Adelaide professor is national leader

Teaching and Learning

The University of Adelaide's Professor Geoffrey Crisp has been awarded a highly prestigious National Teaching Fellowship, placing him among Australia's leaders in the field of learning and teaching.

As the Director of the University's Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD), Professor Crisp has played a key role in the development and promotion of online teaching tools, and more recently online tools for assessment.

Professor Crisp's National Teaching Fellowship is one of only three to be awarded throughout the country for 2009. The Fellowships - valued at up to $350,000 each - were announced last month by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), Australia's peak body for promoting excellence in higher education.

The Fellowships are awarded to outstanding scholars who are respected leaders in learning and teaching in higher education. As part of his 12-month Fellowship, Professor Crisp will:

• identify issues faced by teachers and institutions in assessing students in a collaborative, distributed, virtual environment, such as Second Life, wikis and blogs;
  
• collect case studies of different approaches to assessing students in these environments;
  
• facilitate the development of local and international communities of practice in the assessment of students undertaking Web 2.0 activities;
  
• raise the profile of teaching and facilitate strategic change in higher education institutions.

"It is a great honour to be awarded one of these Fellowships," Professor Crisp said. "I look forward to using this opportunity to help create further advances in teaching and learning for Australia's higher education sector."

The University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (Academic), Professor Fred McDougall, said: "Professor Crisp's Fellowship is recognition of the vital contribution he has made to the quality of the educational experience at the University of Adelaide.

"This is one of the highest honours the ALTC can bestow on any educator, and we have full confidence that Geoff's experience at the University will enable him to fulfil his new role. Importantly, students and staff at the University of Adelaide stand to gain from his experience."

Story by David Ellis