Teaching and learning
Ms Denise MacGregor
Course Coordinator, Technology Education,
School of Education
Denise has a national and international reputation for her unique Technology Education program and for her own professional expertise. She has piloted new materials, chaired working parties and written curriculum documents and support materials for educators across Australia. Her courses are conducted in collaboration with partner schools, and use industry experts in on and off-campus settings to ensure that students ‘learn-in-context’. Denise’s students easily gain posts as specialist technology educators and have won awards from the Technology Teachers Association. Students have even been asked, while on teaching practicum, to provide in-service professional development to practising teachers. Her students speak of Denise’s inspirational teaching which accommodates different learning styles, presents them with open-ended opportunities for self-directed learning, and involves them with the professional networks in their field.
David Morris & Nicholas Opie
Louis Laybourne Smith School of
Architecture and Design
For ten years David Morris and Nicholas Opie have conducted their nationally unique course in Design and Construction through working on real and complex projects. They prepare students for professional practice by involving them in actual community building projects, offer unique opportunities for ‘learning through making’, and provide an outstanding exemplar of a cross-disciplinary teaching program that uniquely blends theory and practice.
In the process, students have created award winning buildings in remote and interesting locations. David’s and Nick’s approach acknowledges that every architectural project is different and allows students to engage in the full range of activities from client consultation to working with materials, from developing transport strategies to assembly on site. Students have gained skills in recent projects that have equipped them to work after graduation with indigenous communities and remote area councils; other shave gone on to win architectural awards.. The excellence of the project outcomes can be gauged by their success in the eyes of the profession. The Western Mining Corporation Visitors’ Centre won a Commendation from the Institute of Architects in 1991 and the Patjarr project will be entered in architecture awards this year. Students praise the ‘hands-on approach’ and describe the pair as ‘passionate about their subject, making students excited about it in turn’, ‘engaging students in debate that really develops problem-solving skills’.Nicholas Opie died suddenly during the construction of the Patjarr building last yea but his work was recognised with both a Teaching Excellence and a Chancellor’s Award for Community Service shared with his colleague and friend David Morris.
Dr Kathy Paige, Mike Chartres and David Lloyd
School of Education
The award recognises the team’s integration of mathematics and science education for pre-service and in-service teachers. Kathy, Mike and David have realised that their fields of study—Maths and Science—are areas that many people find daunting, among them teachers and trainee teachers. They have carefully designed and structured courses which not only address this basic lack of student confidence, but also model teaching styles that can be used when working with students in schools.
The team’s approach is strongly underpinned by social constructivist theory. Students engage in learning experiences which are positive and practical and which build sequentially over time. The approach is in line with, and thus prepares teachers well for working within, the new South Australian curriculum framework. A new Graduate Certificate encourages experienced teachers to make connections between leading edge research and theory, modern educational policy and curriculum and day to day work in classrooms. Students report that their work with these teachers “inspires, fires, confuses and scares them”.
