Barbara Adamson is Associate Professor in the discipline of behavioural science, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. She is a researcher and teacher in human resource management in allied health. She has an impressive track record in researching professional education and workplace practices of allied health professionals. Her roles have included: Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), Academic Coordinator of the Professional Doctorate program, and team leader of teaching and learning research projects in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Simon Barrie is Associate Director of the Institute for Teaching and Learning. His research explores the nature of the student learning experience in universities as well as the academic development processes associated with efforts to improve this. In particular, his recent research has focused on the development of graduate attributes and the quality assurance of university teaching and learning. He leads the University of Sydney’s Institutional Projects on Generic Graduate Attributes and Evaluation and Quality Assurance and teaches on the Institute’s graduate programmes.
Angela Brew is Associate Professor in the Institute for Teaching and Learning. She teaches on the Institute’s graduate programs and leads the University of Sydney strategic projects on Research-Enhanced Learning and Teaching and Research Higher Degree Supervision Development. She is internationally renowned as a researcher and speaker. Her research on the nature of research and human knowing and its relationship to teaching has been published widely. Her most recent book is Research and Teaching: beyond the divide published by PalgraveMacmillan in 2006. She is co-editor of the International Journal for Academic Development.
Sandra Britton is Senior Lecturer and the Director of First Year Studies in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, within the Faculty of Science. Her teaching roles encompass lecturing mathematics units of study at first, second and third year levels. She was awarded a University of Sydney Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994. Her research interest is in the teaching and learning of mathematics at tertiary level. She was instrumental in forming the Sydney University Tertiary Mathematics Education Group (SUTMEG). A conference organised by SUTMEG in 1996 led to the inauguration of the Delta conferences, now one of the most important series of international conferences on the teaching and learning of mathematics at tertiary level.
Rafael A. Calvo is Senior Lecturer, Director of the Web Engineering Group and Director for Teaching and Learning, at the University of Sydney’s School of Electrical and Information Engineering. He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence applied to automatic document classification and has taught at several Universities, high schools and professional training institutions. He has worked at Carnegie Mellon University (USA) and Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Argentina), and as an internet consultant for projects in Australia, Brazil, USA, and Argentina. Rafael is author of a book and over 50 other publications in the field and the theme editor for the Journal of Digital Information. He is a member of IEEE and ACM. x
Paul Canfield is Professor in Veterinary Pathology and Clinical Pathology and Director of Diagnostic Services in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Paul teaches in professional practice, veterinary conservation biology, principles of disease and veterinary clinical pathology. In 2001 he received a Faculty Pfizer Teaching Award for excellence and innovation. Paul’s research interests include host-pathogen-environment interactions in wildlife and domestic animal disease. He has over 170 publications and has successfully supervised over 15 postgraduate students. He was awarded a Doctor of Veterinary Science for his thesis of published works, entitled Investigations into the health and disease of Australian wildlife, with particular reference to the koala, in 2003.
Nicholas L. Carroll is working toward his PhD in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering. Nicholas has a BE/BCom from the University of Sydney. His research focuses on the development of an e-portfolio system called Dotfolio. He is also a member of the core development team for an open source Web application framework called OpenACS.
Henriikka Clarkeburn lectures in professional ethics in Government and International Relations, International Business, and Civil Engineering. Her research interests include ethical decision-making in professional contexts, development of academic honesty and the pedagogy of ethics teaching in tertiary education. She has published in various international journals on ethics teaching, academic honesty and health care ethics.
Tanya Covic is a researcher in the field of teaching and learning in higher education. She also teaches psychology to postgraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Kristie Daniel-DiGregorio is an honorary research fellow at Yooroang Garang: School of Indigenous Health Studies. She currently works as Instructor in Human Development and Academic Strategies at El Camino College in Torrance, California. Her teaching, program development and research focus on approaches to fostering student success at university. From 1996-2000, she was Research Fellow at Yooroang Garang: School of Indigenous Health Studies and she continues to work with her colleagues on the Student Experiences Study, an ongoing research project centred on the factors that affect the academic success of Indigenous health sciences students.
Helen Drury is Senior Lecturer in the Learning Centre. She has worked in the area of academic literacy and learning for more than 20 years in Australia, the UK and Indonesia. She has developed and taught generic programs in academic literacy and worked collaboratively across disciplines to integrate academic literacy into subject area curricula. Her most recent teaching innovations have been the development and evaluation of discipline specific online programs for supporting students in writing their scientific reports. She has published and presented widely in the areas of scientific and technical writing, genre analysis and online learning of academic literacy.
Ann Elias is Senior Lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts. She teaches the history of contemporary art to undergraduates, and supervises PhD candidates. She is Chair of the SCA Board. Her research is primarily in the discipline of art history, with specialisation xiin still life painting, and aesthetics and war. A recent publication discusses the language of the flower in war, and she is writing a book on Hans Heysen and the philosophy of still life. A second field of research is the practice and theory of teaching and learning in the visual arts.
Robert Ellis is Associate Professor and Director of eLearning. As such, he is responsible for coordinating the eLearning activities supporting over 46,000 students and 3,000 academic and general staff in 16 faculties using eLearning to extend, enhance and elaborate the student experience of learning. This role includes policy writing, strategic planning, management, and benchmarking activities with international universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. To support this role, Dr Ellis is the current recipient of two large Australian Research Council Grants investigating blended learning in higher education with Professor Peter Goodyear of the University of Sydney and Professor Michael Prosser of the University of Hong Kong.
Sally Farrington is Senior Lecturer, Yooroang Garang: School of Indigenous Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences is co-ordinator of student support for Indigenous students within the faculty. Through her research in Indigenous student experience, her teaching within the academic support and transition programs and the management of the personal, administrative and financial support for students she strives to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students at the faculty. Sally’s achievements in Indigenous student support were recently recognised with a University Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Mark Freeman is Associate Professor and inaugural Director of the Office of Learning and Teaching in Economics and Business at the University of Sydney. Mark has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching including the inaugural Australian Award for University Teaching for economics and business studies. He provides leadership in learning and teaching within the faculty as Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) and beyond through his role as inaugural chair of the Australian Business Deans Council Teaching and Learning Network. Mark leads various teaching-related research and development projects including the Carrick-funded project scoping the challenges for business education.
Tania Gerzina is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Dentistry and is Associate Dean, Educational Development and the Sub Dean (Clinical Affairs-Sydney Dental Hospital). She teaches in the area of clinical dentistry. Her PhD was in the areas of biocompatibility and bioavailability of components of dental materials. She has completed a clinical fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgery (FRACDS) and an education degree with the Institute for Teaching and Learning. She recently returned from a Special Studies Leave (sabbatical) at the University of Toronto working in both the Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine as a Visiting Professor. Her current research interests are in educational research, evaluation and accreditation of clinical teaching in Dentistry and student learning quality assessment.
Jerry Goldfried is Senior Research Consultant with an independent social research agency specialising in social, market and communications research for the government sector. Prior to entering the commercial world Jerry taught in areas such as research xiimethods/statistics and social psychology while undertaking a PhD in the School of Psychology. Jerry currently holds a Bachelors Degree, with 1st Class Honours and was awarded the University Psychology Medal (University of Western Sydney, 1999). His research interests concern campaign evaluation, the impact of research on government decision makers and policy design, and religious orientation and tolerance.
Peter Goodyear is Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education and Social Work. He is co-director of the Centre for Research on Computer-Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo). He teaches postgraduate courses on learning technology and the learning sciences and supervises graduate research in these areas. His research interests include: learning with new technology, particularly in higher education and in the workplace; the nature of pedagogical knowledge, especially in relation to teaching with new technology and/or in higher education; methods and tools for the design of complex learning environments; continuing professional development and the collaborative construction of ‘working knowledge’. He is editor of the journal Instructional Science.
Nerida Jarkey is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Cultures, within the Faculty of Arts. She teaches Japanese reading, grammar and linguistics. Her discipline-based research is in the field of Asian area linguistics. In her role as Director of First Year Teaching & Learning in Arts, Nerida conducts research on the first year in higher education, and coordinates the Arts Network Mentoring Program, Tutors’ Development Program and ‘Not Drowning, Waving’ Program for students at risk. She has been the recipient of two University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor’s Awards: for Learning and Teaching and for Support of the Student Experience.
Peter Kench is Lecturer in the Discipline of Medical Radiation Sciences, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. His research interests include the first year experience and eLearning. He has previously received a Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.
Michelle Lincoln is Associate Professor and Head of Discipline of Speech Pathology in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She is a researcher and teacher in the allied health field of speech pathology. Her role as Director of Clinical Education has resulted in a close and productive interface between student education and workplaces. In 2006 Michelle was awarded an Australian National Teaching Citation for an Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.
Jennifer Lingard is Senior Lecturer, Discipline of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine. Following 13 years research in renal and pancreatic physiology, including an NH&MRC post-doctoral position, she began multidisciplinary curriculum development and teaching of foundation biosciences for a range of health-related professional courses in the Health Sciences Faculty. Facilitating learning of underpinning sciences for students with strong end-professional focus is challenging. It now stimulates her research both in biochemistry and into students’ perspectives of foundation studies and what motivates them to engage deeply therein. She has served as Head of School, Associate Dean and on the University Research Committee. xiii
Hilary Lloyd is Senior Lecturer in the School of Medical Sciences, Pharmacology. Hilary is Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee in Pharmacology and an active member of the Science Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee. She is a Foundation Tutor for the University of Sydney Medical Programme (1997) and is now involved in tutor training for this programme. In the last five years, Hilary and her colleagues have been awarded four teaching grants including a Teaching Improvement Fund (TIF) grant entitled ‘Managing group work and assessment’. In her own discipline area of neuropharmacology she has 19 publications and currently supervises three PhD students, one Honours and two Pharmacy (Advanced) students.
Patricia Lyon is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Innovation in Professional Health Education and Research (CIPHER) within the Faculty of Medicine. She leads an academic team responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of the Postgraduate Program in Medical Education. The program is designed for medical educators who wish to develop their skills in the scholarship of teaching and learning in medicine. She also coordinates a continuing professional development program for busy clinicians in the teaching hospitals. Her main research interest is in clinical teaching and learning. Recent research includes an investigation into medical students’ experiences of learning during their attachments in rural clinical settings.
Lina Markauskaite is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo), within the Faculty of Education and Social Work. She received a PhD in informatics from the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics (Lithuania), in 2000. She specialises in complex research designs and ICT-assisted research methods for studying computer-supported teaching and learning. Her major research areas are ICT literacy, cognitive engagement in online learning, qualitative and quantitative research methods and national policies for ICT introduction into education.
Kathryn Marsh is Chair of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she teaches subjects relating to primary and early childhood music education, multicultural music education and music education research methods. Her research interests include children’s musical play, children’s creativity, and multicultural music education. She has written a variety of scholarly and professional publications and has been actively involved in curriculum development and teacher training for many years. She has been the recipient of major national research grants involving cross-cultural collaborative research into children’s musical play in Australia, Europe, the UK, USA and Korea.
Kim McShane is Lecturer in the Institute for Teaching and Learning. Her work in the ITL is oriented towards exploring and eliciting the values, perceptions and approaches of academics who teach. Kim co-teaches and co-ordinates two of the units of study in the ITL’s Graduate Certificate program for university teachers: ‘The Scholarship of University Teaching and Learning’ and Research-enhanced Teaching and Learning. Her research interests are focused on contributing critical perspectives to discussions of academic professionalism in higher education research, policy and practice in blended learning and teaching. xiv
Laura Minasian-Batmanian is Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Biomedical Science, within the Faculty of Medicine. She teaches and coordinates many of the subjects offered by the Discipline to undergraduate as well as postgraduate students, in the areas of pathophysiology and biochemistry. Dr Batmanian has been recognised internationally for her significant contribution to research in the field of health science education, particularly the first year experience, distance education and e-learning, for which she has received the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award and Pearson Education UniServe Science Teaching Award, as well as grants to support her research.
Peter New was a Senior Lecturer in microbiology in the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences within the Faculty of Science, with long-term involvement in teaching improvement and curriculum development, including periods as Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committees of his School and Faculty. Having recently retired, he has left the undergraduate teaching world of lectures, tutorials and practicals to pursue his other research interests in agricultural microbiology at the Plant Breeding Institute in the Faculty of Agriculture.
Susan Page is an Indigenous Lecturer at Yooroang Garang: Discipline of Indigenous Health Studies. The inspiration for Susan’s teaching and research, over ten years at the University of Sydney, has been making a difference to Indigenous student learning and more broadly to community health. Reflecting this aspiration, her research focus includes Indigenous student learning and the roles of Indigenous academics in tertiary education. Susan strives to create learning environments which foster successful outcomes for Indigenous students. Her achievements in Indigenous education at the University of Sydney have recently been recognised through a University Excellence in Teaching Award.
Tai Peseta is Associate Lecturer in the Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL). She works in the areas of research higher degree supervision development and teaches in the ITL’s suite of graduate studies programs. Tai is also the Editor of Synergy (http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/synergy), the university’s publication designed to support critical debate of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her research interest is broadly in the politics, identity and scholarship of academic development. She is one of the founding members of the Challenging Academic Development (CAD) Collective – an international group of academic developers interested in exploring the question: how does academic development theorise itself?
Andrew Roberts is an Honorary Research Associate with the Sydney University Physics Education Research Group (SUPER) in the School of Physics within the Faculty of Science. Andrew’s research interests include transfer of mathematics, misconceptions in science, and conceptual understanding in physics. He is currently working at Muswellbrook High School (MHS) teaching junior science and HSC Physics as well as being involved with MHS’s Gifted and Talented Students program. He enjoys reading, music and exploring issues of social justice. xv
Anna Rubbo is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning with architecture degrees from the Universities of Melbourne and Michigan. She teaches in design and courses dealing with society, architecture and globalisation. Founding convenor of Global Studio, she was a member of the UN Millennium Project Taskforce on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers. She has worked in rural Columbia on housing, published extensively on architect Marion Mahony Griffin, is founding editor of the journal Architectural Theory Review, and is recipient of an RAIA Award for Education (2005) and the Marion Mahony Griffin award (2006).
Judyth Sachs is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Provost), Macquarie University. She was formerly Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at the University of Sydney.
Erica Sainsbury is Lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy. Her teaching focusses on enculturating students into the profession of pharmacy from the beginning of their study through to their final year, and she teaches in units ranging from an introduction to pharmacy to the dispensing of prescriptions and clinical decision-making. Her research interests include investigation of student learning from the perspective of sociocultural theory, in particular the ways in which all aspects of the learning experience and environment interact to affect learning. She has received two University of Sydney teaching awards as well as a New South Wales Quality Teaching award, and became an inaugural Fellow of HERDSA in 2003.
Ian Sefton is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School Physics, Faculty of Science, and an acolyte of the Sydney University Physics Education Research group (SUPER). Before retirement he designed, developed and managed various physics courses, wrote texts and stirred the possum. Current interests include principles and practice of assessment, students’ conceptual understanding of physics and the origins of misconceptions propagated by modern text-books.
Manjula Devi Sharma is Senior Lecturer in the School of Physics, within the Faculty of Science. She heads the Sydney University Physics Education Research group (SUPER). Her primary research interest is discipline-based tertiary education - student learning of physics ranging from the use of conceptual surveys to the design and implementation of an interactive teaching environment called workshop tutorials. She coordinates Intermediate Physics and received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006.
Sue Silveira is Lecturer in the discipline of Applied Vision Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. She holds a masters degree in clinical education and coordinates the clinical program for undergraduate and postgraduate orthoptic students. She has worked extensively in the clinical education area. Sue has a strong interest in using the online environment to bridge the knowledge gap between academic and clinical learning. Since 2000 she has worked to introduce, develop and publish the outcome of these experiences.
Charlotte Taylor is Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science. She is also the Director of Learning and Teaching for the Faculty of Science. As deputy director in First Year Biology, she had 15 years experience in xvicourse design, staff training, assessment and online learning for large classes of 1000-1500 students. She received a Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and completed a Master in Higher Education degree. She is Chair of the Research in Biology Education and Training group (RIBET), and has published collaborative papers in learning through writing, teaching large classes, giving, and use of, feedback and online discussions. Her research on threshold concepts in biology encompasses investigations into teachers’ and graduates’ conceptions of troublesome knowledge.
Rosanne Taylor is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. She teaches veterinary physiology and animal biotechnology. Her research on inherited neurological disease in animals investigates new strategies for therapy and has gained an AVCS Clunies Ross Research Award. She led change in teaching practices as Associate Dean and Chair of Learning and Teaching and helped develop the Faculty’s scholarly, professional approach to improving student learning. She received the Faculty’s Pfizer Teaching and Grace Mary Mitchell Awards, Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, and was a national finalist in the Australian University Teaching Awards.
Lesley Treleaven is Senior Lecturer in the Office of Learning and Teaching within the Faculty of Economics and Business. She has taught business subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate levels employing approaches that enable students to learn deeply, actively and collaboratively. Applications of postmodern approaches to knowledge and change in organisations shape her research interests. She has published in AJET, Studies in Continuing Education and Journal of Organisational Change Management, and received several teaching innovation grants and excellence awards, including a Carrick funded 2 year collaborative action research project, Embedding Development of Intercultural Competence in Business Education, with three other universities.
Richard Walker teaches educational psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the Faculty of Education and Social Work. He is currently the Postgraduate Course Work Coordinator in the Faculty. Richard was awarded the inaugural Teaching Excellence award in the Faculty in 1994 and was subsequently awarded a University of Sydney Teaching Excellence award in 1998. He has published a number of journal articles and book chapters on various aspects of learning and motivation, with a particular focus on sociocultural approaches. His most recent area of research interest is in the area of social approaches to motivation. He has a chapter on this topic in the forthcoming International Encyclopedia of Education (3rd Ed).
Fiona White is Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology. She is the School’s Teaching Quality Officer and e-learning manager. She is also an active member of the Science Faculty’s Learning and Teaching Committee. Fiona and her colleagues have been awarded several teaching grants including a Teaching Improvement Fund (TIF) grant; two Teaching Development Grants and one Teaching Improvement and Equipment Scheme (TIES) grant to Improve e-learning in undergraduate Psychology. Fiona’s main research interest concerns racial prejudice reduction and she has 28 publications including a textbook titled Developmental Psychology from Infancy to Adulthood. Fiona currently supervises three PhD students and three honours students. xvii
Helen Wozniakxviii is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Innovation in Professional Health Education & Research, Faculty of Medicine. She has a keen interest in innovative learning and teaching strategies for health professionals and holds a masters degree in health science education. Her innovations in clinical education, teaching and elearning were recognised with the award of the Faculty of Health Sciences J.O. Miller Award for Teaching Excellence in 2003 and University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2004. She is currently responsible for clinical skills development for medical students and post graduate teaching in medical education and continues to research eLearning, workplace learning and clinical education.