UOW educators' excellence recognised

The teachers, all with different research and teaching backgrounds, were awarded citations for outstanding contributions to student learning and will receive funding for future projects.

Journalism lecturer Shawn Burns was nominated for his work in developing a hands-on curriculum for journalism students, including programs such as UOWTV.

"I want students to refer to themselves as journalists and be engaged with the community as journalists and have that responsibility," he said.

Dr Tracey Kuit, lecturer in the school of biological sciences, was recognised for her efforts over the last three years in engaging students with content-rich subjects by creating online resources and introducing group research projects for first year students.

"It's about developing lifelong learning skills, especially in the sciences. We're trying to think of curriculum innovations that will embed skills rather than just rote-learning content, like communicating within groups," she said.

Both lecturers pointed out the citations not only acknowledged their work, but the work of other staff in their faculties and the students themselves - a sentiment they believed all the winners would agree with.

"Yes, there's things we do on an individual basis, but part of the citation from my view is that there's multiple people involved. It's an award for everyone," Mr Burns said.

The other winners from the university were Dr Michelle Eady, Dr Theresa Larkin, Dr Kylie Mansfield, Dr Lindsay Oades and Dr Caz Sandison.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Eeva Leinonen said the university was proud to have so many staff members acknowledged for their good work.

"The citation awards this year are distributed across many different faculties and that really shows it's not pockets of excellence, but that we have a lot of good practice across the university."

The winners will receive their awards at a presentation on September 17.