Giving credit where credit's due
The
Flexible Learning Centre’s Dr Peter Hill (pictured) has a message for
UniSA’s teaching staff - don’t hide your light under a bushel.
Employed by UniSA since the beginning of the year to promote, facilitate and develop teaching and learning grants and awards, Dr Hill wants to encourage academics to put their teaching expertise on show.
"The University and the higher education sector as a whole are very focused upon excellence in teaching and learning, and we want to reward that," he said. "That’s important for the staff member, the University and for higher education in Australia, especially as we are seeking to better place ourselves in an international environment.
"We know we do a good job in teaching and learning at UniSA but the awards are a way of demonstrating that excellence, they are a measure of that excellence among our peers."
In addition to the University’s internal grants and awards recognising excellence in teaching and learning, Dr Hill is keen to spread the word about the external Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education honours.
"The Carrick Institute was established last year by the Federal Government to effect improvement and strategic change across the higher education sector in Australia. It runs three competitive grants programs and also has a series of awards for teaching excellence.
"The grants are designed to develop new ways and new approaches in teaching and learning," Dr Hill said, adding that innovation may come in the form of modified existing, as well as newly developed, methodologies.
"All of the grants look within their disciplines at different ways of delivering learning outcomes but they, in turn, will have application to other disciplines across the sector."
Dr Hill said the University was very keen for people recognised for their excellence in teaching to share that knowledge and practice with others.
"This can come about through the traditional ways of disseminating things such as conferences and meetings, but also through interdisciplinary get togethers and other forums to share research ideas, whether in teaching and learning or other applied research areas."
For further information about teaching and learning grants and awards, contact Dr Peter Hill at +61 (08) 8302 1381 or peter.hill@unisa.edu.au or visit www.unisa.edu.au/staff/grants or www.carrickinstitute.edu.au