Some of Massey ASCILITE Award winners (Top left): Dr Cadey Korson, Associate Professor Carolyn Gates, Dr Grace Qi. (Bottom left): Dr Preet Singh, Neil Ward and Antony Jacob.
Massey University has taken out half of the top awards at this year’s Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) Awards.
Two Massey staff members won the Emerging Scholar Award and three staff members won Innovation awards.
Dr Cadey Korson of the School of People, Environment and Planning and Associate Professor Carolyn Gates of the School of Veterinary Science were each awarded the Emerging Scholar award.
The ASCILITE Emerging Scholar Award aims to recognise the outstanding contributions of emerging scholars who are engaging in the exemplary use of, and/or research into, technologies for learning and teaching in tertiary education.
Three Massey University projects were also awarded the Innovation Award, an award that recognises innovative projects and initiatives undertaken by a team of people in support of the exemplary and research-informed use of technologies for learning and teaching in tertiary education.
The Health and Clinical Decision Making One teaching team from the School of Nursing won an Innovation Award for their online course delivery concept, titled “Batman: The Online Clinical Classroom”.
The team’s creativity and commitment to their students and each other enabled them to demonstrate how they supported the nursing student community during the challenging restrictions of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Lecturer Dr Grace Qi of the School of Humanities and Online and Technology Enhanced Learning (OTEL) Specialist Kevan Loke won the Innovation Award for their project titled “Scavenger Hunt Game: Chinese Language Camp”.
Their project created a set of research-led practical activities to meet the needs of the diverse learners of Chinese language and culture in a socially supportive, real-life context.
The mobile game encouraged the learners to engage in mini-tasks and interact with teachers, peers and other on-campus students and staff. Their project showcases a valuable partnership between a researcher and a Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) specialist.
Dr Preet Singh, Neil Ward and Antony Jacob of the School of Veterinary Science also won an Innovation Award for their project “Leveraging Technology for Virtual Learning Experiences”.
Their initiative aimed to develop the capability of creating a virtual microscope experience for teaching histology and pathology, as well as enabling integrated virtual microscope images in E-publication of research and developing virtual experiments on living tissues to create an online experimental experience for teaching practical classes in physiology.
Director of Digital Innovation Jean Jacoby says Massey’s success at ASCILITE this year is a real validation of the work happening across the university.
“We have talented teachers and professional staff, and the strategic focus on blended teaching environments and Digital Innovation is clearly bearing fruit for us.
“We’ve known for years that we have great staff doing great things – it is wonderful to see them being recognised more widely.”
ASCILITE is an incorporated not-for-profit professional association for those engaged in the educational use of technologies in tertiary education.