New Academy gathers Top Teachers for Tertiary Teaching Excellence Symposium

 

More than 50 Academy members, all recipients of Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards (TTEAs), will attend the two-day event, which aims to build educational leadership within New Zealand’s tertiary sector.  Commenting on the Academy, the Associate Minister says, “The Academy’s goal of fostering excellent teaching and learning is vital to New Zealand’s ongoing economic and social development. The Government has committed $20million to Ako Aotearoa, and I look forward to continuing this support by launching the Academy’s inaugural symposium.”

 

The programme includes international keynote speakers Ron Smith of 3M in Canada, and Mark Israel of Flinders University in Australia.  Both men are involved in successful award initiatives within the tertiary sector in their own countries.  The workshops will focus on educational leadership strategies, and a special session is designated for selected members to tell their own teaching stories.  The election of an Executive Committee to steer the Academy forward is also seen as a key  priority for the symposium.  

Membership to the Academy is open to all past and present winners of Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards (TTEA), and the symposium aims to kick-start their active involvement in driving the Academy’s mission to raise the profile of exemplary tertiary teaching, and focus on excellence in both practice and research of tertiary teaching and learning. 

 

Since January of this year, a core working group of past TTEA winners has been developing the framework for the Academy.  Working group member Donna Buckingham, University of Otago, says “Even though we are a very disparate group, in terms of our teaching areas and styles, it has been a great experience to work together towards the common goal of an Academy.  We hope the Academy will allow all awardees to share their teaching stories with others on an ongoing basis and provide a focus for the continuing exploration of excellence in tertiary teaching.”

 

Through the symposium, future activities and the community space on the new Ako Aotearoa website, the Academy aims to harness the knowledge, skills, passion and insight that the TTEA winners have developed during their careers in relation to teaching and learning, and. make it available across the tertiary sector.   Working group co-member, Karl Dodds of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, firmly believes that tertiary teachers should view the Academy as a platform for professional development, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and collegiality across all institutions. 

 

The Academy operates under the umbrella of Ako Aotearoa – the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, who’s board gave the Academy the green light earlier this year.  Dr Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa’s National Director, believes that the Academy has the potential to make a major contribution to Ako Aotearoa’s mission of achieving the best possible outcomes for learners in New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Sector.   “The recipients of the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards over the past seven years are brilliant, inspirational people. They are nationally recognised as leading practitioners in tertiary teaching and together constitute a wonderful resource for New Zealand. 

Bringing them together to explore how they might collectively contribute to tertiary education in the future is long overdue.” he says.

 

Anyone wanting further information about the work of the Academy for Tertiary Teaching Excellence can visit the Academy community featured on the Ako Aotearoa website:  www.akoaotearoa.ac.nz/academy

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