Three teachers from the Business, Science and Arts, Design & Architecture faculties were awarded citations for outstanding contributions to student learning.
Associate Professors Yenni Tim, Nick Apoifis and Terry Ord have received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning at the 2025 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT).
The prestigious AAUT national awards, run by Universities Australia, are the nation's premier recognition for university educators and open to applicants from all Australian universities. One hundred citations were awarded this year, including three to UNSW, recognising individuals or teams who have contributed to the quality of student learning.
"My warmest congratulations to our three citation awardees. Your dedication to driving an outstanding student learning experience and strengthening the quality of education at UNSW is greatly appreciated and these citations are very well deserved," UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education & Student Experience) Professor Sarah Maddison said.
"Delivering impactful education is central to UNSW's mission, and we are proud to see our educators recognised for their teaching innovation and commitment to fostering excellence in learning for our students."
From lectures in the field to graphic novel textbooks
A/Prof. Terry Ord, from the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at UNSW Science, received a citation for developing internationally recognised, authentic learning resources which inspire and support biology students to reach their true learning potential, regardless of background or personal circumstances.
A/Prof. Ord said many students struggled with traditional teaching methods such as lectures and textbooks, and this often led to them losing interest in learning.
"I realised many of my students needed a different approach. About a third didn't speak English as their first language, and many identified as neurodiverse. Their marks were consistently about 10% lower, and overall students weren't engaging with lectures or readings anyway," he said. "Addressing the needs of this group ended up improving engagement for everyone."
Some of the new resources A/Prof. Ord has developed include creating a series of short 'lectures from the field' videos which introduce biological concepts from remote outback sites in Australia or in the tropical forests and swamps in Borneo.
A/Prof. Ord has also developed new interactive video lectures that mix videos with built-in activities such as quizzes. Students can then tailor their own learning in a 'choose-your-own-adventure' style. Engagement for these lectures is far higher than in pre-recorded or traditional in-person lectures, with almost all students completing the interactive online lecture.
"One of the biggest challenges is getting students reading content given in class and trying to convey material to students beyond simply assigning a textbook," A/Prof. Ord said. "Students routinely report textbooks as dull and hard to digest, not to mention how expensive they are."
To make this learning more accessible, A/Prof. Ord created a free graphic novel 'textbook' for his third-year animal behaviour course. The novel is now used in university courses across the USA, Canada, UK, NZ, France and India.
A/Prof. Ord said seeing students engaged and excited was already the best reward but having peers recognise the work showed it mattered beyond his own classroom.
"You can feel a bit siloed in teaching and sometimes wonder whether what you're doing really is that creative and whether it's interesting to other educators. Being recognised by the AAUT proves that it is!" he said.
Students solving problems with industry
A/Prof. Yenni Tim, from the School of Information Systems and Technology Management at UNSW Business School, was recognised for developing a platform that embeds real business and community challenges into curricula, transforming 53 courses for over 12,000 students across three continents.
The UNSW Sandbox Program is an online platform that allows industry, academics and students to co-create solutions for current business and societal challenges.
A/Prof. Tim said the program moved students from being passive recipients of theory to becoming proactive contributors working on real challenges.
"Students often have limited access to authentic, career-relevant opportunities during their degree, and many experiential initiatives remain fragmented or dependent on individual academics," she said.
"I saw the need for a more programmatic model. Sandbox is a recognised entry point for partners, a platform to curate and match challenges and a network where academics can learn from one another and co-create innovation."
The program has been extended globally through the Global Sandbox Alliance, allowing for strategic partnerships between academic institutions, businesses and community organisations worldwide.
"My vision was not to design one strong course but to create a platform that empowers colleagues across disciplines to embed experiential learning into their own teaching," A/Prof. Tim said.
A/Prof. Tim, who teaches Digital Innovation and Responsible AI subjects at UNSW, said the AAUT recognition was encouraging.
"The award signals that the higher education community recognises the importance of this work and the need to embed authentic, challenge-based learning more systematically," she said.
Meaningful learning prompting social change
Associate Dean (International) of UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture, A/Prof. Apoifis, was recognised for inspiring first-year Politics and International Relations (IR) students to connect theory to real-world situations through motivating, inclusive and creative teaching practices.
"A key challenge in first-year Politics and IR is that theory can feel abstract and disconnected from the political realities students see around them," A/Prof. Apoifis said.
The School of Social Sciences academic co-created short, animated 'VideoScribes' and paired them with interactive, real-world learning activities to make complex ideas easier to understand. The videos helped students feel more confident and see how social theory applied to real social change.
"Students learn best when they can see why ideas matter beyond the classroom, particularly because the issues we study in Politics and IR directly affect people's lives. My aim was to make learning purposeful and inclusive - so students can connect theory to their own experiences, engage with political movements and apply their knowledge to meaningful social change," A/Prof. Apoifis said.
"Grounding theory in lived experience strengthens learning for all students and helps ensure that Indigenous students, first-in-family students and lower socio-economic cohorts - who often navigate institutions shaped by structural inequality - see their knowledge and experiences recognised as central rather than peripheral."
The thrill of teaching is seeing students use what they've learned to materially improve people's lives far beyond any one classroom, A/Prof. Apoifis said.
"It's very cool to be recognised by the AAUT for making politics more accessible and inspiring for first-year students. But what I value most is what the award process revealed, revisiting years of student feedback and reconnecting with alumni reminded me of the ripple effect - UNSW graduates now active in social movements, contributing to reform across government and civil society, shaping change in the public and private sectors, and taking this teaching into universities around the world," he said.
