Celebration of Teaching 2010 - University of South Australia

Hello, this is Mahfuz Aziz
I am an Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Information Engineering.
I'm Sue Gilbert-Hunt, I'm the Occupational Therapy Program Director
in the School of Health Sciences.
I intentionally encourage students to really talk about the learning
activities, the resources, the feedback, the assessment tasks
I can identify areas that need to be addressed
that needs improvement immediately.
He'd quite often drop into tutorials and practicals to see how we were going.
Sue's had a lot to do with us and takes a genuine interest in
most of... well all of the students within OT
and she just does her best to make sure that we're all on track and
if anyone needs extra support, she's there.
I arranged to meet with Sue half way through because I was
sort of tearing my hair out wondering if this was the right course for me
and she was attuned to, I guess, my interests and where I wanted to go
and she was able to provide advice and
remind me that there are courses that are coming up in the next two years
that are more along my stream of interest and
that was very encouraging to keep going.
Sometimes we're tempted to sort of, those students that are struggling
to perceive them as being the problem
but I actually see that as a really good opportunity for me to sort of say
well, clearly what I'm doing isn't meeting their needs
if I can change what I do in my teaching and learning
to allow that student or that group of students to really flourish
then it's only going to be of benefit for the rest of the group
who seems to be managing it okay.
I think all our students bring in some experience
from their previous educational experience
and life in general.
They all have different learning styles
so I need to adapt what I'm doing to try and
provide different learning opportunities within the learning environment
but also to acknowledge that they all have very different experiences
some of which they can contribute to the learning of others.
I had a nasty accident in first year and Sue did a lot for me
She kept in contact with me to make sure that
everything was working for me and if there was anything
that she could do, she was more than willing to help
which I found really helpful, particularly as a rural student
who was here sort of on my own and didn't really know anyone.
Rather than just being there to teach, they have a personal interest
in the students doing well in the subject and passing the subject in the end.
I think just doing those extra things makes students believe
that you're actually interested in them and willing to do
willing to go a little bit extra.
In terms of approaches to teaching that motivates the students
I think the most important thing is for the learning activities
and assessment tasks to be stimulating and engaging
so that students feel motivated.
If you want people to be motivated and you want them to
be influenced to do their best, you actually have to set them a challenge
which is just above where they're actually at the moment
so that they're actually reaching to do
actually something more than they think they can do.
So assessments should be for learning, assessment itself can engage
students in a way that further motivates and stimulates the students' interests
and engages them in a way that actually enhances their learning.
He links everything that he teaches back to industry
so it gives a real focus as to why I'm studying here at uni
and where my degree is going to lead me.
I know Sue's had a lot of experience overseas
and she's very good at conveying her experiences and relating it
to the teaching that she's giving us, so it has that concrete effect in our studies.
You know, their doors always open and when their door is shut
they're always happy to make a time to see you later
they go out of their way to help you and make sure
that you're getting the support that you need.
Yeah, she's been fantastic and I'd just like to thank her a lot for her work.