Griffith researchers win grants and fellowships

Griffith University researchers have been awarded prestigious 2015 Office for Learning and Teaching grants and fellowships.

Funded by the Australian Government, the awards promote excellence in learning and teaching programs in higher education.

Professor Stephen Billett from the School of Education and Professional Studies and Dr Anoop Patiar from the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management are lead researchers on their multi-partner projects and have secured Innovation and Development Grants, while Professor Amanda Henderson from the School of Nursing and Midwifery and Dr Jessica Vanderlelie from the School of Medical Science have secured National Teaching Fellowships.

Grant and fellowship details as follows:

Project Leader:Professor Stephen Billett

Title:Augmenting students’ learning for employability through post-practicum educational processes
Funding: $467,000
In this project, staff from healthcare disciplines in five universities will identify the range of possible post-practicum interventions and trial and evaluate them over a 12-month period. Building on these initial outcomes, 30 participants from other disciplines and five more universities will then select, trial and adapt these interventions to their courses and programs.

Project Leader:Dr Anoop Patiar

Title:Enhancing student employability skills through virtual field trips in the hospitality industry
Funding: $273,000
The Australian hospitality industry requires work-ready graduates with skills and capabilities to cope with real world problems. Increasing student numbers, time limitations and demand for online alternatives to face to face learning experiences has led to an urgent need for technology-enhanced solutions to practice-based learning in hospitality. This project will trial, evaluate and promote virtual field trips and related pedagogies as tools to develop graduate employability skills and threshold learning outcomes

National Senior Fellowship: Professor Amanda Henderson

Title: Establishing education governance frameworks between academia and industry

The aim of this fellowship is to collaboratively develop an education governance framework that operationalises key factors to optimise student learning in practice situations. This will be achieved through consultation with leaders across a range of disciplines, and building on the work funded by the OLT in WIL, learning outcomes, and innovations in design and assessment.

National Senior Fellowship: Dr Jessica Vanderlelie

Title: Partnering with alumni to enhance graduate success in the health science disciplines

This fellowship proposes that by reshaping conceptions of alumni worth, appreciating their diversity, capturing their experiences and nuancing our approaches to connecting with them, we can establish an intentional, active and authentic partnership between a university program and its graduates.