$180K in Fellowships awarded at USQ
The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has awarded six inaugural Learning and Teaching Fellowships, valued at $180K, to support staff undertaking projects of strategic benefit to the University.
Two senior and four associate fellowships were awarded for semester two 2008, as part of the initiative which aims to promote excellence in learning and teaching.
The two Senior Fellowships, valued at $50K, were awarded to Dr Jacquie McDonald and Dr Joseph Mula, who will also be released from their work commitments for one semester.
The four Associate Fellowships, valued at $20K, were awarded to Lyn Brodie, Dr Birgit Loch, Dr Karen Noble & Dr Robyn Henderson and Dr Penny de Byl & Helen Ison. Associate Fellowship recipients will also be released from some of their work commitments.
Dr Joseph Mula received a senior fellowship for his project, the Academic Interactive Dashboard (AID), to simplify educational technology use in classrooms and support education delivery.
'I will use an internet-based system that allows teachers, prior to the class, to pick the things they want in a particular classroom between certain hours,' Dr Mula said.
'They could choose to have video, audio, digital tablet, have the class streamed live or recorded plus have a CD produced as well as the software they need. Basically they are just picking from a menu.
'I'm aiming to simplify the software and hardware so lecturers can walk into a classroom, touch a button and everything happens behind the scenes.'
Dr McDonald's fellowship project involves establishing Communities of Practice (CoP) across the University in the area of learning and teaching.
'Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a common passion or concern about a topic and come together as a community to share and grow their knowledge and improve practice,' Dr McDonald said.
'My CoP approach provides an opportunity for staff to get together and work on learning and teaching areas they are particularly passionate about,' she said.
'I haven't been able to get leverage to implement CoP across all faculties and the fellowship buys the time to focus on the project.'
Media Contact: Jane Urquhart USQ Media +61 7 4631 2559