08 December 2009
College staff recognised at the RMIT Teaching and Research Awards
Associate Professor John Reece receiving his Teaching and Research Award in Storey Hall recently.
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RMIT celebrated the sustained excellence of RMIT teaching staff and researchers at the Teaching and Research Awards, in Storey Hall on 1 December.
Associate Professor John Reece from the School of Health Sciences was awarded the prestigious Vice Chancellors Award. This award was presented in recognition of his sustained, exemplary and inspiring student centred teaching which has influenced colleagues and informed research into teaching and learning in the fields of cognitive psychology, research methods, and data analysis.
Associate Professor Reece was honoured to win the award.
“I was genuinely surprised and honoured to be the joint winner of this award this year”.
“It is sometimes tempting to believe that the only academics who really thrive in modern academia are the ‘gun’ researchers, but the reality is that the vast bulk of money that comes into the university is derived from students; hence, teaching should be our core business, given that it's what keeps nearly all of us in a job.
“The students of the "noughties" are very different from the university students of a generation ago. Our students see themselves, quite rightly, as critical consumers of a service that we, the academics, are delivering; they are paying top dollar for their degrees, and they hold us accountable for the quality of their education.
“In an age of increasing research specialisation, where it sometimes seems that the only way to succeed is to spend your precious research time counting the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin, it can seem hard to make a difference as a modern academic, but one area where we can all make a difference is in our teaching.
“Very few of our students will become academics or researchers, but every single one of our students can take something away from the learning experience that comes directly from our teaching practice. These are the principles that motivate me as an academic, and I would like to think that this award is an acknowledgement of those principles,” Dr. Reece said.
