Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence

Last week I was privileged to participate in two meetings with Academy members - Donna Buckingham, Judy Magee, Peter Schwartz, Kath Dickinson, John Reynolds, Adrian Woodhouse Selene Mize and Murray Skeaff from Otago and Selena Chan, Tim Bell, Karl Dodds, Roger Nokes, Angus McIntosh, Juliet Gerard and Pip Lynch from Canterbury.

The purpose of my involvement was to establish relationships between the Academy and the southern hub and to explore ways in which we can work together and support each other. This evoked much discussion and the emergence of ideas, including the possibility of a Teaching Showcase for all tertiary educators in Canterbury to be held either late 2009 or in 2010. The notion of developing a resource to assist members as they mentor future Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (TTEA) nominees was also discussed and will be pursued at future Academy member meetings.

Thanks to Helen Dobson, the Academy’s Executive Secretary for initiating and organising the meetings and to Donna Buckingham for her hospitality in Dunedin. It was a pleasure to host the Canterbury members in the southern hub rooms at 51 Solway Avenue.

(Image: University of Canterbury's Angus McIntosh, Juliet Gerard, Roger Nokes, Tim Bell with Karl Dodds and Selena Chan from Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology browsing the 2009 TTEA Booklet)