2025 recipients

Teaching Excellence Awards

Five Teaching Excellence Awards were conferred in 2025 – to Dr Lissa Carter, Dr Michael Witter, Dr Nicki Brake, Dr Tracey Clement

Associate Professor Xiaoying Qi, Associate Professor Tom Barnes, Dr Haydn Aarons (Team category)

As a team, we have designed a cohesive 3rd-year sociology-oriented program which has advanced learning, provided skills and laid a foundation for citizenship and generational contributions. Students have engaged with real life issues and prepared for critical and meaningful involvement with the social world they inhabit and shape. Students have acquired qualitative and quantitative research skills and learned how research translates into decision making for real world scenarios. By engaging in social issues and policies, students have reflected upon processes of and barriers to social change and learned the importance of exercising their own capacities as agents of change.

Kylie Vanderkley

Grounded in a commitment to service and student success, I partner with local primary schools, principals, and ACU alumni to support Ballarat ACU students in gaining employment as Learning Support Officers. These partnerships create authentic, real-world learning opportunities that connect theory to practice, fostering student confidence, independence, and motivation. Early immersion in school communities fosters a stronger professional identity and increased retention. This collaborative, relationship-based approach inspires students to engage deeply in their learning, develop workplace capabilities, and pursue purposeful careers, reflecting ACU’s mission and the transformative impact of meaningful school-university partnerships.

Susan Kelly 

As a lecturer in the National School of Education, I aim to influence, motivate and inspire students to learn through inclusive, researchinformed teaching that prepares preservice teachers for their first professional placement. In EDET590, I scaffold professional identity

formation using reflective, person-centered pedagogy, clear communication, and authentic learning design. I support students to critically analyse AI in education, build confidence through professional learning groups and structured feedback, and respond to diverse needs with differentiated support and empathy. I model the evidence-based strategies and values I hope my students will take into their own classrooms.

Katheleen Plastow 

My work on developing “assessment packages” brings together critically reflective practice (Brookfield, 2017a, 2017b; Mezirow et al., 1990; Proud & Morgan, 2021), cognitive load theory (Evans et al., 2024; Timothy et al., 2023), self-determination (Evans et al., 2024; Howard et al., 2021), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Almeqdad et al., 2023; Capp, 2017), assessment research and andragogic principals (Biggs et al., 2022; Merriam, 2001) to re-shape assessment structures to improve the student experience and engagement in learning. Building on the work of Brophy and Fautley (2017), I have developed a conceptual model that promotes equity and social justice through assessment design (Fig. 1) and a Learning Summary Framework (LSF) which creates a nexus between tutorial work and assessment tasks to increase learning relevance for students (Fig. 2). The approach to assessment design reduces cognitive load, improves outcomes and promotes autonomy. This work has been presented nationally and internationally in 2025.

Karen Hope

Karen Hope is committed to advancing innovative learning that fosters student-centered engagement with content, by grounding theoretical understanding in meaningful practice-based experiences. Her pedagogy integrates flipped classrooms, off-campus visits to education services, and active learning opportunities, including problem-based scenarios and simulations to support students to make meaningful connections between theory and practice. Students consistently describe her teaching as empowering, relevant, and transformative, leading to the development of their early professional identities.

Ebony Nilsson

Ebony creates inclusive, engaging, and intellectually rich learning environments that connect personal stories to broader historical trends and contemporary issues. Her teaching inspires deep curiosity, critical thinking, and a passion for history across diverse cohorts. Through innovative assessments, real-world applications, and a culture of care, she empowers students to see themselves as thinkers

and historians. Her units consistently receive outstanding feedback for relevance, accessibility, and impact, and her personalized approach – from archival research to creative role-play – supports student confidence, retention, and academic growth. Ebony’s teaching exemplifies ACU’s mission to foster whole-person development and promote the common good.