A wildly popular YouTube channel about all things auditing and accounting, providing alumni with real-life board experience, facilitating institutional reflection on Aboriginal sovereignty, and incorporating career advice to enhance employability are some of the projects recognised at this year’s Learning and Teaching Awards.
Each and every one of you in the learning and teaching community is instrumental in ensuring that our UTS students and our graduates thrive. The recipients we recognise today, and importantly their innovative work, are stellar examples of the innovation we’ll need as we transform to a lifetime of learning.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Attila Brungs
On Wednesday 31 March, the UTS learning and teaching community came together for the annual Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards ceremony. Taking form in a hybrid event for the second year running, the in-person version of the event – limited to 75 participants in line with our campus reactivation principles – was held in the Great Hall and live-streamed for friends, family and colleagues.
Celebrating the 2020 Learning and Teaching Award and Citation recipients, the event’s timing was an opportunity for teaching and support staff to reflect on the overwhelming challenges they tackled in the previous 12 months. “Your hard work, perseverance and creativity have been paramount to helping the university overcome these challenges and continue to provide a world-class education for our students, whether that’s in the physical or virtual classroom,” Professor Brungs added in his opening remarks.
Joining Professor Brungs on stage to present the awards was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students) Professor Shirley Alexander.
Our community of educators and support staff make an incredible contribution to creating the best possible learning experiences for our students, to shape them into outstanding global citizens ready to excel in the ever-changing workplaces of the future. The extraordinary times we are experiencing have emphasised that ability to adapt, and I would like to acknowledge your compassion, resilience, determination and commitment to our students and community.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students) Professor Shirley Alexander
Following the formal presentations, Australian Awards for University Teaching recipient Dr Amanda White delivered a keynote presentation, in which she discussed her journey from university student to award-winning teacher, how she became an education influencer, and how to make “Amanda’s secret sauce”.
Teaching is a reflection of your soul – it is everything you are. When you go to teach in a classroom, you bring all of your past experience – even the things that have happened to you that day – to work with your students. It’s important to reflect, to look at failures, to look at successes, so that we can continuously improve the learning experience for our students.
Dr Amanda White
Interviews with some of our award-winners are available as Futures blogs:
- A chat with Dr Katherina Petrou, winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Individual Teaching Award
- Teaching behavioral economics with Andrea Giovannetti – winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Teaching Award
- Gabriel Clark discusses Back to Country: a rich sound-based Acknowledgement of Country
You can also check out the highlights video and photos from the event below. The livestream is also available to watch in full.
2020 Learning and Teaching Award Winners
Individual Teaching Award
Dr Katherina Petrou
Faculty of Science
For enabling student ownership of learning in Marine Biology.
Team Teaching Award
Associate Professor Mary Coupland (team lead), Faculty of Science; Dr Marco Angelini, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology; Dr Hadiya Valiyaveettil Mohammed Ashraf, Faculty of Science; Pranati Balijepalli, Faculty of Science; Dr Nahid Banihashemi, Faculty of Science; Coral Connor, Institute for Interactive Media and Learning; Karyn Fitzgerald, Faculty of Science; Rory Green, Postgraduate Learning Design Team; Neela Griffiths, Institute for Interactive Media and Learning; Venkata Valli Visali Kadiyala, Faculty of Science; Professor Paul Kennedy, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology; Dr Simon Knight, Transdisciplinary Innovation; Dr Cat Kutay, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology; Dr Maria Lobytsyna, Faculty of Science; Dr Jenna Price, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Dr Usha Sridhar, Faculty of Science; and Dr Stephen Woodcock, Faculty of Science
For developing students’ skills in quantitative literacy and critical thinking.
Integration of Indigenous Professional Capabilities into Curriculum Award
Dr Tamara Power (team lead), Faculty of Health, Gabriel Clark, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, and Dr Danièle Hromek, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
For facilitating institutional reflection on Aboriginal sovereignty.
Strengthening the UTS Model of Learning Award
Dr Susanne Pratt (team lead), Dr Giedre Kligyte and Claire Marshall
Transdisciplinary Innovation
For transforming Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation students into transdisciplinary futures-thinkers.
Contribution to Social Impact in Learning and Teaching
Ian Higgins
UTS Business School
For boosting UTS Alumni learning through real-life board experience.
Teaching by a Casual or Sessional Staff Member Award
Dr Alexandra Thomson
Faculty of Science
For putting the “ist” in “scientist” — driving authentic opportunities for curiosity.
Early Career Teaching Award
Dr Andrea Giovanetti
UTS Business School
For redesigning the course in Behavioural Economics at the Business School to introduce students to the art of abstract thinking by means of a holistic and life-driven approach.
Academic Support Award
Samantha Berry (team lead), Helena Asher-Chiang, Claudia Cowell, Stephanie Gonzales, Candy Jenkins, Steph Miller and Ruth Wilcock
UTS Careers Team
For enhancing student employability and confidence with in-curriculum career education.
2020 Learning and Teaching High Commendation
Early Career Teaching Highly Commended
George Harb
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
For education students to embrace 21st century skills and affect positive change.
2020 Learning and Teaching Citations
Dr Christopher Bajada (team lead), UTS Business School, Dr Sonika Singh (pictured), UTS Business School, Dr Walter Jarvis, UTS Business School, and Rowan Trayler, UTS Business School
Timothy Boye, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
Dr Cherie Lucas (team lead), Dr Carolyn Hayes, Dr Tamara Power, Dr Caleb Ferguson, Dr David Kennedy, Gail Forrest, Professor Bronwyn Hemsley, Dr Amy Freeman-Sanderson and Michelle Courtney-Harris, Faculty of Health
Associate Professor Simon Mitrovic, Faculty of Science
Dr Beate Mueller (team lead) and Associate Professor Susan Oguro, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Nina Smith, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
Dr Linda Steele, Faculty of Law
Kristina Vojvoda, UTS Business School