Congratulations to winners of the 2023 Student-Led Teaching Awards, presented by the Flinders University Student Association (FUSA) on 8 December to celebrate learning and teaching excellence at Flinders.
The Student-Led Teaching Awards (SLTAs) provide an opportunity for students to recognise and appreciate educators who have made a significant impact on their learning and overall educational experience at Flinders.
These awards are slightly different than others offered at Flinders – because students have full control by determining the award categories, nominating the educators and selecting the winners.
The awards, introduced in 2021, have grown in popularity, attracting a record number of nominations in 2023. This year, two new award categories were introduced: the Outstanding Wellbeing and Student Support Award, acknowledging academic staff members who prioritise and promote student wellbeing, and the Innovation in Digital Teaching Award, which replaced the Best in FLO award from previous years.
Students were invited to nominate academic staff working across the University in six categories – and in 2023, FUSA accepted teacher nominations in both June and October, to ensure that staff working in both semesters were eligible for nomination.
Guidelines for nominations are kept broad, so that students can best express themselves and reflect on aspects of teaching they deem important. As a result, the written responses from students were diverse in terms of style and content.
Student-submitted nominations for these awards offer unique insights into how students prefer to learn. In registering their praise of deserving staff members, students point to ideas that can be leveraged to enhance both learning and teaching systems.
In November, a panel of seven students, chaired by the FUSA Education Officer Jess Williams, met and spent many hours deliberating and assessing nominations against the student-set criteria. It was no easy task to choose winners, as there were many worthy recipients – including one award this year that had top two candidates who could not be split, so the panel chose to award two top prizes.
FUSA congratulates all the winners of the 2023 Student-Led Teaching Awards.
2023 Student-Led Teaching Award (College Awards)
- College of Business, Government and Law – Dr Rajesh Johnsam
- College of Education, Psychology and Social Work – Associate Professor Nathan Weber
- College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences – Dr Renato Musolino
- College of Medicine and Public Health – Grant Gallagher
- College of Nursing and Health Sciences – Jacqueline Warren
- College of Science and Engineering – Dr Masha Smallhorn
The University Ducks in Teaching Award (chosen from the above group of winners) went to Jacqueline Warren, Senior Lecturer in Optometry from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. According to the winning nomination, “Jacqui’s exceptional qualities as a Topic Coordinator make her a deserving candidate for this recognition, considering her profound impact on not only myself but also my peers, along with past and future students”.
Most Supportive Supervisor Award: Dr David Hobbs (CSE) and Associate Professor Shane Pill (CEPSW).
TA that Saved the Day: Dr Valentina Bertotti (CEPSW).
Innovation in Digital Teaching: Chanel Bradwell (CMPH).
Outstanding Wellbeing and Student Support: Jo Dennis (CNHS).
For a further list of Honourable Mentions, please visit the FUSA Website.
FUSA would like to thank all students who took the time to nominate staff for these awards. The nominations were very inspiring and made for a very tough judging process.
The SLTA’s will return in 2024 to once again celebrate the wonderful academic staff at Flinders and their outstanding impact as educators.