The Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards were celebrated last Monday 14 September as part of Learning and Teaching Week to recognise, reward and acknowledge the contributions made by staff, whether academic, technical or professional, to our student learning experience.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Bruce Dowton, who was traveling internationally on University business, provided guests with a video welcome and commended the nominees and award winners on the night.

“Learning and teaching is one of the two fundamental aims the University strives to excel in. The other, is about discovery,” says Professor Dowton. “Tonight we focus on the extraordinary work being done by outstanding individuals and teams across the University in learning and teaching.”

Professor Sherman Young, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) says the Awards are incredibly important and allow us to recognise the very best in learning and teaching at Macquarie.

“The Awards also provide us with an opportunity to pause, reflect and record our achievements, both as individuals, and as a university,” he says.

Speaking on behalf of the Award winners, Dr Rowan Tulloch from the Department of Media Music, Communication and Cultural Studies said it was an honour to represent a group so passionate about their work.

“What makes a university like ours so strong is the range and diversity of academic approaches it encompasses,” says Dr Tulloch. “Tonight celebrates the way we tackle the integration of innovation and traditional pedagogy through our specific research and disciplinary lenses. From flipped classrooms, to interactive lectures and industry partnerships, what we are seeing is how innovative practice can strengthen and support strong core learning and teaching principles.”

Dr Tulloch says the group all bring individual skills to face the same broad challenge of enhancing the University experience for our students.

“Our results are very different, but all move learning and teaching practice forward in unique and interesting ways,” he says.

The winners:

2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning

• Associate Professor Melanie Bishop, Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering
  For leadership in implementing active-learning approaches in the Sciences that enhance student engagement, by developing a lecture-less flipped classroom unit.
• Associate Professor Kevin Brooks, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences
  For extraordinary success in reinvigorating the teaching of perception with his engaging and enthusiastic style, his research-based approach, and his strong commitment to student-centered learning.
• Dr Erik Lundmark, Senior Lecturer, Marketing and Management, Faculty of Business and Economics
  For enriching the learning environment by harnessing student diversity and providing students with a genuine voice through inclusive, experiential, and engaging teaching practices in management.
• Dr Rahat Munir, Head of Department, Accounting and Corporate Goverance, and team; Mr Nicholas McGuigan, Senior Lecturer, Accounting and Corporate Governance; and Professor Philomena Leung, Associate Dean, Corporate Engagement and International, Faculty of Business and Economics
  For excellence in innovative curricula design that connects the accounting student learning experience with profession and community through inquiry-based participation.
• Dr Rowan Tulloch, Lecturer in Multimedia and Interactivity, Faculty of Arts
  For developing innovative gamified strategies that motivate and engage students by demystifying the academic process and making learning enjoyable.

2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Programs that Enhance Learning

• Dr Yvonne Breyer, Director, Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Business and Economics, and team; Professor Leigh Wood, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Business and Econmics; Victoria Taylor, Strategic Project Coordinator, Learning and Teaching Centre; Dr Mauricio Marrone, Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance and Shaheen Hajira, Online Education and Development Coordinator, Faculty of Business and Economics.
  For the introduction of KickStart - Pre-commencement strategies for student engagement.

2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

• Dr Neil Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Education, Faculty of Human Sciences

Congratulations to all our winners.