Awards

Below is a list of the teaching awards and citations garnered by the course, Information Systems For Service Industries (1220HSL) and in particular, the staff that deliver the course. The majority of teaching awards are designed to recognise and reward truly engaged teachers who are passionate about their discipline or profession, who are at the cutting edge of their field, who have a comprehensive and expanding knowledge base, who possess highly refined professional expertise and skills and who are enthusiastic about helping students learn. The underlying idea is to recognise, reward and encourage excellent and innovative, programs and projects. It is always an honour to receive these types of awards and they are something that staff can build upon throughout their careers.jh

2012

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY GROUP LEARNING AND TEACHING CITATION (GRIFFITH BUSINESS SCHOOL): JASON HARDING.

ABSTRACT

Applying authoritative command of field, Jason Harding integrated five distinct contributions that influenced, motivated, inspired student learning, and subsequently produced exponential increases in perception of ‘Information Systems For Service Industries’ (1220HSL). Jason’s contributions over a two year period included: 1. Implementation of knowledgeable, enthusiastic teaching. 2. Overhaul of course content and assessment. 3. Extensive application of Learning@Griffith capabilities. 4. Launch and integration of www.1220hsl.com and associated social media. 5. Roll out of interactive i-Pad-based lectures. Changes were based on command of field, innovative thinking, and critical reflection on official SEC / SET results, and his own unofficial student surveys. The impact produced by these initiatives was substantial. The course and Jason’s teaching now routinely hold a Rating Interpretation Benchmark of ‘High’ for all SEC and SET questions respectively.

2013

GRIFFITH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (GRIFFITH BUSINESS SCHOOL): JASON HARDING.

ABSTRACT

At the end of Semester 1, 2010 the course, ‘Information Systems For Service Industries’ (1220HSL), a first year core course focussed on how technology (websites, social media, e-commerce) can be used to achieve specific business goals, and embedded into a multitude of business degrees offered by Griffith University, was generating a student-based Rating Interpretation Benchmark (RIB) of ‘Low’ for all official Student Evaluation of Course (SEC) questions. In the Semester 2, 2010 I was employed as a sessional staff member and tutor for the course on Griffith University’s Nathan campus, conducting the majority of tutorials and by Semester 1, 2011, I was the Primary Convenor of the course offered across both the Nathan and Gold Coast campuses. By the end of Semester 1, 2011 (1 year after I became involved), the same course was obtaining an RIB ranking of ‘High’ for all SEC questions on the Nathan Campus and at the end of Semester 1, 2013, the course had routinely held a Quartile Band Rank (QBR) of 4 for all SEC questions; an RIB ranking of ‘High’ for the same questions up until the survey was changed in Semester 2, 2012 for two years running*. My personal Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) responses have followed a similar trend and since Semester 1, 2011, have routinely generated a QBR of 4.

The rapid improvements in student perception of the learning environment created in this course, and the maintenance of this perception is a direct result of the following seven interventions I have integrated into this course in a strategic, prioritised manner: 1. Introduction of knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and passionate teaching delivery (Sem. 2, 2010). 2. Overhaul and realignment of both course content and the assessment tasks (Sem. 1, 2011). 3. Application (extensive) of Griffith University’s online communication system (Sem. 1, 2011). 4. Launch of an exemplar website, www.1220hsl.com and linked social media (Sem. 2, 2011). 5. Integration of an i-Pad-based lecture initiative called, ‘The Lectorial Project’ (Sem. 1, 2012). 6. Application (effective) of an Early Assessment Item targeting ‘at risk’ students (Sem. 2, 2012). 7. Introduction of TED talks and enhanced discussion-based lecture approach (Sem. 1, 2013). Course design and teaching practice interventions incorporated were based on authoritative command of the field, highly pragmatic approach to the alignment and relevance of assessment (to course content and transferable skills respectively), scholarly approach to assessing my own and the course’s effectiveness, genuine respect for students and their potential, strong sense of self-identity offset with critical reflection of successes and failures in this field, and my desire to inspire students to dream big and have confidence in their abilities.

I have delivered a multitude of seminars and presentations based on my interventions, was featured in the 2012 Gala Teaching Night education video (specifically referencing the i-Pad-based ‘Lectorial Project’), have recently delivered a ‘Showcase Presentation’ at the 2013 Higher Education Research and Development (HERDSA) Conference in New Zealand, have enrolled in the Griffith Institute for Higher Education (GIHE) Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (I also feature on the course’s advertising brochure), and I am currently working on a publication proposing a conceptual, yet pragmatic framework from which educators can build upon to develop the right kinds of powerful learning environments. I was honoured to be awarded a Group Learning and Teaching Citation (GLTC), Griffith Business School, in 2012 for my achievements within this course, have my 2012 GLTC submission available as an exemplar on the Griffith Higher Education Institution’s (GIHE) online resource, and act as a ‘teaching expert’ in GIHE’s Peer Review Of (PRO) Teaching Project. My efforts in this field have been undertaken in a scholarly manner and have resulted in a situation where I have become, somewhat unintentionally and unexpectedly, a leader in the field of higher education at Griffith University, further evidenced by the following student comments, ‘Awesome lecturer!!!’, and ‘I suggest he would be a good role model for other lecturers in his approach to teaching’ (SET, Sem. 1, 2013).