This is how I teach

What do you like most about teaching in your discipline?

Teaching within health and medical sciences means that I get to engage with our next generation of leaders within the greater health industry. It excites me that I can contribute to their teaching and make an impact on students' lives who may be the next to make a health discovery, save lives every day in a hospital setting, or perhaps even contribute to leading us through a pandemic (but let’s hope not!!). I am passionate about employability and career readiness and feel fortunate that I can contribute to students learning and experience within this area. Our students are often only with us for 3-4 years, and while these are likely some of the most important years of their life, they also have their entire working life ahead of them. This precious time at University is therefore an important time for them to explore careers and begin developing skills that will support them both through their programs but also well into their careers.

How would you describe your approach to teaching/your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is heavily focused on engagement, relevance, diversity and support. Our students are all unique and learn in different ways, and will ultimately be engaged with a multitude of different careers. From an employability point of view in a non-professional program where students' career pathways are varied, emphasising relevance is extremely important. Our approach is centred around increasing career awareness as a first step, and ensuring that the real world relevance is provided for each skill taught. We know from student feedback that foundational skill development, despite its importance, can at times be a little dry. Accordingly, I endeavour to bring the fun and make these workshops as engaging as possible through interactive games and challenges. To support this, our workshops are structured in ‘chunks’, with bite sized information delivered followed by activities to apply skills and develop learning.

What is your favourite way to use technology to enhance learning?

As someone who, as a student, was less likely to speak up, I appreciate how technology allows all students to contribute. I often use padlet as a way to gauge student’s ideas and opinions about topics in an anonymous way, allowing each student to contribute without fear of judgement. I also use interactive quizzes and games, which allows students to evaluate their own learning whilst allowing me to determine how student learning is going and modify my teaching accordingly. And it's great fun – it always lifts the mood in the room!

What are some of the ways you remain connected to industry?

I think industry connections are so important as another way of increasing relevance for our students. Within the Bachelor of Health and Medical Sciences and Bachelor of Health and Medical Sciences Advanced program students undertake a capstone research placement within their third (final) year. This provides them with invaluable hands-on experience within the scientific research industry. We also have great relationships with our graduates who all predominantly work within the greater health industry but in extremely wide-ranging roles. Through a series of recorded interviews with graduates we’re able to showcase how diverse the career pathways are for our students, highlighting the good, the challenging and how the program has helped them reach their career goals.