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Award winning academics cited for their contribution to education

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Every year for the past six a Curtin academic has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Australian Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching. In 2013, Dr Lynne Roberts ensured the tradition continued.

“This fellowship provides me with the opportunity to identify, develop and disseminate best practice to support supervisors of honours and coursework dissertation students,” said Dr Roberts, who is Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology. “I feel very honoured to receive it.”

Dr Roberts isn’t the only one lauded by the Office for Learning and Teaching this year – four other Curtin academics, Dr Ahmed El-Mowafy, Dr Faisal Anwar, Ms Anna Bunn and Associate Professor Nicoleta Maynard were awarded Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

Much like the work of Dr Roberts, the other four academics ensured that the students benefited the most, making them more career-ready or enabling them to learn key concepts more effectively.

Dr El-Mowafy immersed his students in a different environment where they felt comfortable enough to achieve industry standards in the spatial sciences. Associate Professor Maynard created curricula and resources that motivated chemical engineering students to develop their professional skills.

“I always believed that the students should have as close as possible experience to what they will find when entering the industry,” Professor Maynard said.

Ms Bunn, from the Department of Business Law, developed curricula and resources for public relations law for her students which made them better prepared upon graduation. Dr Anwar tried various different approaches to studying engineering that encouraged students to aim high and to hit professional goals.

“My teaching methods focus on the development of student independent learning, problem-solving and critical thinking skills,” Dr Anwar explained.

But when asked what drives them, all five academics agreed that they wanted their students to have the best learning experience possible and to be able to achieve their goals.

Professor Maynard summed it up best.

“I wanted our students to come every day to the university looking forward to their learning experiences,” she said. “Learning does matter; so do our learners.”

The winners will receive their award certificates at a ceremony in Fremantle on 19 September.

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