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Media Release
$500,000 AWARDS TO RECOGNISE
AUSTRALIA’S LEADING UNIVERSITY TEACHERS
30 November 2004 MIN 1015/04
Creativity and innovation in university teaching were today celebrated with a number of Australian academics and teams recognised as part of the annual university teaching awards.
Six Australian academics, one team of Indigenous university teachers and four university teams were the winners of the 2004 Australian Awards for University Teaching.
The awards have been running for eight years and are focused on raising the status of university teaching, and celebrating those men and women who have demonstrated the highest levels of dedication, professionalism and enthusiasm for their efforts on behalf of their students.
Professor Mark Israel from Flinders University of South Australia took out the top honour – the Prime Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year. He also won a Teaching Award in the category of Economics, Law, Business and Related Studies. The two awards provide Professor Israel with $75,000 to continue valued work in his field.
The Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Teaching this year went to a team of indigenous teachers at Curtin University of Technology for their work engaging students with indigenous culture and history.
This year, a new category was introduced for early career academics - those who have taught in a university for less than seven years. This category received the most applications, many of them outstanding and of the highest standard.
Winners in the teaching award categories receive a grant of $40,000 each. Institutional award winners receive $50,000 each. The Prime Minister’s Award winner receives an additional $35,000. The total pool of awards this year is valued at $515,000.
The Australian Awards for University Teaching will be boosted under the Australian Government’s $2.6 billion higher education reform package, Backing Australia’s Future. The package contains a range of measures focused on enhancing the quality of teaching and rewarding excellent teachers in our universities, including:
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an additional $8 million over 2006 to 2008 to enhance the Australian Awards for University Teaching. From 2006, 210 awards valued at $10,000 each, 40 awards at $25,000 and a $50,000 Prime Minister’s Award will be offered;
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$251 million over 2006 and 2008 for a new Learning and Teaching Performance Fund which will reward institutions that best demonstrate excellence in learning and teaching; and
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$22 million per year from 2006 for the new Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. The new Institute, announced in August, will provide a national focus for the enhancement of learning and teaching in Australian higher education.
These initiatives underpin the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting excellent teaching and Australia’s talented university teachers.
Today’s winners span a broad range of disciplines but share a desire to deliver the best possible learning experience for students.
I congratulate those academics and institutions recognised today for their ongoing commitment to excellence in university teaching.
Please see Attachment A for a complete list of winners and Attachment B for winners’ profiles.
Media Contact:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Yaron Finkelstein 0414 927 663
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Jenni Hudson 02 6240 7732
Attachment A
TEACHING AWARD WINNERS
Biological Sciences, Health and Related Studies
Associate Professor Eleanor Wertheim, La Trobe University, Victoria
Economics, Business and Related Studies
Professor Mark Israel, Flinders University of South Australia
Humanities and the Arts
Professor Wayne Hudson, Griffith University, Queensland
Physical Sciences and Related Studies
Professor Joe Wolfe, The University of New South Wales
Social Sciences
Dr Merrilyn Goos, The University of Queensland
Early Career Academics
Dr Noel Meyers, Queensland University of Technology
The Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Teacher of the Year
Indigenous Australian Cultural Studies Programme Team: Mr Christopher Heelan, Mr Clive Walley, Ms Catherine Donaldson, Mr Darren Garvey and Ms Michelle Webb, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
INSTITUTIONAL AWARD WINNERS
Innovative and practical approach to the provision of support services that assist the learning of students
The University of Queensland
Innovative and practical approach to teaching in large, first year classes
Griffith University, Queensland
Innovative and practical approach to the provision of services to the local and/or regional community
University of South Australia
Innovative and practical approach to the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning
The University of New South Wales
The Prime Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year
Professor Mark Israel, Flinders University of South Australia
Attachment B
WINNERS’ PROFILES:
Biological Sciences, Health and Related Studies
Associate Professor Eleanor Wertheim, La Trobe University
Eleanor Wertheim is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychological Science. She is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society who specialises in clinical, health and peace psychology. Associate Professor Wertheim currently teaches and co-ordinates professional psychology courses and programmes, mostly in postgraduate coursework programmes. She also teaches negotiation skills to Law and Legal Studies students. Associate Professor Wertheim is not interested in only transferring ‘information’, but wants to promote ‘true’ student learning in her role as a teacher.
Associate Professor Wertheim is an outstanding educator who stands as an inspirational teacher and a benchmark against which others in her field can compare their skills and approach.
Law, Economics, Business and Related Studies
Professor Mark Israel, Flinders University
Mark Israel, a Professor of Law and Criminology and Associate Dean (Research), teaches criminology within the School of Law. He is an External Academic Adviser at the City University in Hong Kong and holds qualifications from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Professor Israel has written a tertiary education textbook that was short listed for the Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing in 2003 and which is seen as the leader in its field in Australia.
Professor Israel is considered to be an inspiration to his students who find him a vibrant, engaging and witty lecturer, and his fellow teachers, who have incorporated his innovative ideas into their own teaching. Professor Israel nurtures students’ commitment to lifelong learning and inspires students to leave his classes thinking that their degree might be the beginning and not the end of their tertiary education.
Humanities and the Arts
Professor Wayne Hudson, Griffith University
Wayne Hudson is Head of the School of Arts, Media and Culture and has lectured on a range of disciplines, including history, philosophy and sociology and is a nationally recognised teacher of world history. He is also qualified in law. Professor Hudson promotes global citizenship and has recently pioneered a new approach to Global Citizenship Education. As a result of his mix of enthusiasm, commitment, knowledge of the scholarship of history and substantial publications and research related to teaching, Professor Hudson has been able to take a leading role in national and international professional activities to promote new approaches to history teaching. He is especially concerned to use World History to promote peace.
Professor Hudson is an excellent communicator who is regarded as an inspiring teacher. He challenges his colleagues and his students to address issues in global ways and to think more flexibly and creatively about issues of identity, security and peace.
Physical Sciences and Related Studies
Professor Joe Wolfe, The University of New South Wales
Joe Wolfe, a Professor of Physics, has developed a new course — Physics Thinking — for Advanced Science students. This small, problem-based course, without lectures, aims to teach students to think like a physicist rather than just “learn some physics”. This course is considered to be one of the School of Physics’ most important recent teaching innovations.
Professor Wolfe has taught a range of subjects including electronics, thermal physics, biophysics and modern physics. He is a prolific author of educational web pages on a range of topics in physics, especially music acoustics, about which he has also written a radio series. He is a highly motivational teacher with tremendous commitment and outstanding talent who is extremely responsive to students' needs.
Social Sciences
Dr Merrilyn Goos, The University of Queensland
Merrilyn Goos’ goal is “to prepare excellent mathematics teachers”. To achieve this Dr Goos, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, considers it is important not only to teach students about teaching, but also to model excellent teaching practice. Dr Goos is a joint Director of Teacher Education and coordinates the Bachelor of Education (Hons) programme, which she redesigned to be suitable for teacher education graduates by incorporating research methodology and coursework.
Dr Goos has a deep understanding of developments in mathematical teaching from around the world and works with the notion that mathematics education ought to go beyond a mastery of a pre-determined body of knowledge and procedures to include mathematical reasoning, problem solving and real world applications. She is described as a positive, inspirational teacher whose enthusiasm for the subject is contagious.
Early career academics (teaching in a university for not more than 7 years)
Dr Noel Meyers, Queensland University of Technology
Noel Meyers is the Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Natural Resource Sciences. He was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the CSIRO, before embarking on a teaching career. He chose teaching because he wanted to make a positive contribution to the next generation of scientists and to help them acquire the skills and abilities they will need to face problems that will arise in the future.
Dr Meyers is well-known for his innovative and creative approaches to student learning, for example, creating a fictitious on-line island to help third year students learn about terrestrial ecosystem processes. Dr Meyers has adopted a student-centred approach, modifying his teaching methods to suit the learning needs of students. His students and colleagues acknowledge his initiative, teaching and leadership as outstanding.
Neville Bonner Award
Indigenous Australian Cultural Studies Programme Team, Curtin University of Technology
The Indigenous Australian Cultural Studies Program (IACSP) has endeavoured to increase the accessibility of Indigenous history, cultural and contemporary issues to a wider proportion of the Curtin population. The team – Mr Christopher Heelan, Mr Clive Walley, Ms Catherine Donaldson, Mr Darren Garvey and Ms Michelle Webb – offers students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills required to work in a range of professional roles which require an understanding of the cultural diversity and cultural ways of Indigenous Australians.
The IACSP, which is part of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin, is considered to be a vehicle to achieving Curtin’s goal that no student will graduate without a serious engagement with Indigenous history and culture. The team is described as outstanding and of the highest calibre in terms of cultural knowledge, teaching skills and commitment.
INSTITUTIONAL AWARDS
Provision of support services (on, and/or off campus) that assist student learning
The University of Queensland
Harnessing Support for Research Students’ Learning
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Professor Alan Lawson (Director, UQ Graduate School and Dean of Postgraduate Studies)
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Dr Catherine Manathunga (Lecturer in Higher Education, Postgraduate Supervision and Teaching)
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Professor Christa Critchley (Deputy Director, UQ Graduate School)
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Mr Ray Johnson (Principal Administrative Officer, UQ Graduate School)
The University of Queensland (UQ) Graduate School, in association with the Schools and several organisational units, provides an extensive range of training, services and support for all of the University’s research students, their advisors and administrators through a fully integrated and situated framework. This takes effect from prior to the students’ enrolment through to the completion of their studies. The framework involves providing training and support to the advisors (formerly supervisors), coordinators and administrators involved with research students, as well as to the students themselves.
The UQ Graduate School has established a focused and committed identity for the entire graduate community of the University. It coordinates and maximises targeted and educationally appropriate support for all of the University’s graduate community. Its approach is extremely helpful, for example, with research students able to more fully appreciate the role of their advisor.
Teaching large, first year classes
Griffith University
An Introduction to Science Education
The course Primary Science Education 1 is a compulsory science education course for approximately 350 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary). The overarching teaching philosophy of the course is “a desire to instill in our students a positive view of science and the conviction that they can be, and most importantly want to be, effective primary school science teachers”. The course uses strategies such as configuring classes to maximise engagement (e.g. by using small group self-paced study as well as lectures), establishing a welcoming and engaging environment and using quality control systems, such as student feedback to steer the teaching and course structure.
The strategies used by Dr Swindell and the course teaching team are very well received by students and are highly regarded. The course is considered to be an excellent example of innovation in teaching large first year classes.
Provision of educational services to the community
University of South Australia
Raising the educational aspirations of students in the Northern regions of Adelaide
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Associate Professor Brenton Dansie (Dean, Teaching and Learning, Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment)
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Ms Fiona Underwood (Project Officer for the Dean)
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Ms Amanda Walsh (Sustainable Regions Peer Tutoring Project Officer)
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Ms Zorica Nedic (Lecturer, School of Electrical and Information Engineering)
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Mr Mike Elliott (Director, University Northern Adelaide Partnerships)
This Programme has been developed to improve the tertiary participation rates of students in a region with high youth unemployment, but with significant growth in the automotive, defence and electronics industries. It seeks to demonstrate to school students that tertiary study is within their reach through a number of initiatives. These include the Peer Tutoring programme, the University Orientation Program, the Robotics Peer Mentoring programme and the Senior Science and Mathematics programme. These initiatives provide an opportunity for secondary students to interact with university students and to experience university life and learning.
Responses to these initiatives have been enthusiastic. They have had a positive impact on school students in terms of their interest and skill development, as well as providing school teachers with opportunities to experience new technologies.
Enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning in the applicant’s institution
The University of New South Wales
Communities of Practice: A staff centred approach to enhancing learning and teaching at UNSW
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Ms Michele Scoufis (Director, Learning and Teaching Unit)
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Dr Peter Looker (Senior Lecturer, Learning and Teaching Unit)
This strategy consists of four components designed to improve the student learning experience through the creation of communities of practice in learning and teaching. The Foundations of University Learning and Teaching programme aims to assist newer academics to develop teaching skills and to improve the student learning experience. The Innovative Teaching and Educational Technology Fellowship is a six month full-time fellowship for academics and staff involved in supporting learning and teaching to undertake a project that addresses an educational priority for their School. The other components of the strategy are the UNSW Learning and Teaching Awards and the UNSW Network in Learning and Teaching, which provides regular workshops on key learning and teaching issues.
These initiatives are popular and they highlight the deliberate attempt the University is making to effect deep institutional change by engaging staff in the process of ongoing and sustainable change.
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