2020 Excellence in Teaching Awards

Winner - Individual

Dr Cameron McAuliffe, Academic Course Advisor, Urban Management and Planning, School of Social Sciences

The field trip, Global City Processes, combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) elements to produce an immersive ‘mixed reality’ field-based learning experience, which provides students a unique and innovative insight into the processes driving urban change. Developed by Cameron McAuliffe, with the support of Learning Futures, for delivery in the unit 101589 Cities: Introduction to urban studies in Autumn 2020, this mixed reality field trip is an exemplar of cutting-edge technology-enabled learning.

The culmination of eight years’ development and refinement, this field trip forms the centrepiece of the Cities unit; an innovative immersive field-based learning experience that motivates and inspires students to learn. Built on a strong pedagogical platform, it is a successful example of leadership and innovation, realising the Western strategic vision to develop quality learning and teaching to fulfil the needs of a changing socio-technological landscape.

An online version of the field trip was developed and implemented in a two-week window in March 2020, as part of the rapid shift to online teaching brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of this ‘online field trip’, evidenced by overwhelmingly positive responses from students and colleagues across the University, further secures the case for excellence in teaching.

Winner - Team

Clinical Classroom Development Team (CCDT)

• Associate Professor Slade Jensen, Associate Professor, School of Medicine
• Dr Bronwen Dalziel, Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine
• Professor Iain Gosbell, Chair of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, School of Medicine
• Charles McCafferty, Sessional Academic, School of Medicine
• Dr Elizabeth O’Connor, Lecturer, School of Medicine

The Clinical Classroom Development Team (CCDT) is comprised of a research scientist (Associate Professor Slade Jensen) and a clinician (Professor Iain Gosbell) from the Infectious Diseases and Microbiology unit, and experts in educational design and research (Dr Elizabeth O’Connor and Dr Bronwen Dalziel) from the Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine; Prof. Gosbell is also the National Donor and Product Safety Specialist at the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. In addition, Mr Charles McCafferty, who started his third year of the Western Sydney University (Western) medical degree in 2020 after completing a PhD (in infectious diseases), was also included as a student partner in the core team, in order to incorporate student-driven learning as part of the curriculum redevelopment. The CCDT represents a passionate group of like-minded academics who would together explore ways to actively engage medical students with important infectious disease topics, which are traditionally content heavy and represent a difficult-to-engage area of learning, and provide them with a flexible and adaptable environment to apply and test their knowledge in clinical problem solving.

Winner

Dr Rhiannon White, Lecturer, Health and Physical Education, School of Health Sciences

Rhiannon is an early career academic (ECA) in her third year of employment at Western. Rhiannon teaches and coordinates two undergraduate units; Gymnastics and Dance, a third year undergraduate Health and Physical Education (HPE) unit, and Sport and Exercise Psychology, a second year undergraduate unit spanning HPE, Sport and Exercise Science (SES), and Sport Development. Rhiannon brings authenticity and currency to her teaching through incorporation of her research expertise on the mental health benefits of physical activity and the psychological factors that promote engagement in physical activity. Additionally, Rhiannon’s reflective practice enables her to align Gymnastics and Dance learning with the national HPE curriculum, and to develop authentic learning experiences and real-world assessment strategies that spark curiosity among students and develop career-ready attributes reflecting current needs in the physical education field. Rhiannon utilises traditional and technology-enabled environments to suit a range of students and learning objectives and her teaching style embraces self-determination to promote motivation towards learning. To provide student-centred and research-informed learning experiences, Rhiannon’s teaching philosophy is informed by industry, partnership pedagogy, evidence, and evaluation.

Winner

Medicine in Context Community Team

• Dr Brahm Marjadi, Director of Engagement, Senior Lecturer, Community Engaged Learning, School of Medicine
• Dr Sowbhagya Micheal,Associate Lecturer, Medication Education, School of Medicine
• Jen Spannenberg, Engagement Officer, School of Medicine

The Medicine in Context (MiC) Community Team runs the MiC program, the flagship community-engaged learning component in the School of Medicine’s integrated medical curriculum. MiC has been running since 2009 and the current Team Leader started in 2014. MiC teaches Social Determinants of Health and integrates it with medical practice to train students in holistic patient-centred care. The Team focuses on meeting the School of Medicine Social Accountability commitment and employs experiential and immersive learning methods through student placements at community-based services and face-to-face teaching. The Team’s teaching philosophy is captured in a ‘‘Four of fours’’ framework where four stakeholders (academics, professional staff, students and community partners) collaborate in four pedagogical works (co-designing, co-delivering, co-assessing and co-evaluating MiC

curriculum) guided by Boyer’s four scholarships (of discovery, integration, teaching and engagement) and based on four core values (mutual benefit, mutual respect, ongoing partnerships and shared recognition). This framework, inspired by Social Accountability, Partnership Pedagogy and Community-Engaged Learning principles, guides the Team in creating, maintaining and developing constant two-way communications with the

student body and partnerships with 200+ community organisations to date. The Team has obtained national and international recognitions in Partnership Pedagogy and Community-Engaged Learning through conference and journal publications.

Professional Careers Leadership Team - School of Business

• Dr Karina Wardle, Academic Course Advisor,Lecturer, School of Business
• Raymonda Aoun, Engagement Officer, School of Business
• Amita Chand, Engagement Assistant, School of Business
• Kay Geronikos, Sessional Academic, School of Business
• Krishan Prasad, Lecturer, School of Business

School of Medicine PBL Leadership Team

• Dr Iman Hegazi, Director of Medical Education, Director of Academic Program (Undergraduate), School of Medicine
• Dr Neeshaan Abrahams, Associate Lecturer in Medical Education, School of Medicine
• Dr Victoria Mansour, Associate Lecturer in Medical Education, School of Medicine
• Dr Elizabeth O’Connor,Lecturer, Medicine Education, School of Medicine
• Dr Kim Ramjan, Lecturer, Medication Education, School of Medicine

The Master of Project Management Teaching Staff Team

• Associate Professor Xiaohua (Sean) Jin, Director Academic Program, Project Management, School of Built Environment
• Dr Ali Al-Ashwal,Lecturer, Academic Course Advisor, School of Built Environment
• Dr Robert Osei-Kyei, Academic Course Advisor, Undergraduate Construction Management, School of Built Environment
• Professor Srinath Perera, Chair of Built Environment and Construction Management / Director, Centre for Smart Modern Construction, School of Built Environment
• Dr Sepani Senaratne, Director Academic Program, Undergraduate Construction Management, School of Built Environment
• Dr Krisanthi Seneviratne, Lecturer, School of Built Environment

Dr Susan Mowbray, Academic Literacy Advisor, Graduate Research School, Office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Enterprise and International

For developing and delivering initiatives that promote higher degree research candidates’ (HDRs) engagement and progression and contribute to establishing a collegial and supportive research culture.

For an authentic learning approach for undergraduate social science students to become positive, informed advocates and effective professionals in mental health practices in their field of study.

Primary Science and Technology Education Makerspace Team

• Dr Jessy Abraham,Lecturer, School of Education
• Kate McClelland,Technical Officer, Technical Support Services
• Clarissa Montino, Senior Technical Officer, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development
• Dr Maree Skillen,Lecturer, School of Education
• Philip Smith, Sessional Academic, School of Education
• Ben Whittington,Graduate Intern, K-6 Science, Technical Support Services

For excellence in Primary Science and Technology Education using Makerspaces to inspire, motivate, engage and build capacity among pre-service teachers, making them confident future educators.

• Dr Rebecca O’Reilly,Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Daniel Collins,UX/LX Designer, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
• Andrew Komoder,Lead UX/LX Designer, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
• Associate Professor Lauretta Luck, Director, Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Dr Anna Maceri,Academic Course Advisor, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Dr Fiona McDermid,Director, Student Engagement, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Rhoda O’Higgins, Digital Consultant, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
• Ana Smith,Sessional Academic, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Bronwyn Smith, Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Andrew Wagstaffe,UX/LX Designer, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
• Christine Walker, Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery
• Ben Wong,UX/LX Designer, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures

For creating a digitally enhanced, curriculum driven online learning environment that enriches first year School of Nursing and Midwifery students learning experience.

• Dianna Polovich, Sessional Academic, Badanami Centre for Indigenous Education
• Dr Liyaning (Maggie) Tang, Lecturer, School of Built Environment

All hands on deck! Team

• Dr Roger Dawkins,Lecturer, School of Humanities and Communication Arts
• Dr Glenn Mason,Learning Science Analyst, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
• Lynnae Venaruzzo,Head Technology-Enabled-Learning, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures