Teaching excellence recognised at UQ

The University of Queensland has cemented its position as home to Australia’s best teachers, today adding three more national teaching awards to its collection.

UQ has received two awards for teaching excellence and one award for programs that enhance learning, announced by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

Each award comes with a $25,000 prize.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Debbie Terry congratulated the winners, and thanked them for enhancing the UQ student experience.

“UQ is fortunate to have so many teachers who are passionate about helping students to learn and to think,” Professor Terry said.

“Supportive learning environments and innovative teaching approaches are hallmarks of a great university which would not exist without dedicated and talented teaching staff.

“The most recent awards reflect the tremendous strengths in teaching across the university and showcase the lead that UQ is increasingly taking to enhance learning opportunities across institutions.”

The winners will officially receive their awards at a ceremony in Canberra on November 16.

The 2010 UQ winners are:

Awards for Teaching Excellence:
• Dr Greg Marston (Early Career)
Dr Greg Marston, from the School of Social Work and Human Services, has made his contribution to teaching excellence in the field of social policy, a discipline where he is an active and respected researcher and a former practitioner. Dr Marston recognises that assessment drives student learning. Rather than relying on the traditional essay and exam format, he uses a variety of assessment tasks, ranging from creative art to classroom debates, to transform the way students think about social policy issues. Ultimately he believes a university education should work toward developing in students the capacity to lead what Socrates called “the examined life”.
• Dr Shelley Dole (Social Sciences)
Dr Shelley Dole is a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the UQ School of Education. Dr Dole has developed courses and programs of study for preservice teachers in early childhood, primary and middle years’ programs, showing her versatility as a teacher of mathematics across all levels of schooling. The essence of her courses is a strong theoretical background based on current mathematics education literature, together with a hands-on approach to promote rich learning environments for connected mathematics knowledge development.

Award for Programs that Enhance Learning:
• Dr Mehmet Kizil (Educational Partnerships and Collaborations with Other Organisations)
Mining Education Australia
Mining Education Australia (MEA) was developed to deliver a common undergraduate course in mining engineering across Australia. This unique initiative was developed in response to increased demand for mining industry professionals in an environment of limited funding within the traditional university environment and a critical shortage of suitably qualified academic staff. MEA is an unincorporated joint venture between The University of Queensland, The University of New South Wales and Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia. In 2008, The University of Adelaide became a provisional member of the MEA Program. MEA provides industry with graduates equipped with professional skills, life-long learning capabilities and exposure to a standard curriculum.

Media: Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)