The Charles Sturt Teaching Academy grants support improvements to academic quality, our staff's careers and our students' learning experience.
The 2024 Teaching Academy grant applications were received in January. Applicants were advised of the outcome in April. Funding applications were for activities designed to deliver on these objectives under the following priority areas:
The following staff received the Teaching Academy grant in 2024:
| Recipient/s | Project outline |
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Dr Holly Randell-Moon Professor Sue Green Yindyamarra Nguluway Dr. Tanya Davies | Interdisciplinary Approaches to Place-Based Teaching at Regional Universities. Place-based education and the co-constitution of place through custodial management are central to First Nations’ knowledges. The land and environment forms the basis of intergenerational learning in Indigenous knowledge systems. In non-Indigenous dominated education systems such as universities, knowledge is separated into disciplines. Indigenous place-based education offers an interdisciplinary approach to grounding particular knowledge bases within place. This project will survey the use of place-based learning strategies across disciplines at CSU, map a community practice of learning and teaching, provide best practice guidelines, and create multi-authored scholarship of place-based learning in a tertiary context. |
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Dr Brian Sengstock Associate Professor Sonja Maria Dr Kristina Griffin Dr Lisa Clegg | Inclusive Care Unleashed: Students Championing LGBTQIA+ Health Through an Interdisciplinary Health Forum. The ongoing health disparities that negatively impact the health outcomes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and gender non-conforming communities are increasingly being highlighted through a growing body of evidence. These inequities, and the associated poor health outcomes for gender and sexually diverse people, often stem from gaps in the clinical education of health care professionals, and the negative interactions gender and sexually diverse people may have had with health care professionals. This co-designed project will pilot an innovative interprofessional initiative to support health curriculum reform, through delivering LGBTQI content which may be absent from the formal curriculum. |
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Buchanan Reed Kerryn Butler-Henderson Aathira Suvi Jodie Brabin Judith Crockett | Digital Health Academic Literacy Initiative (DHALI). The Academic Digital health Capability Community of Practice (ADCCoP) will be open to all staff teaching into a regulated health course at CSU to upskill in digital health capabilities. Incorporation of digital health learning opportunities into our health courses is important to ensure we are producing a work ready workforce, yet many of our academic workforce lack digital health literacy. ADCCoP will provide online resources and a seminar series about digital health theory and practice to address this issue. The capability of staff before and after the series and how it informs teaching practice will be measured. |
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Dr Louise Pemberton Dr Natalia Bilton Rebecca Fabry Lorraine Rose Dr Noelia Roman Dr Brendan Adams | Personalising open source textbooks to promote equity, inclusivity and engagement in anatomy and physiology education. This project will provide equity in access and opportunity while increasing engagement for better success for all first-year FoSH students enrolled in human anatomy and physiology (A&P). Adaptation and customisation of two Open Textbooks to suit the specific needs of our students along with an evaluation of student feedback on how to best develop and adapt textbooks will ultimately lead to the production of two flexible, engaging and authentic artefacts. It is envisaged that this project will increase student satisfaction, success, retention and address a long-standing issue with how to contextualise foundational A&P in service taught subjects to multiple disciplines. |
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Dr Sarah Teakel Associate Professor Kelly Linden | Enhancing First-Year Success: Embedded Tutor Support, Learning Analytics, and a Pedagogy of Kindness. The future of Australian tertiary education will involve more students from equity backgrounds than ever before. However, outcomes of students from non-traditional backgrounds remain lower than more advantaged peers across the country. We have pilot data that suggests embedding content specific tutors into key first year subjects can improve the performance and retention rates of equity students. This project will inform research and best practice principles based on the analysis of an institution-wide Embedded Tutor Program. This enhanced support for students will be invaluable to the university while we review the current Support for Students Policy. |
| Eileen Petrie | Future Mental Health Nurse Framework: Strengthening Recruitment and Retention through Education, Research, and Practice Integration towards Mental Health Nursing Career Pathways. Mental Health education within a comprehensive bachelor of nursing degree has fallen short since its implementation. This form of education should enable graduating nurses to work in any area of nursing and apply holistic care. As a result of this shortfall, the mental health workforce has declined. This study aims to analyse the national approach to mental health education in undergraduate nursing programs and provide recommendations to develop an approach to support nursing students to favour mental health nursing as a career choice thus the rebuilding the mental health workforce. |
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Dr Penelope Larsen Dr Tegan Hartmann Dr Ryan Al-Natour | Promoting Inclusivity and Awareness of Deafness Within Tertiary Education. This project aims to promote inclusive education and decrease barriers for students who may be Deaf, Hard of Hearing, non-Verbal or know Auslan (Australian Sign Language) as their first language; to actively participate at Charles Sturt University as students who are valued and have their learner needs addressed. Select staff in SAHESS & SoE will undertake an Auslan course to integrate into curriculum (where possible) and the delivery of exercise science and education subjects. Thereby, promoting inclusivity and awareness around Deafness within a tertiary education context. |
Associate Professor Rachel Kornhaber | Generative Artificial Intelligence in Learning And Teaching: Exploring Students' Intentions Towards Adopting Artificial Intelligence In A Rural And Regional Tertiary Institution. "Exploring students' intentions towards adopting artificial intelligence in a rural and regional tertiary institution." This innovative study explores rural student perspectives on their intention to integrate AI into their university study both within and outside of university guidelines. Our study aims to explore aspects of student’s willingness to use AI as well as explore equity of access to both paid and unpaid versions of AI. In addition, aims to increase knowledge on student’s AI use and equitable access as well as provide insights for university stakeholders to make AI an accessible and transformative tool for students regardless of geographical location. |
| Elyce Green Narelle Patton Michelle Eastwood Shayne Chau Sue Slater Louise Lotz Anna Horn Rosemary Corrigan Elise Ryan | Industry-university collaboration to create a faculty-wide, online WIL supervision module. Faculty of Science and Health (FoSH) work-integrated learning (WIL) placements are widely implemented across a broad range of disciplines including health, agriculture, and environmental science. Quality assurance, including supervisor professional development, is integral to provision of high-quality WIL experiences for students and supervisors. This project aims to address the challenge of providing professional development to large numbers of industry supervisors across a broad range of disciplines through co-creation (with industry) of a WIL placement supervision online module accessible to all FoSH WIL supervisors. WIL partnerships will be strengthened and ultimately WIL experiences enhanced for students and supervisors. |
| Dr Miao Li Dr Saeed Shaeri Ms Chelsea Kovacs | Evaluating and Enhancing the Efficacy of the Community-Centered Learning and Teaching Pedagogy in the Engineering Course. The Engineering curriculum employs a community-centered pedagogy, integrating real-world contexts to foster problem-solving skills, cultural competency, and social responsibility. In the first year, students engage in human-centred design while they communicate with clients via a gateway. In the second year, they work on community-sourced projects, delivering prototypes and engaging directly with clients. Subsequently, students embark on placements as cadets, addressing clients’ needs while gaining practical experience. A scholarly project is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of this pedagogy, utilising thematic analysis of interview transcripts from seven cohorts. This endeavour aims to inform and refine the course’s community-centred approach, ultimately cultivating socially responsible engineers with empathy, collaboration, and sustainability at their core. |
| Dr Prasada Podugu Dr Bianca Spaccavento Professor Suzanne McLaren Dr David Harding | Psychological Practice in Rural and Remote Australia: Assessing Effectiveness with a Focus on Teaching and Learning Factors. Psychological Practice in Rural and Remote Australia: Assessing Effectiveness with a Focus on Teaching and Learning Factors. This research aims to explore how graduates from Charles Sturt University psychology courses practice in rural/remote/regional (RRR) areas of Australia. The study will establish challenges psychologists face, their needs, and how Charles Sturt's training prepares them for effective work in RRR areas. The findings will provide insights into the experiences of Charles Sturt graduates in RRR areas, shedding light on factors influencing their choice to work. This research will provide implications for improving teaching and learning of professional psychology programmes at Charles Sturt. Understanding of the challenges graduates experience will also contribute to improved L & T and graduate outcomes. |
| Clare Singh Shayne Chau | Group Learning Contracts as a Tool for Improving Team Dynamics and Learning Outcomes in Medical Radiation Science Education. Our project aims to explore the impact of group learning contracts on team dynamics, collaboration, and student satisfaction in medical radiation science (MRS) education. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study involves undergraduate MRS students at Charles Sturt University, who will engage in team-based learning activities, including a group assignment. The research will assess the effectiveness of group learning contracts in enhancing team collaboration, communication, and conflict resolution skills, as well as their influence on students' readiness for the workforce. Anticipated outcomes include improved team dynamics and student experiences, a reduction in anxiety associated with group assignments, and enhanced preparedness for professional challenges. |
The inaugural 2023 Teaching Academy grant applications were received in June. Applicants were advised of the outcome in July. Funding applications were for activities designed to deliver on these objectives under the following priority areas:
The following staff received the Teaching Academy grant in 2023:
| Recipient/s | Project outline |
| Dr Jessica Sears | Health and Physical Education (HPE) work-integrated learning (WIL) pilot Ph2: research its impact on Teacher Education Students efficacy. The ever-increasing teacher shortage crisis is prominent in national and international discourse. This crisis is now directly impacting Teacher Education Students (TES). There have been concurrent challenges in TES education with student engagement and retention. With increasing geographical remoteness, these issues are all exacerbated. This year, new ways to deliver core Health and Physical Education (HPE) education subjects were piloted by adopting work-integrated learning (WIL) and implementing innovative assessment tasks. This project aimed to strengthen TES efficacy. Efficacy influences the enactment of curriculums, TES confidence, and TES well-being and retention. WIL was built within a subject, providing teacher education students with opportunities to be in schools, observing, team teaching, and micro-teaching while returning to the university to reflect and prepare further without the stresses of a four-week block practicum. Teacher education students learned theory and pedagogical approaches on the university site, implemented these into practice on the school site, and then reflected on the process. The Teaching Academy Grant will allow us to investigate the impact of WIL on TES efficacy and take the learnings to roll it out more successfully across all four campus footprint areas in 2024 |
| Dr Taneile Kitchingman, Ms Rhianydd Shakeshaft | Evaluate the use of the online interactive oral task to assess the clinical competencies of fourth-year psychology students authentically. In the field of in the field of tertiary psychology education there is general agreement on the importance of developing and evaluating core competencies. However, finding valid and reliable ways to assess required competencies within psychology is a challenge. Real-time assessments of competency are considered to be authentic, reliable and valid methods which overcome limitations of traditional methods for assessing clinical competencies. These assessments are commonly used in postgraduate psychology programs, however they are less commonly used to assess pre-competencies at the undergraduate level. To date, no known studies have evaluated the use of an interactive oral task to assess undergraduate psychology students’ development of required pre-competencies. The current project will employ a mixed-methods design to evaluate the use of an interactive oral task to assess fourth-year psychology students' development of required pre-competencies regarding counselling microskills and skills for reflective practice. An online survey will be used to assess students experience of the interactive oral task, the impact of the task on their engagement and depth of learning, and their perceptions of the task as an authentic assessment of skills required in their future profession. Focus groups will be conducted with students, and with registered psychologists involved in marking the interactive oral assessment, to further understand their experience and perceptions of the task. The findings of this evaluation make a valuable contribution to the literature regarding and will inform the use of interactive oral tasks to authentically assess psychology students’ development of competencies required for professional practice. |
| Dr Esther Callcott | The use of silicone wound models in teaching appropriate aseptic technique and wound care of heavily infected wounds to Veterinary Technology students. This project aims to develop a silicone wound model that is durable, reusable, and potentially transferrable across Charles Sturt programs. The model aims to give students hands-on experience in dealing with heavily infected wounds enabling students to develop skills in aseptic technique and wound care. This will facilitate students to develop their skills prior to embarking on work placement building their confidence and capabilities enabling Charles Sturt to work towards producing industry-ready graduates. |
| Dr Marie Bhanugopan, Felicity Stanley, Hayley Stannard | Develop new comparative animal anatomy and physiology resources to support student learning and engagement in these subjects. The study on Anatomy is challenged by the decline in the availability of cadaveric resources. While the basic of physiology teaching is challenged by complex processes involved in organ function. The use of computer aided learning and development of interactive materials are increasingly used to add value to anatomy and physiology education thereby increasing the use of alternative mechanisms for teaching beyond the traditional textbooks, formalin fixed specimens and the cadaver. The use of above resources such as videos, development of models and simulations and interactive images and animations for teaching would allow lecturers to share their knowledge using visual objects rather than as conceptual thoughts. In addition, the use of these resources will provide access to students to learning at any time beyond the classroom, providing an authentic learning experience. Outcomes:
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| Assoc. Professor Pauletta Irwin, Deborah Magee, Keden Montgomery, Hannah Stack, Professor Damien Limberger | Provide a comprehensive video series (vignettes) showcasing a Mask-Ed named ‘Val’, a character with a comprehensive health, medical and social history in authentic scenarios set in various environments, including acute medical facilities, community settings, aged care facilities and/or general practitioner rooms. Introducing an exciting academic initiative - a comprehensive video series featuring 'Constance,' a character brought to life through the innovative Mask-Ed technique. Constance embodies a rich health, medical, and social history of an older person living in regional Australia, and she features in authentic scenarios that unfold in diverse settings, from health clinics to community care and acute facilities. The video series will offer versatile, sustainable learning resources and will be tailored to promote interprofessional practice, bridging nursing, medicine, and paramedicine professions. With expert clinical advisory group’s input, our health students’ grasp of person-centered care for older individuals will be enhanced through stimulating discussions and deep learning that will result in improved clinical readiness. |
| Dr Annabel Matheson, Ms Jennifer Manning, Dr Sharon Laver & Associate Professor Pauletta Irwin | Perspectives and evaluation of a feedback resource kit for staff and students. Evaluating assessment feedback to enhance learning and development. Assessments are an opportunity for students to demonstrate transformative learning. Supported by feedback that is constructive, and linked to the marking rubric and subject learning outcomes can be insightful and empower students to drive their learning needs. This co-design research will inform the development of a resource kit designed to hone academic’s skills to deliver feedback that students can action in their ensuing assessments. Key stakeholders are students and academics in the School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences. |
| Donna Bridges, Merrilyn Crichton, Janice Ollerton, Elizabeth Wulff, Michelle Olivier, Sarah Redshaw. | Subject review to better understand student engagement. This study evaluates the use of the Sociological Imagination (Wright Mills, 1959) as a teaching tool in the redevelopment of a large, first year sociology subject (SOC101). The redevelopment aimed to use the Sociological Imagination as a critical thinking tool and facilitate a greater degree of student-centred learning and teaching, increase student engagement and offer greater flexibility. This approach is significant because it considers new ways of teaching sociology that engage and improve outcomes for students in professional degree programs. The study supports deep reflective practice and continuous development for the teaching team. Research outcomes will contribute empirical and theoretical insights in the field of curriculum and pedagogy in higher education as well as enhance empirical and theoretical understandings about teaching this vital, foundational, introductory sociology subject. Insights of national and international interest will be disseminated via team publications and seminar presentations. |
Dr Claudia M. Diaz | The Human Canvas' art exhibition. How art can transform the way we learn anatomy. Exhibition was displayed in Albury at the Human Canvas' from 5-31 October 2023. |
| Dr Boris Budiono & A/Prof. Abishek Santhakumar (FHEA) | Student experience survey - first to final year - B Med Lab Sci (Pathology). |
| Peta Jeffries, Fredrik Velander and Katrina Gersbach | Role of Pedagogy of Kindness in tandem with the critical Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy - extension. |
| Dr Leanne Gibbs | A qualitative component of a study on the enablers of student retention and efficacy within online/ blended learning environments of early childhood teacher education courses. |
| Dr Jason Howarth | Use CHAT GPT to mark and provide feedback on university-level Java programming assignments. |
| Dr Louise Pemberton, Dr Chris Scott, Dr Brendan Adams | Reimagining first year of Anatomy and Physiology education to maximise student retention, experience and inclusivity. |
| Dr Melissa Skein | Resource development for supervisors and students in the Workplace Learning (WPL) subjects in the Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science, Bachelor of Sports Media and the Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology. |
| Dr Kathleen Smithers |
Scoping review of the literature regarding research coursework students and research coursework student preparation to foster greater retention by enabling evidence-based practices to be embedded in the ASH subject suite through improved learning design approaches tailored to the needs of research coursework students. |
| Dr Tanya Davies, and Dr Jacquie Tinkler | Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and indigenous pedagogies in the Master of Education course review |
| A/Prof Rachel Whitsed & Dr Prue Gonzalez | An analysis of the Charles Sturt Advantage (CSA) cohort in the Faculty of Science and Health. |