods.
Dr Bulmer, who is a finalist in the Physical Sciences and Related Studies category, said he tried to encourage intellectual creativity in his courses.
“At the start of semester the students have to think of their own experimental project to carry out. So they design it, carry it out in the first few weeks and then they have their personal data that they own and can think about through the rest of the course,” he said.
Based at UQ`s Gatton campus, Dr Bryceson is creating a new kind of student learning environment - a virtual reality classroom. She is a finalist in the Early Career Academics category.
Dr Bryceson teaches her students using the eLearning management system Blackboard, where students can discuss their work, hand in their assignments and receive their feedback via the Web.
Her innovative teaching methods are designed to take into account future developments in the agricultural sector.
“The electronic technologies we are using in the courses give the students an idea of the direction the agribusiness industry will be heading in the next 10 years,” she said.
The University also has four group finalists in the categories of Teaching Large, First Year Classes; Provision of Educational Services to the Community; Enhancement of the Quality of Teaching and Learning in the Applicant`s Institution; and Approaches to Improving/Enhancing Assessment.
The winner of the individual categories each receive $40,000, with the Prime Minister`s Award for University Teacher of the Year receiving an additional $35,000.
Media: for more information, contact Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
