Scientia Education Academy Lecture Series
There is much institutions can do to improve teaching.
The starting point is defining the basic characteristics of good teaching and requiring teachers to meet those standards. However, there is a core element of great teaching that is beyond precise definition or easy labelling. It is that process whereby a person takes complex concepts and communicates them to others in a comprehensible way; the combination of words or actions that makes ‘the penny drop’ so that students ‘get it’. We have all experienced that lightbulb moment with a great teacher and know the joy of having mastered complex ideas. It is the single most desirable thing for students in education and students know good teaching when they see it.
In a world with ever-increasing accountability and reporting, how can institutions recognise and reward a skill that is not easily reported? For the sake of our students, how can we identify and value staff, particularly sessional staff, who have that crucial skill in abundance?
Learn more about Dr Cathy Sherry, BA LLB (Hons) Syd, PhD UNSW
Dr Sherry is the recipient of a Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, and a NSW Department of Training and Education and Australian College of Educators' Award. She was a winner in the individual category of the Legal Innovation Index 2015 for her online Moodle site for Land Law, and is a current finalist for Academic of the Year, Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards.
Dr Sherry is a leading Australian expert on strata and community title, and the author of Strata Title Property Rights: Private governance of multi-owned properties (Routledge, 2017). She provides advice to government and the private sector on the complexities of collectively-owned property. Dr Sherry’s research focuses on the social implications of private communities, as well as optimal planning for children. Cathy has a special interest in urban farming and the challenges of providing growing space in high density cities. Read more.