This year marked the first combined event for Learning and Teaching and Professional Staff. The location was also significant, taking place in the Michael Egan Hall – the first time the space has been used for an event other than graduations.

The event had a wonderful ambience as our community united to recognise the calibre and achievements of our colleagues.

When introducing the awards Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton said: “I would like to thank and congratulate all the finalists for their extraordinary efforts, and for making Macquarie such a special place to study and work. I acknowledge the passion and impact that you and your teams have on other people’s lives, and how your commitment, hard work and ingenuity serve and support our students and our local community to the highest standard.”

Congratulations to all our winners.

Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards for Professional Staff

Outstanding service

Winner – Angela Chow, Macquarie Business School

Highly Commended – Human Resources Client and Employee Relations team, Vice President (Professional Services) portfolio: Leonie Verzeletti and MQBS HR Client Team; Cathy Harding and FMHHS HR Client Team; Louise Rassack and Faculty of Arts HR Client Team; Roberta Palfreeman and FSE HR Client Team; Min Ha Choo and Portfolio HR Client Team; Sarah Bate and DVC HR Client Team; Margo Droulers, Carina Jarman, Leah Angrisano and Pam Nilon

Collaboration, connection and belonging

Winner – Professional Services Transformation team, Vice President (Professional Services) portfolio: Fiona Reyerink, Gemma Bennett, Fiona Cross, Amanda Holden, Claudia Huang, Carina Jarman, Rachael Kane, Sally Langford, Sumiit Mathur, Sanyu Mugambwa, Jim Phaboutdy, Joanna Penney and Dr Bradley Windon

Highly commended – Thom Dixon, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) portfolio

Innovation and process improvement

Winner – Results Integration Project team: Hayley Harris, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences; Matthew Robson, Faculty of Science and Engineering; Michael Herbert, Vice President (Strategy, Planning and Performance) portfolio; Michael Bogle, Kerri Mackenzie and Rachael Rotton, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Highly Commended – Shamim Joarder, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) portfolio

Highly Commended – Flex Work Project team: Dr Welly Firmanto, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences; Sarah Bankins and Joanna Penney, Macquarie Business School; Leah Angrisano, Fiona Cross, Jonathan Covell and Elizabeth Horbach, Vice-President (Professional Services) portfolio; Jonathan Wylie, Vice President (Strategy, Planning and Performance) portfolio

Leadership excellence

Winner – Dr Robyn Westcott, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) portfolio

Highly Commended – Sophie Curtis, Vice President (Finance and Resources) portfolio

Diversity and inclusion

Winner – Dr Katrina Sealey, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Highly Commended – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Registrar team: Lotus Rana, Vice President (Finance and Resources) portfolio; Gemma Bennett, Vice President (Professional Services) portfolio; Dr Stuart Upton, Faculty of Science and Engineering; Jennifer Martin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) portfolio.

Agility (for pandemic response)

Winner – Macquarie International Team, Vice President (Professional Services) portfolio: Timothy Hyde, Stephen Fan, Qiubei Fu, Jason Ray and Tanveer Shaheed

Highly Commended – Early Childhood team, Vice President (Finance and Resources) portfolio: Gumnut Cottage, Banksia Cottage and Waratah Cottage

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards 2022

Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award

Winner – The team of: Dr Nathan Daczko, Dr Prashan SM Karunaratne, Dr Andrea Chareunsy, Dr Joanne Dawson Dr Matt Owers and Dr Natalie Spence, Faculty of Science and Engineering and Macquarie Business School

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

Winner – Associate Professor Riza Casidy, Department of Marketing, Macquarie Business School

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Learning Innovation

Winner – Dr Helen Siuki, Department of Marketing, Macquarie Business School

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award 

Winner – Maggie Lee, Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics, Macquarie Business School

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Sessional Staff Award

Winner – Joshua Fitzgerald, School of Chiropractic, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student-Nominated Award 

Winners

• Dr Shireen Daft, Macquarie Law School, Faculty of Arts
• Charanya Ramakrishnan, School of Computing, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Professor Anina Rich, School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
• Professor David Orsmond, Department of Economics, Macquarie Business School
• Dr Christian Thomas, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering

To read more about the award winners and highly commended finalists, download the Learning and Teaching Awards booklet. The Professional Staff Awards booklet will be shared in This Week in coming weeks.

If you were unable to attend the event in person, watch the full ceremony below.

Register to attend the Awards ceremony on 21 November and help us celebrate all of our Highly Commended finalists and winners.

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Learning Innovation

This award recognises the development and implementation of innovations that improve learning, teaching or assessment to enable, motivate, support and inspire students to learn.

Dr Laura Brown, Associate Professor Verity Pacey, Wanda McDermott and Associate Professor Taryn Jones,  Department of Health Sciences

Macquarie’s Doctor of Physiotherapy model intensive care unit and interactive mannequins are so realistic that students are now able to enter their acute care cardiorespiratory placements with confidence – despite the unpredictable and high-pressure environment.

It’s a far cry from the anxiety they experienced prior to development of the novel high-fidelity simulation-based learning (SBL), created by this Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences team.

Students are now able to  practice caring as they would in a hospital. The final SBL experience involves immersive clinical scenarios that challenge clinical reasoning. Students assess, treat and adapt in response to acute changes in patient presentations in an unpredictable settings.

Selected final-year students can take the experience a step further with a research project that contributes to the ongoing enhancement of the program and, through dissemination of research outcomes, extends its influence to other physiotherapy courses.

“Students who are uncomfortable and unprepared for this environment are vulnerable and overwhelmed, resulting in negative clinical experiences for both the student and patient. Therefore, improving student preparedness for acute care was paramount,” said Brown.

“Feedback from clinical placement educators highlights that Macquarie students are more emotionally prepared and confident than students from other universities.

“Our learning innovation has resulted in our students becoming job-ready physiotherapists – that is, evidence-based, person-centred practitioners who are capable of performing in high-pressure acute-care environments.”

Dr Doron Goldbarsht, Macquarie Law School

In an era of student-centred ‘flipped’ classrooms – where course material is learned at home and skills honed in the classroom – Dr Doron Goldbarsht has taken this approach one step further. He has flipped the textbook.

By helping students to front-load fundamental concepts before they engage in longer texts or lectures, he aims to revolutionise university reading practices. His goal: to allow students to capitalise on the time they spend on interactive tasks in the classroom by ensuring they understand the principles first.

Goldbarsht had observed some students excelled in classroom discussions while others – despite having a good understanding of the topic – did not, due to shyness or language difficulties. As his  teaching evolved to align with Macquarie’s new student-centred philosophy, he developed online unit components to foster student participation. This was a success, but he felt the ‘flipped’ classroom was still not reaching its full potential.

“Informed by modern pedagogy and my own observations, the flipped textbook, enlivens the flipped classroom and improves the quality of student learning. It reflects my teaching philosophy, which aims to make complex or confronting material accessible to students from all backgrounds (including Generation Z) who require different methods of learning with clear goals and fast rewards.  Traditional textbooks fail to provide these so flipped reading fosters greater transference of information to long-term memory, increasing student engagement and participation,” said Goldbarsht.

“While my flipped textbook is written for law students, it is intended to inspire research and innovation in student-centred text design across disciplines.”

Dr Ediz Cetin, Dr Binesh Puthen Veettil, Dr David Payne, School of Engineering

The pressure of booking limited time in a laboratory is over for second and third-year engineering students. Thanks to the remote laboratories developed by this School of Engineering team, students are now able to work independently, at their own pace and in any location.

The team’s Remotely Accessible Laboratory Project Hardware (RALPH) provides simultaneous access for more than 30 students working on independent experiments. In an Australian first for engineering education, RALPH allows student engagement to be quantified and evaluated through real-time logging of user activity. This gives teachers more time to support students and to improve the learning experience.

The USB-controlled electronic tools of the Portable Electronic Research Laboratory (PERL) empower students with the flexibility to build and test their own circuits – anywhere, anytime.

“Importantly, both approaches enable students to enjoy exploring complex laboratory challenges at a pace that works best for them, allowing them to take the time to truly understand activities and learning outcomes – with the benefit of personalised support and feedback,” said Cetin.

“RALPH uses a fraction of the resource requirement, and our PERL kits provide students with full laboratory capabilities at a fraction of the cost.”

“It reduced a lot of the stress around laboratory sessions as I was able to complete most of the work at home, leaving me better prepared for the on-campus lab sessions.” – Macquarie student

Mahbub Hassan and Dr Weidong Pan, Application Services, Information Technology

A new video-upload process for YouTube and Kaltura means Macquarie teaching staff can focus on being experts in their field – without the pressure of keeping up with technology.

Not only does the streamlined application – created by Mahbub Hassan and Weidong Pan – save time, staff are now producing more video content, which in turn enhances student learning.

The application allows videos to be added to YouTube and Kaltura directly from iShare and embeds them straight onto the students’ iLearn pages.

“Uploading a large video to iShare now only takes a couple of minutes, while the bulk of processing time has been eliminated. Staff find the process much simpler and more time efficient as it does not require users to deal with Kaltura or YouTube interfaces. They can simply upload a video and move on without waiting for the file processing to complete,” said Hassan.

“This solution through iShare has made life so much easier, as we always struggled to find time to learn or deal with tedious media streaming systems.” – Dr Doranna Wong, Lecturer, Early Childhood Education

Dr Helen Siuki, Department of Marketing

Dr Helen Siuki believes employability and relevance to industry should underpin the design of every unit in the Master of Marketing. So when she redesigned the Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing Strategy units, she incorporated real-life problem solving and the latest industry tools and resources.

The benefit for students? Hands-on experience with social media management platform Hootsuite, two industry-recognised certifications and a unique mentoring program with industry heavyweights such as Amazon, Lego and Samsung.

Siuki’s innovations have catapulted Social Media Marketing from low student enrolments and poor engagement to one of the most popular postgraduate units in the Macquarie Business School, with an average increase of 170 per cent in enrolments since it was redeveloped.

“I believe my innovative curriculum design has facilitated active participation, collaborative learning and student engagement. Students are fully engaged and motivated to attend classes, work and learn together, and push themselves out of their comfort zone,” said Siuki.

“This class has encouraged me to take further marketing classes and change my degree into a double degree.” – Macquarie student

“This is an innovative collaboration that provides the opportunity for students to engage with industry professionals to develop skills and experiences that will be highly valued by employers like Microsoft.” – Microsoft representative

Register to attend the Awards ceremony on 21 November and help us celebrate all of our Highly Commended finalists and winners.

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award

This award recognises staff for their quality teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn. 

Maggie Lee, Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics

Rarely is a situation black and white. Which is why Senior Lecturer Maggie Lee is inspired by industry to develop her students’ professional judgement before they attain their associate actuary qualification.

But using professional judgement to solve problems in risk and financial modelling for the first time is often daunting for students. To alleviate this, Lee develops a personalised ‘mutual learning community’, where students lead discussion and become ‘co-creators’ in their learning.

She invites guest lecturers from large financial institutions to showcase the breadth of actuarial problems – and to inspire students on their career journey. Industry practitioners also provide feedback on assignments to boost her students’ employability skills.

To make her teaching more relevant to emerging industry needs, Lee also designed a new curriculum that extends beyond traditional financial services contexts to modern technology contexts. This included creating Macquarie University’s first Actuarial Data Analytics unit.

“The pandemic has shown that it is now more important than ever to develop future business leaders who can use their professional judgement to be fearless, adaptable and innovative in an increasingly uncertain world.

Through my step-by-step guidance, it is incredibly rewarding when students start to confidently and persistently express their own ideas to an ever-changing business context and in turn, mature in their professional reasoning,” says Lee.

“I truly appreciate the space that Maggie has provided for students to provide their thoughts and insights in the discussions, where no student is deemed either right or wrong as the questions are often open‐ended.” – Macquarie student

Dr Foad Taghizadeh, School of Engineering

Dr Foad Taghizadeh “enthusiastically embraces” the biggest challenges facing his electrical engineering students: remembering complex material and a lack of practical experience.

To tackle this, he ‘flipped’ his classroom to create a more engaging learning environment, and implemented the ‘project-based learning’ approach to bridge the gap between theory and real-life application.

After success in his Electrical Machines unit, the third and fourth-year lecturer extended his model to Electrical Networks before helping a colleague use it in Smart Power Grids.

“In engineering, students are easily demotivated by the complexity of the material, particularly if the lessons taught are not reviewed right after the lecture. I have been using the scholarly strategy of simplification and repetition, and have observed how this helps students understand and solve complex problems without easily forgetting them.

“I’ve also witnessed an improved balance between theory and practice as well as significant improvements in learning and better student inspiration, engagement and teamwork skill development,” says Taghizadeh.

“Foad is a fantastic mentor and lecturer, offering his expertise in a very clear manner that helps in understanding complex electrical engineering procedures and problems.” – Macquarie student

“Probably the best unit offered at Macquarie. Good content, taught at a good pace, good incorporation of practical lab activities, and a well-thought, highly relevant project in the second half of the semester.” – Macquarie student

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Sessional Staff Award

Recognises staff for their approaches to teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn.

Hijab Alavi, School of Computing

Hijab Alavi has been a casual academic for six years. She genuinely cares for her students, and always goes the extra mile to give each individual the tools to succeed in both physical and online classes.

Her teaching method involves tailoring her lessons to the needs of a particular class and making the content relevant to today, based on her philosophy that every student is different, and the same approach may not work for all cohorts.

“I believe that just providing a theory is not sufficient as students will be expected to apply these outside the classroom. This approach inspires and motivates students as they can see a realistic future goal and it makes them feel more comfortable to ask questions about both the course content and career ambitions. I foster student engagement by explaining the concept, letting the student attempt the question and then showing them the step-by-step method to solve it,” says Alavi.

Alavi’s students also rate her highly – thankful for her one-on-one support and ability to engage everyone in the class. Alavi actively encourages participation from all students, tailoring her questions for easier, shorter responses.

“I genuinely care about my students’ future, and it’s always great to receive messages from them, updating me with their career goals.”

“Hijab was so friendly and bubbly, and she managed the class well. I really liked that she encourages everyone turn on their video cameras because it made it feel more like a class.” – Macquarie student

“Hijab always ensured that everyone was participating and was doing so at a high standard.” – Macquarie student

Loren Demol, Department History and Archaeology

Drawing on her own confusing or overwhelming experiences as an undergraduate, Loren Demol is able to demystify ancient history to the many non-historians who take her units. Students from disciplines outside the Faculty of Arts often take ancient history units as electives, and find it difficult to reference ancient evidence and support their arguments.

Demol created succinct essay and referencing guides for her undergraduates and includes a summary of key points from lectures at the outset of every tutorial to connect the content.

She also responds to every discussion forum post and writes a weekly summary post to consolidate the topic.

“My teaching philosophy is to provide students with discipline-specific training and knowledge of how people lived in, and understood, the ancient world in an encouraging academic setting which supports and fosters students’ interest in ancient history,” says Demol.

“Loren was the best tutor I have come across in my university studies and made this unit very exciting, fun and informative. If I had a chance to take this unit again I honestly would.” – Macquarie student

“My tutorials with Loren have been wonderfully engaging and filled with her own personal notes relating to the content every week. She is such a lively, passionate and knowledgeable asset to the teaching staff for the department.” – Macquarie student

Joshua Fitzgerald, Department of Chiropractic

Joshua Fitzgerald is highly “infectious” – in a good way. His enthusiasm (and jokes) are so engaging, his students consistently acknowledge his energy and efficacy as a teacher – with many nominating him for Learning and Teaching Awards.

His person-centred approach to teaching mirrors the vision he has for his students  – to become safe and effective person-centred clinicians.

“Utilising my privileged position of teaching widely across the undergraduate and postgraduate chiropractic degrees, I am afforded the opportunity to build bridges for students, highlighting the interconnection between units and how they are constructively aligned.

“I take great care to cultivate safe, supportive and inclusive learning environments that invite all students to participate in active learning and critical thinking. I partner with students to empower them to navigate their learning materials through deconstruction of complex concepts, teacher and student storytelling, interactive kinaesthetic demonstrations and games. This allows me to scaffold, contextualise and transform their learning experience. I am humbled by my students’ support of this approach,” says Fitzgerald.

 “I have not met a teacher who is willing to give more energy and drive into their efforts in class. I personally believe Josh is the sole reason for me having a chance of passing the unit he teaches due to content load and difficulty. He knows how to make even the most confusing concepts understandable.” – Macquarie student

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student–Nominated Award

Recognises staff for their teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn.

Associate Professor Trevor Case, School of Psychological Sciences

Enthusing and engaging his students through his passionate delivery of content is important, but Associate Professor Trevor Case has an equally important goal: “To inspire and motivate them to pursue knowledge.”

The Social and Personality Psychology convenor and lecturer has delivered his knowledge of social psychology with passion, clarity, humour and respect for 15 years – striving to challenge preconceptions with scientific knowledge.

His success is demonstrated by exceedingly – and consistently – high ratings for a large, compulsory undergraduate unit. Ratings have remained high as the unit has grown from 350 students in 2008 to 1200 students in 2022.

“I was completely blown away by your lecture content. It was so controversial, interesting and thought-provoking.” – Macquarie student

“Thank you for a brilliant unit which was perfectly run, seriously interesting and brilliantly delivered. I bet you don’t hear this often, but I wish it didn’t have to end.” – Macquarie student

Associate Professor Melissa Norberg, School of Psychological Sciences

By personally connecting with her students, Associate Professor Melissa Norberg transforms them into critical thinkers – and ultimately narrows the science-practice gap.

Her transformative teaching – with a strong social and emotional presence that fosters togetherness and engagement – ensures her students are ready to make informed, real-life decisions.

“I challenge my students’ worldview by teaching them to independently evaluate theory and research rather than rely upon ‘expert’ opinion,” she explains.

Student ratings reflect her dedication to fostering scientific thinking. Undergraduates and postgraduate students agree that her teaching prepares them to excel in professional practice.

“I feel like your class really raised the bar for me regarding critical analytical skills and how I justify the clinical decisions I will soon be making. It was always clear that you were passionate about helping us develop the skills we need to be the best clinicians we can be.” – Macquarie student

“Associate Professor Melissa Norberg makes an effort to connect with her students. She creates an environment that allows her students to understand her on a personal and a professional level. She is an inspiration for myself and hopefully many others in becoming future psychologists.” – Macquarie student

Professor Anina Rich, School of Psychological Sciences

Her own research and expertise in attention gives Professor Anina Rich an advantage when developing and delivering engaging content. But it’s her passion that translates into exceptional teaching, and stays with her students.

When she started teaching undergraduate Cognitive and Brain Sciences units in 2017, Rich’s goal was to inspire, build research and critical-thinking skills, and motivate and engage.

“I aspired to clearly present complex information, be inclusive and ensure every student gets something from my units – even if only an appreciation of how amazing the brain is.”

She expected this would be a solid model for teaching, but was surprised at just how rewarding it is too.

“Anina Rich is a brilliant convenor and lecturer. Her material and delivery are engaging, dynamic, relevant, and very well structured. She is always happy to have a chat, to answer questions. Anina always goes above and beyond for her students. Anina was able to deliver a great semester despite the lockdown. I don’t feel that we have missed out on anything or that our learning has been penalised in any way.” – Macquarie student

“Anina, thank you for all you do to keep the class so interactive and give your students everything they need to succeed. You are so transparent, so responsive to feedback and always engaging me with extra opportunities to get involved with.” – Macquarie student

Dr Ian Collinson, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature

When Dr Ian Collinson arrived at Macquarie in 2009, he was faced with the challenge of making compulsory, complex theory units as interesting as learning to shoot films, record podcasts or design websites. Student feedback suggests he has succeeded.

Collinson’s first goal is to help each student feel they can “do it”. He then “demystifies the theory without trivialising it” through engagement and challenges that create opportunities for transformation.

Students who may have feared boredom in his units, not only recognise their transformative learning, but continue to employ his strategies throughout university. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without a dash of humour thrown in as well.

“Thank you again for being the best lecturer and tutor I’ve had at uni. You have an incredible talent as a teacher, and your passion is contagious – regardless of the subject.” – Macquarie student

“I had very low expectations for my enjoyment of this unit. I’d considered it as just another unit I’d have to complete on the way to a degree – a hurdle. The way Ian Collinson set out the course and taught it was hugely engaging and made the mundane interesting. It helped me realise the inner workings of so much of what I observe in the world and was a crucial foundation unit. If I could sign up for a 3000-level unit of this course I would.” – Macquarie student

Dr Ali Lalbakhsh, Engineering, Macquarie University College

“Not good enough.” This mindset is Dr Ali Lalbakhsh’s greatest challenge in convening and lecturing entry units for pathway engineering students. It’s also his greatest career achievement.

His mindset growth philosophy, coupled with specialised group projects and out-of-the-box engagement strategies in a safe environment, enables students to uncap their potential. He does this so well that many of his students defy convention by publishing in journals, and shining on nationwide innovation platforms.

“My effort has turned one of the least-favourite and plagiarism-affected units of the engineering program into a pathway for rising stars.” – Dr Ali Lalbakhsh

“You made me realise pursuing a degree in engineering is something I can definitely accomplish. The lessons you taught were very eye-opening, not just into the world of engineering, but into how people learn and how different we all are.” – Macquarie student

“He made the whole class feel that we were going to be not just engineers, but people who would change the world for the better.” – Macquarie student

Dr Chong It Tan, Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics

Of all the factors that make Dr Chong It Tan such a successful teacher, he says his “passionate enthusiasm and approachableness” are the most important.

“Students tend to be motivated and inspired when lecturers genuinely care for their learning,” says Tan, who creates an interactive and engaging community of learners.

The feedback he cherishes most, though, is when students ask if he will be teaching and guiding them in future units.

“These moments illustrate the trust and rapport I have managed to build with students, and is a constant reminder that I am making a difference in their learning journey” – Dr Chong It Tan

“He cares about preparing us for the future, giving us real-life examples and making the course demanding in order to give us insights into future courses we will take under the actuarial degree.” – Macquarie student

“Chong It is a fantastic lecturer – he always unpacks concepts in an engaging, enthusiastic and thought-provoking manner. This unit is quite conceptually challenging, but at no point did I feel overwhelmed. I felt I was really able to appreciate the elegance and beauty of the mathematics behind a lot of the ideas introduced in the unit.” – Macquarie student

Charanya Ramakrishnan, School of Computing

Walking into a lecture with her jolly, upbeat attitude hooks students from the outset. The “happy ambience” created by Charanya Ramakrishnan is contagious, and students react with their undivided attention. Ramakrishnan makes learning fun, and this, she says, helps students retain concepts more efficiently.

But she has even more to offer. Ramakrishnan put Macquarie on the map as Australia’s first university to introduce the React Native technology framework, which has created internship and job opportunities for students. She has also produced more than 150 bite-sized videos, which have been used across four units.

“I fed off your energy. It may seem impossible to think university students could be alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic for a 6pm Monday class every week. But we came excited to learn because you came excited to teach. Your devotion to your students is on a level I’ve never seen before with any university staff.” – Macquarie student

“The amount of effort and care this educator puts into her work and students is unrivalled. She has done an immeasurable amount for the students, never discounting a student, regardless of how small, basic or easy the questions or stories are.” – Macquarie student

Dr Parmod Chand, Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance

The ‘four-step approach’ to delivering content – adopted by Dr Parmod Chand – has been found by education researchers to be one of the most effective techniques to enhance the learning experience. The theory-context-personalisation-practice philosophy has worked wonders for Chand’s students too, with many attesting to his innovative, research-backed teaching, which is highly engaging and brimming with workforce capabilities.

“I strive to produce graduates who are lifelong learners and possess the skills and competencies needed to succeed in our dynamic world,” he says.

He has been embedding research to develop innovative teaching practices to foster student engagement. Among Chand’s achievements is his web-based ethics game, Ethics MVP, which encourages thoughtful team-based responses to ethical scenarios. He also innovated a framework-based teaching model for students to develop competency in their technical knowledge.

“Professor Chand is obviously an expert in this field; he’s a dynamic and attention-grabbing lecturer – it was great to be able to learn from him.” – Macquarie student

“Professor Chand is very knowledgeable about the course content. His enthusiasm for the topic really showed through in his lectures and helped engage me in learning.” – Macquarie student

Dr Christian Thomas, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Mathematics is a subject that can bring wonder. Dr Christian Thomas strives to change the perception among students who arrive at university with a dislike for maths, or thinking they are “terrible at it”. As a fundamental subject for STEM research, that develops crucial employability skills, Thomas has welcomed the challenge by flipping his classroom and transforming the learning experience with short videos, engaging resources – and a lot of enthusiasm.

“Changing the perception that mathematics is dull to a subject that can bring wonder is a challenge that I have integrated into my teaching.” – Dr Christian Thomas

“I’ve always struggled with maths. The way in which you presented it made it much more accessible and it finally gave me some confidence in my own ability. Not to mention that it finally made me enjoy maths instead of viewing it as a hill to climb. No other subject I’ve done has been this well adapted to the online teaching format.” – Macquarie student

“Christian is the best mathematics teacher I have ever had. He never failed to make increasingly difficult concepts seem manageable through his enthusiastic and insightful teaching style.” – Macquarie student

Dr Dave Hare, Media, Macquarie University College

Dr Dave Hare’s teaching philosophy is grounded in ‘hard fun’ – where students take charge of their own learning to tackle the challenges of new subject matter.

As his pathway students progress through their final production, Hare reassures them that their work is progressing well, with mistakes or misunderstandings corrected along the way – without the risk of penalty.

Unsolicited feedback suggests most of his students don’t notice the ‘hard’ aspect of their journey with him, and simply find the learning ‘fun’. They successfully complete their study with him ready to progress to the next stage of their media studies.

“The classroom and course become a positive environment for learning. And, for me, work on the final production is maintained, levelled-up and built over time: an example of ‘hard fun’.” – Dr Dave Hare

“He is very comfortable with the students and can explain topics very easily. All the doubts in our classes are easily resolved with him. He takes special care with students.” – Macquarie student

“Dr Hare is an excellent teacher. He is always creating a healthy and collaborative learning environment for students. He effectively engages the classroom while showing enthusiasm, and is consistently displaying a warm and approachable attitude. He also is great at explaining hard-to-grasp concepts and is always patient with the class when doing so.” – Macquarie student

Dr Camilla Di Biase-Dyson, Department of History and Archaeology

Learning a language is difficult, admits Dr Camilla Di Biase-Dyson, especially when you’re doing it for the first time. Imagine when it’s an ancient one with a picture-based script! Yet enrolments have increased dramatically for Hieroglyphic Egyptian since she transformed the Egyptian language curriculum in 2020. Her innovative, theory-driven methodology promises an exciting and enriching language experience that students use in their everyday lives – both for fun things like birth announcements, café names and tattoo design, as well as insights into language and culture.

Di Biase-Dyson seeks to continually improve her teaching, launching the world’s first survey of student learning experience of Hieroglyphic Egyptian so she could engage critically with her own practice.

“The excitement in students’ voices as they unravel a text together and read it aloud is what gets me up in the morning.” – Dr Camilla Di Biase-Dyson

“Camilla always went above and beyond for our class. She was continuously enthusiastic and encouraging, always providing every source of help without needing to be asked… Camilla was my favourite teacher this semester and is part of the reason I’m continuing this subject into next session.” – Macquarie student

“Camilla is an amazing teacher. She cares so deeply about the learning and wellbeing of her students. Camilla has made a very difficult topic feel not so daunting in the way she structures her lessons and the unit.” – Macquarie student

Professor David Orsmond, Department of Economics

Professor David Orsmond hooks his students into Economics by looking at their own lives. He enthusiastically dispels myths that the subject matter is “all maths-based” or “too difficult” by demonstrating how they already use economic decision-making processes. And just as quickly, the large cohort of first-year undergraduates transforms into engaged and motivated learners.

Orsmond joined Macquarie after 30 years working with policy institutions around the world in order to impact students’ learning of the core ideas of economics. He also delivers guest lectures and MBA units.

His ability to make complex material accessible and to equip students with sought-after job skills is backed by student testimonies.

“Thank you for your engaging lectures and interesting topics. Your seminar style, along with your enthusiasm and complex understanding of labour economics, made the unit something I would look forward to each week. I am incredibly glad that I chose it and can confidently say that I better understand (and explain) the complicated nature of our labour system.” – Macquarie student

“David’s enthusiasm for economics and his style was the one thing that kept everyone engaged and made the unit interesting. His strong industry experience really enhances the quality of the lectures.” – Macquarie student

Dr Shireen Daft, Macquarie Law School

When the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in Week 2, Dr Shireen Daft faced a significant challenge – how to strike a balance between oppressive content and a healthy learning experience. This lies at the heart of her teaching philosophy – marrying real-world scenarios with immersive gamified learning so that students can experience and identify the limitations in the law.

By “throwing” students into the role of decision-makers, Daft was able to make learning as engaging as possible – without trivialising the experience of war.

“What makes the roleplaying model work is that there are consequences to each scenario. At the end of the semester, I conduct war crimes tribunals where students account for their actions. As well as creating a sense of accountability, this gives students sought-after experience in tribunals and advocacy.” – Dr Shireen Daft

“I was excited to do the work and come to tutorials. This was not what I expected with such a dark and heavy topic. Shireen’s passion for the topic is clear and helps to engage students. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone with a base level of interest in war law.” – Macquarie student

“Shireen’s commitment and dedication is beyond compare. She went above and beyond with the time and energy she dedicated to each of us… Shireen is the embodiment of all the attributes of a dream teacher, and of an incredible person. Macquarie University is lucky to have an academic with such levels of commitment and compassion.” – Macquarie student

Associate Professor Richard Garner,
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Associate Professor Richard Garner’s passion for making complex mathematics clear and concise has put him at the forefront of some of the faculty’s “most challenging” classes.

After teaching high-level, research-directed courses when he started at Macquarie as a research fellow in 2011, Garner has since embraced the opportunity to teach large first- and second-year units of predominantly engineering and computing students. He says that while this style of teaching is more challenging, it is also more rewarding.

“The fact is, even elementary mathematics is exciting when opening someone’s eyes to it for the first time.”

And if someone doesn’t get it? “It’s an opportunity to revisit and give a clearer, more detailed explanation. I then reflect carefully on how these points may be addressed better in future offerings.”

“Richard has done a great job making the complex concepts of multi-variable calculus graspable and visually understandable which goes a long way to helping understand the subject.” – Macquarie student

“Lecture material linked with real-world examples to aid our understanding and inspire us to think about problems before they were addressed. I also appreciated how theorems and proofs would be accompanied by examples, as I usually find it hard to navigate these without concrete numbers being shown as part of the process.” – Macquarie student

For the next four weeks, we will be shining a light on the accomplishments and impact of the Learning and Teaching Awards Highly Commended Finalists. We start with ‘The leaders in excellence’ – an exceptional group of staff whose teaching inspire others to achieve their best.

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

This award recognises staff for their excellence in teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn.

Associate Professor Kathleen Tait, Macquarie School of Education

With just one student completion in 2020, Associate Professor Kathleen Tait has transformed the Independent Education Project unit into an independent, self-paced learning experience – for students of any background. In 2022, there will be 84 successful completions.

When Tait was engaged to provide one-on-one mentoring in 2020-21, she immediately recognised the difficulty facing students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with English as a second language.

To support their unique learning requirements – before they submitted assignments – Tait developed seminars and supplementary activities to teach students essential research and writing skills.

In 2021, she became Co-convener of the unit, and this year, as completions of the unit started to skyrocket, she accepted the role of Unit Convener.

An advocate for fostering work-related knowledge and skills, Tait has inspired her students to learn so successfully, some of their work has been published in professional journals.

“The steep trajectory from novice to expert researcher was overwhelming. Students with English as a second or third language were at a serious disadvantage. I believe they should become empowered by their own development as professionals. Of course this does not happen spontaneously – as their teacher, I have a crucial role to play in designing activities that simulate professional practice and orchestrate classroom interactions that mediate learning.”

Professor Iain Collings, School of Engineering

The enthusiastic reviews on Professor Iain Collings’ YouTube channel speak volumes for the transformative impact of his teaching – both for his students at Macquarie and the international engineering community.

From students to teachers to practicing engineers in all corners of the globe, Collings’ videos have received 1.1 million views in the past 12 months with ‘Likes’ at 98.6 per cent. The comments also serve as a source of new topic ideas, so he can continually add to his 191 videos (52 this year).

Collings’ student-learning philosophy is underpinned by the videos, which support a self-directed flexible pace – as bite-size topics of the whole unit; on-demand searchable answers; and browsable ‘fundamental understanding’ content. He also strives to inspire and enable his colleagues to enhance their approach to learning and teaching.

“My videos are carefully planned and produced to provide a genuine feeling that the viewer is receiving personalised one-on-one attention, engaged in the thinking process behind the concepts and ideas.

“I no longer present lectures, instead flipping the classroom and challenging students in practical sessions linked to industrial applications. I seek to influence student thinking and their fundamental understanding of complex and abstract concepts while providing clear practical connections and application to real-world engineering systems and design.”

Associate Professor Riza Casidy, Department of Marketing

Associate Professor Riza Casidy’s passion is to integrate academic research within business education to solve society’s biggest problems.

His ‘scholarly authentic’ approach addresses the gap between graduate skills and employer expectations, empowering students to engage with business organisations and propose practical recommendations based on their analysis of scholarly literature.

This approach has transformed his students into active, strongly engaged learners that are equipped with real-world employability skills, and highly capable of forging meaningful connections with industry.

Casidy’s empirical article on scholarly authentic approach has provided intellectual leadership on best practices in business education, with 118 citations received to date.

“Associate Professor Casidy has been instrumental in linking marketing students with the industry through his authentic teaching approach that empowers students to apply theories to address contemporary challenges faced by organisations” – Narendra Prasad, Former CEO, Australian Marketing Institute

“I am glad that your students not only demonstrate good knowledge of marketing theories, but also an ability to apply their learning to address challenges faced by our organisation. Hopefully, we can see some of your students working as part of MYOB’s team in the near future.” – Edward Dennis, SEO Manager, MYOB

Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award

This award recognises educational leadership that has influenced and enhanced learning and teaching and/or student experience.

Associate Professor Vida Siahtiri, Department of Marketing

In just five years at Macquarie, Associate Professor Vida Siahtiri has not only developed the University’s first specialised postgraduate marketing course, but taken it from five enrolments to 310, and the number-one ranking in Australia (top 20 in the world).

In designing the course, Siahtiri conducted extensive market research including a sector-wide competitor analysis, industry consultation with leading marketers, and employability studies investigating current and emerging skills and job opportunities.

“I adopt various approaches to advance students’ employability skills beyond the classroom. This extends to reviewing student CVs, career advice and connecting students with industry partners. The Master of Marketing employability program was recognised by Professor S Bruce Dowton, Vice-Chancellor and nominated to represent the University in the 2021 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards under the Employability Award category.

“I also work to empower and inspire my colleagues to adopt innovative teaching and collaboration with extensive mentorship and a support-based ecosystem for fostering a collegial environment.” – Associate Professor Vida Siahtiri

“I consider Vida my most influential academic mentor as she always tries so hard to bring out the best in me by creating a collaborative and collegial learning environment.” – Dr Pardis Mohajerani

Dr Nathan Daczko, Dr Prashan Karunaratne, Dr Natalie Spence, Dr Matt Owers, Dr Joanne Dawson and Dr Andrea Chareunsy, School of Natural Sciences, Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics, Department of Economics

The innovative cross-faculty collaboration that brought these team members together continues as students in both faculties complete their capstone units – together, tackling the global call -to-action posed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The ‘agile’ world of work that emerged from the 2020-2021 COVID upheaval was the impetus for the development of two unique cross-disciplinary capstone units in which Bachelor of Commerce students consult with their Bachelor of Science counterparts, and vice versa. Invaluable project feedback and support is given to each team through a business or science lens. The units replace almost 40 major-based capstones.

Using a blend of three learning methodologies, the new units are designed to ensure students are prepared for the world of work through active and transformative learning.

“These are multi-dimensional, cross-disciplinary, cross-sector, complex programs that integrate contributions from many individual expert viewpoints to give the students a holistic and integrated experience. It’s an opportunity for students to cross-consult across the schools.

“An innovative aspect of the capstone units involves an exciting three-week cross-over between Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science students, with each student consulting and offering expert advice on the project briefs from the other discipline. Students experience greater confidence working in teams, and learn about the importance of seeking professional feedback.” – Dr Nathan Daczko

“It is abundantly clear that this feedback is invaluable.” – Macquarie student