Charles Sturt Executive Dean's Teaching Award

The Charles Sturt Executive Dean's Teaching Awards recognise and reward excellence in teaching. The awards recognise and reward a diverse range of contributions (including direct teaching and assessment practices, curriculum development, leadership, and scholarship) made by individuals and teams over a sustained period and in line with the achievement of our education vision.

These awards provide a pathway for being nominated to develop an application for the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT).

The Executive Dean's Teaching Awards can be used as evidence of successful engagement with reward and recognition opportunities in learning and teaching as outlined within the Teaching Capabilities Framework and Self-Assessment Tool in the context of EDRS, academic promotion/probation, and peer review.

2024 Executive Dean’s Teaching Award winners

Recipient/s	Faculty	School	Citation
Dr Miao Li	Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences	School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering	For showcasing community-centred learning and teaching pedagogy in engineering education.
Dr Monica Short	Faculty of Arts and Education	School of Social Work and Arts	For leading by developing a corpus of scholarship for teaching online or face-to-face, including how to embed into subjects innovative, kind, impactful, codesigned transformational learning opportunities.
Dr Hayley Stannard	Faculty of Science and Health	School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences	For the development of a real-world application of animal anatomy and physiology using innovative resources and relevant curriculum.
Professor David M Watson	Faculty of Science and Health	School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences	For inspirational teaching, immersing students in the heart of Australia as they learn the principles and practice of field ecology.

Past recipients

You can see the previous year's Executive Dean’s Teaching Award winners.

See previous recipients

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Awards and fellowships

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Australian Awards for University Teaching

Higher Education Academy Fellowships

HIDDEN Am I eligible?

Applicants must have completed probation and may be:

full time, part time or sessional staff
teaching students as support staff
an individual or a team.

Teams may be any size and include cross-faculty/cross-school staff. A team name must be provided. Team applications may include professional staff, but the first named applicant must be an academic staff member from within a faculty.

Early career academics with less than five years’ experience who have passed probation are encouraged to apply. The five years can be non-sequential and must be counted on a session basis. In assessing the evidence supporting early career nominations, consideration will be given to the career stage of the nominee.

Applicants may only be included in one application per year.

Previous recipients of an Executive Dean’s Teaching Award or an AAUT Award are not eligible for individual renomination for five years, but can apply as part of a team providing they are not the lead applicant. The team nomination should not substantially replicate the original nomination.

Previously unsuccessful applicants are eligible for renomination in the following year.

Applications will be assessed based on the extent to which applicants show evidence that their contribution has:

influenced student learning, student engagement and/or the overall student experience
gained recognition from fellow staff, the institution, and/or the broader community
been sustained over a period of more than one session of teaching

Applications are assessed by a panel chaired by the Sub-Dean (Academic Development) consisting of the Sub-Dean(s) Learning and Teaching, or equivalent, and a nominated Head of School from each Faculty. The panel makes a recommendation for the selection of winners to the Executive Dean. There are up to four winners per faculty.

HIDDEN Selection criteria

To apply, staff must complete the Executive Dean’s Teaching Award Application Form and submit a written statement of up to four pages detailing claims against the assessment criteria describing the contribution in line with one of the following selection criteria.

1. Approaches to teaching and the support of learning that influence, motivate, and inspire students to learn

This may include:

Fostering student development by stimulating curiosity and independence in learning
Participating in effective and empathetic guidance and advice for students
Assisting students from equity and other demographic subgroups to participate and achieve success in their course
Encouraging student engagement through the enthusiasm shown for learning and teaching
Inspiring and motivating students through effective communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
Enabling others to enhance their approaches to learning and teaching
Developing and/or integrating assessment strategies to enhance student learning
Evaluating the quality of programs and activities including consideration of past and current student feedback to support student learning
Collaborating with students in learning experiences that involve problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking around authentic issues
Using pedagogical strategies that align with authentic workplace settings
Supporting students towards Indigenous cultural competency
Encouraging students to challenge themselves to attempt new experiences
Building partnerships with the community/industry to provide students with insight into the workplace

2. Development of curricula, resources or services that reflect a command of the field

This may include:

Developing and presenting coherent and imaginative resources for student learning
Implementing research-led approaches to learning and teaching
Demonstrating up-to-date knowledge of the field of study in the design of the curriculum and the creation of resources for learning
Communicating clear objectives and expectations for student learning
Providing support to those involved in the development of curricula and resources
Contributing professional expertise to enhance curriculum or resources
Evaluating the quality of curriculum, resources, or services.
Partnering with community/industry to develop authentic resources and materials
Leading and working with peers to develop resources and teaching materials that reflect the Charles Sturt regions and student cohorts
Designing curricula that explicitly scaffold student learning throughout the program
Actively engaging in curriculum design for course and subject review, leading processes that utilise data and field knowledge to inform the design
Engaging students/industry/community/professions in the co-design of learning experiences that are innovative and student centred
Collaborating to build resources that support integrated learning opportunities for students

3. Effective assessment practices that bring about improvements in student learning, may have a focus on academic integrity or digital solutions, or any assessment strategies that bring about change

This may include:

Showing advanced skills in assessment/alternative assessment practices
Using a variety of assessment strategies to bring about change
Adapting assessment methods to different contexts and diverse student needs and learning styles
Contributing professional expertise to the field of assessment to improve program design and delivery
Dissemination and embedding of good practice identified through assessment
Evaluating the quality of the assessment practices
Supporting colleagues to reflect and improve assessment of learning teaching through communities of practice, mentoring, collegial review
Utilising diverse approaches to gathering student data around assessment and responding to feedback
Engaging in peer review processes of assessment practice to support innovative and quality assessment design

4.Innovation, leadership, or scholarship that has influenced and enhanced learning and teaching and/or the student experience

This may include:

Participating in and contributing to professional activities related to learning and teaching
Innovation in service and support for students; coordination, management and leadership of courses and student learning
Conducting and publishing research related to teaching
Demonstrating leadership through activities that have broad influence on the profession
Providing innovative learning and teaching for different contexts, including technology enhanced environments, for large and small class sizes and/or to meet the needs of a diverse student cohort
Influencing the overall academic, social, and cultural experience of higher education
Evaluating the feasibility of the innovation or the quality of leadership that enhances learning and teaching and/or influence student experience
Researching and exploring opportunities to engage students with issues of sustainability, community building, real world problem-solving in learning and teaching
Co-creating learning experiences with the profession/communities that transform student understandings of culture, self, and work
Leading innovative curriculum design that is multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural and future facing

Charles Sturt Executive Dean's Teaching Award

2024 Executive Dean’s Teaching Award winners

How to apply

Key dates

Recources

2024 Executive Dean's Teaching Award Conversation

Past recipients

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HIDDEN Am I eligible?

HIDDEN Selection criteria

1. Approaches to teaching and the support of learning that influence, motivate, and inspire students to learn

2. Development of curricula, resources or services that reflect a command of the field

3. Effective assessment practices that bring about improvements in student learning, may have a focus on academic integrity or digital solutions, or any assessment strategies that bring about change

4.Innovation, leadership, or scholarship that has influenced and enhanced learning and teaching and/or the student experience

HIDDEN How to apply?

Guideline and Form

What do successful applicants receive?