UOW scores national award for learning and teaching program

Dec 01, 2006

The University of Wollongong has continued its success in learning and teaching following the announcement that one of its educational programs has received the highest award in Australian learning and teaching.

The Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching are run annually by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, which is a federal government initiative.

At the award ceremony held at Parliament House in Canberra this week (Tuesday 28 November), the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Ms Julie Bishop, presented the members of the Knowledge Building Community Program team with a Carrick Award for Programs that Enhance Learning.

Dr Julie Kiggins and Associate Professor Brian Cambourne, who are responsible for the program, were in Canberra to accept their award.

The Knowledge Building Community Program has been running since 1999. It was developed as a means of alternative primary teacher education, using problem-based learning integrated with regular immersion in schools.

In support of the members of the program, the awards ceremony was attended by a UOW delegation including the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton, the Director of the Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources, Professor Sandra Wills, and Associate Professor Rebecca Albury, who was closely involved in the awards process.

It is the first time that the University of Wollongong has won a learning and teaching award at a national level, and it further illustrates a highly successful year for the university, both in learning and teaching specifically and as a whole. Earlier in the year, UOW was one of only five universities in Australia to receive nine out of possible 10 Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

In that round of awards, the members of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) team, Dr Kiggins and Associate Professor Cambourne, also received a Citation for their contribution to the development, growth and success of the KBC program.

It was also recently announced that UOW had won the inaugural Times Higher Education Supplement Commonwealth University of the Year for its success in community engagement. A key aspect of the Knowledge Building Community Program’s success was its engagement with local primary schools, which was recognised at last night’s awards.