Celebrating Excellence In Tertiary Teaching

Media Statement
Hon Dr Michael Cullen
Minister for Tertiary Education

Celebrating excellence in tertiary teaching

The country's top tertiary teachers have been recognised at a ceremony at Parliament tonight, hosted by Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen.

"It's always a pleasure to recognise the very best in our tertiary sector," said Dr Cullen. "Excellent teachers inspire students to achieve their best. They make a vital contribution to our efforts to raise the quality of tertiary education across the sector."

The awards recognise excellence in tertiary teaching, with 10 educators receiving the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (TTEA) for Sustained Excellence of $20,000 each.

Selena Chan, Principal Academic Staff Member at Christchurch Polytechnic, received the evening's highest honour, the Prime Minister's Supreme Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award. She receives a total of $30,000.

"We want to learn from the achievements of our best teachers," said Dr Cullen. "Past winners of the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards have already been invited by NZQA to form a focus group to consider some of the challenges relating to the quality assurance of teaching.

"It has been very useful drawing on the collective wisdom of people who have been recognised for their outstanding impact on student learning.
"To transform New Zealand into a highly skilled, innovative economy, we need to equip the tertiary sector with the framework and tools to provide world-class education, skills and research.
"To do this, we are putting our money where our mouths are. This year's Budget package will enable the tertiary system to better fulfil New Zealand's needs and at the same time provide better value for money for taxpayers and students," said Dr Cullen. "And this means teachers will get the support they need so they can continue to inspire students to reach their potential."

The other award winners are:

* Margo Barton; Academic Leader-Fashion, Otago Polytechnic
* Donna Buckingham; Senior Lecturer-Faculty of Law, University of Otago
* Dr. Christine Rubie-Davies; Senior Lecturer & Programme Director, University of Auckland
* Assoc. Prof. Katharine Dickinson; Associate Professor- Ecology and Botany, University of Otago
* Dr. Diane Johnson; Senior Lecturer- Applied Linguistics, Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Waikato
* Assoc. Prof. Angus McIntosh; Associate Professor-School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury
* Peter Mellow; Senior Lecturer-Flexible Learning Advisor, Auckland University of Technology
* Dr Tracy Riley; Lecturer-School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Massey University
* Dr Bryan Walpert; Lecturer- School of English and Media Studies, Massey University

Note:
Educators were nominated by their respective institutions and then recipients selected by a committee of seven representatives of the educational community appointed by the Minister for Tertiary Education. All recipients must have demonstrated to a high standard a commitment to their subject, knowledge, enthusiasm, and the ability to stimulate learner's thoughts and interest.

The 2007 TTEA recipients represent varied expertise, ranging from innovative programme development to leadership in eLearning, to dedicated lecturers who have gained the respect of their colleagues and students for their ability to engage others in the learning process.

The award winners are:

Prime Minister's Supreme Tertiary Teaching Award

Selena Chan, Principal Academic Staff Member, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology

Selena is a dedicated scholar-baker who has worked at CPIT since 1980. She is an outstanding professional teacher who has dedicated twenty-seven years of her life to her work. She has a wide range of experience and talents including the ability to develop programmes of study that are focussed on learning outcomes. Selena's skills in curriculum development were invaluable in helping to create online courses that had teacher, student, and cognitive presence in the Blackboard learning management system. An overriding element of Selena's approach is a determination to build confidence and capability. Selena has also worked in partnership with industry to achieve the completion of reviews and the development of the new In-store/Franchise Qualification. She is a skilled assessor who employs a range of assessment techniques within formative and summative assessment activities.

Tertiary Teaching Awards for Sustained Excellence

Margo Barton, Principal Lecturer & Academic Leader, Fashion, Otago Poytechnic

Margo is a Principal Lecturer and an Academic Leader for Fashion, in the Department of Design. Margo's knowledge of her area of expertise is nationally and internationally recognised. She has also demonstrated to a high degree her passion and dedication in every aspect of her academic role. Margo is highly skilled in programme design and delivery; she is also immensely supportive of colleagues within the Department of Design. She team-teaches on a regular basis, believing that modelling collaborative processes encourages learners to think and work together in similar ways.

Ms Donna Buckingham, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Otago

Donna has taught the first year law course for 18 years to groups of between 500 and 600 students. She has a reputation as an outstanding teacher, amongst her peers, that is founded on her roles as manager and leadoff teacher in LAWS 101. Donna has embraced technology, as evidenced in many testimonials, by developing online statutory interpretation problems which students can use in their own time to further advance their skills. Donna has already been recognised by the Otago University Students' Association for her teaching by receiving a teaching award in 2005.

Dr Christine Rubie-Davies, Senior Lecturer & Programme Director, University of Auckland

Dr Christine Rubie-Davies has sustained excellence in teaching over the nine years of her university teaching career. One of Christine's most notable philosophies is the importance and value of feedback. She strongly believes that feedback and self-reflection of teaching practice enables trainees to improve their teaching effectiveness. She has a focus on deep rather than surface learning and delivers her lectures in a way that carefully integrates theory and research for student learning about teaching practice. Christine has always been particular in ensuring that Pasifika and Māori students are supported and that her practice is consistent with ensuring a good level of understanding and encouragement while also being challenging. Student ratings typically exceed 9 out of 10, and this is powerful, given the number and range of courses she teaches. Another major quality is her willingness to be on various teaching related committees and then putting in above the norm background study, involvement and follow-up work.

Associate Professor Katharine Dickinson, Associate Professor, Ecology & Botany, University of Otago

Katharine has been involved in tertiary teaching for over 18 years. In that time she has developed her leadership in many different respects. Her approach to teaching is a collaborative and evolving effort. She is always willing to discuss her teaching techniques, adjust her plans and accommodate changing situations, and debate pedagogical issues with anyone from post-graduate demonstrators to award winning full professors. Katharine's teaching is characterised by her peers as enthusiastic, innovative, interactive and extremely student centred. Katharine's teaching evaluations show clearly that across a wide range of science subjects she is able to obtain excellent results. Katharine's classes combine a love and enthusiasm for New Zealand Conservation, Ecology and Sciences that is abundantly conveyed through her tutorials and field classes.

Dr Diane Johnson, Senior Lecturer, Applied Linguistics, Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Waikato

Diane has been involved in tertiary teaching since 1993, when she moved from a position as Head of Department/Dean in a secondary school to become a teacher at the University of Waikato's Language Institute. Most of the courses she teaches are in the area of applied linguistics; this involves introducing students to language of acquisition theory and to the theory and practice of a range of different approaches to language and discourse analysis and language curriculum design, evaluation and implementation. She was involved in initiating the Whakapiki i te Reo programme. The programme has evolved and become the basis for programmes now offered by a number of educational institutions throughout New Zealand. She believes that teaching should be dynamic, interactive, creative, flexible, enjoyable, collaborative and relevant. She considers that it is important to provide an example of life long learning, encouraging learners to see the completion of each course not as an end, but as the beginning of a journey that can lead to all sorts of interesting and exciting discoveries and experiences.

Associate Professor Angus McIntosh, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury

Angus is a highly effective leader in his field of freshwater ecology. He is fully committed to life-long learning and advanced thinking in ecology, and conveys this commitment through his teaching and interactions with peers and professionals. His teaching style is engaging, he always strives to include everyone at their own level and encourages them to achieve to the best of their abilities. Angus has played an important leadership role in the shift from two separate departments (Zoology and Plant & Microbial Sciences) to a single School of Biological Sciences.

Peter Mellow, Senior Lecturer, Flexible Learning Advisor, Auckland University of Technology

Peter has taught over a wide range of levels for twenty years in the tertiary sector. He is widely recognised as a leader in the fields of Flexible Learning, e-Learning, and the rapidly expanding m-Learning. Peter is continually looking at new initiatives to help students with their learning, e.g. online course information and tests, creating interactive CD-ROMs for the students' use, which has added depth to the student learning. He is dedicated and committed to his work and to assisting others and continuously strives for excellence.

Dr Tracy Riley, Lecturer, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Massey University

Tracy has demonstrated a commitment to excellence since she began her career in 1996 as a teacher educator at Massey University. Her teaching philosophy and practice are driven by the beliefs that a scholar teacher engages in research-informed teaching and teach-informed research. She is one of the leaders in Massey University in the use of e-learning strategies, and has employed contemporary electronic teaching techniques in a way that ensures the primacy of pedagogy over technology. She is continuously engaged in ongoing development of her subject speciality through her teaching research and contributions to the educational community. Tracy is actively involved in the supervision of postgraduate research at all levels, supervising between four and eight research projects and theses a year.

Dr Bryan Walpert, Lecturer - School of English and Media Studies - Massey University

Bryan has been at Massey for four years, teaching creative writing and specialising in poetry. In this time he has revised the course and developed new ones. He has contributed significantly to Massey University and he has also consistently contributed to a broader level of teaching in the community. He has served on the organising committee for the Tertiary Writing Network conference in Napier and in October 2005 was nominated to be a New Zealand Vice Chancellors' Committee representative on the Accreditation Panel for Whitireia Polytechnic Bachelor of Applied Arts application.

ENDS

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