Change One Thing Challenge recipients
Showcasing recent recipients of the Change One Thing Challenge and the excellence they bring to teaching.
2024 grant recipients
Heartfelt congratulations to our Change One Thing Challenge 2024 award recipients!
Dr Abhinaw Sai Erri Pradeep
Faculty of Engineering
Abhinaw introduced an ‘improvement pledge’ in postgraduate engineering course on research implementation and dissemination, fostering among students personal growth in presentation skills and stakeholder engagement, and culminating in a rich, collaborative discussion board.
Richelle Hewin
BUSINESS SCHOOL
Drawing from Second Language Acquisition techniques, Richelle crafted a novel approach to enhance business communication among her non-native English speakers. Utilising Zoom transcriptions and recordings of her own script presentations, she provided a native English benchmark, enabling students to refine their pronunciation by modelling it after hers, and so bolstering their verbal skills for business proficiency.
Associate Professor David Moreau
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
David spearheaded the creation of dynamic, interactive visualisations to demystify statistical concepts for psychology students. His user-friendly Shiny apps in R, praised for inclusivity and supporting diverse learning styles within a culturally responsive framework, have been adopted in multiple courses.
View David’s profile page
Associate Professor Marian Macken
FACULTY OF CREATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES
Marian has reimagined an undergraduate course on architectural media by incorporating the body as a measure for space. Her innovative full-scale drawing exercises actively involve students’ physical presence, deepening their understanding of spatial concepts and transforming architectural drawing into a dynamic learning process.
Dr Sara Buttsworth
FACULTY OF ARTS
Sara introduced an icebreaker that doubles as a theoretical framework application, engaging students with ‘moral panic’ concepts through collaborative exercises, fostering interactive learning, systematic thinking, and – lots of laughing.
View Sara’s profile page
Dr Sonia Fonua
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Sonia has revitalised ENVSCI 303, emphasising relational learning and active engagement. Her shift from policy briefs to teamwork and discussion assessments has led to better attendance and student performance, fostering critical thinking in environmental communication within a collaborative learning space.
View Sonia’s profile page
Dr Subeh Chowdhury
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Subeh enhanced the transport curriculum with experiential on-site learning, where students apply design and CPTED principles to improve campus transport safety. This project sharpened their practical skills and teamwork, equipping them for real-world professional practices.
View Subeh’s profile page
Dr Asma Shakil
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Asma redefined the computer science capstone course by incorporating real-world client projects and a public showcase of developed software, boosting student engagement and employability. The course now emphasizes creative collaboration and industry networking. Additionally, to inspire excellence, high-performing student teams get awarded at the event.
View Asma’s profile page
Dr Thomas Loho
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
In CHEMMAT 121, Thomas introduced ‘Material Matters,’ an assignment that connects theory to daily objects. Students photograph items, analyzing their properties, which fosters active learning and highlights materials science’s everyday relevance.
View Thomas’ profile page
Dr Andrea Kolb
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Andrea’s educational initiative in the Chemical & Materials Engineering program creatively uses Gen-AI for text-to-image transformation, bolstering students’ employability skills. Engaging in psychometric assessments and 3D prototype creation, students enhance their creativity and gear up for real-world engineering challenges, encouraging practical application and ethical AI usage.
Cynthia Orr
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL WORK
Cynthia enhanced her Children’s Literature course by integrating Perusall tasks, making discussions graded and interactive. This method increased student engagement with literary theories and texts, and with personalized feedback, it improved dialogue and raised submission scores.
Nikki Chamberlain
AUCKLAND LAW SCHOOL
Nikki refreshed the Law of Family Property class by introducing a practical client consultation exercise, where she role-played the client in 15-minute Zoom sessions. This engaging assessment allowed students to practice legal advising in a realistic setting, enhancing their analytical skills and preparing them for their future careers with a personal touch.
View Nikki’s profile page
Dr Marie-Anne Thelen
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Marie-Anne crafted an assignment for exchange chemistry students from China, aimed at applying New Zealand’s health and safety standards in practical lab work. This enhances their English language skills, preparing them for their final semester at the University of Auckland and ensuring they are ready for the laboratory environment.
Dr Priyanka Dhopade
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Priyanka enriched her thermofluids lectures with YouTube videos featuring a spectrum of presenters, fostering inclusivity and offering students a variety of role models. This approach not only broadens understanding but also addresses the underrepresentation in engineering, inspiring students of all backgrounds.
Kevin Jia
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Kevin transformed the ENGSCI 263 course by adding a practical PowerBI component, giving students the chance to develop their data visualization abilities through an interactive dashboard project. This has not only improved the course’s logistics optimization project with valuable feedback but has also equipped students with a practical set of skills, increasing their job prospects.
View Kevin’s profile page
Elizabeth Oliphant, Dr Sara Hanning, Dr Trudi Aspen
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Elizabeth, Sara, and Trudi have enhanced PHARMACY 702 by introducing an interactive session with university and clinical multidisciplinary staff. This collaboration lets students actively participate in medicine administration and nutritional product tasting, deepening their practical understanding of the subject.
View Sara’s profile page
View Trudi’s profile page
2023 grant recipients
We are pleased to announce the recipients for the Change One Thing Challenge for 2023.
Associate Professor Alys Longley
Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries
Alys created an assignment for her Dance 101/G students to explore their home environments in creative ways during COVID. She gave them freedom and focus to create low-stakes work, taking more risks and engaging in new learning.
View Alys’ profile page
Dr Igor' Kontorovich
Faculty of Science
Igor designed a set of activities for his first-year math course to get his students talking and thinking mathematically. He asked them to work in groups, make up dialogues, and critique fake solutions. Math got more interactive and social.
View Igor’s profile page
Jayden Houghton
Auckland Law School
Jayden asked his students to create quizzes based on a reading for his law course. He wanted them to read more carefully and critically. He also used the quizzes as extra teaching material for future students while testing a new teaching method for law.
Dr Jesin James
Faculty of Engineering
Jesin added the indigenous perspective on data sovereignty to her ELECTENG 101 course. She taught her students how data collection and processing affect different cultures and values, helping prepare them to be more culturally aware engineers. Feedback from her students was positive!
View Jesin’s profile page
Dr Sonia Fonua
Faculty of Science
Sonia started the Teina Project to boost the confidence and number of Māori and Moana Pacific tutors in the School of Environment. She followed the values of manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga to support and mentor these students, making them feel valued and welcomed in their roles.
View Sonia’s profile page
Dr Lynne Park
Faculty of Arts
Lynne used Perusall, a social annotation tool, to make her students read and comment on the text more actively. She improved their understanding and classroom discussions. As Perusall became a pre-lecture activity, her students came to class more ready and eager to talk and analyse the readings.
View Lynne’s profile page
Mareike Schmidt
Faculty of Arts
Mareike asked her students to record a podcast in her language course. She fostered collaboration and technology skills, giving them a chance to work autonomously in a team environment.
Dr Paramvir Singh
Faculty of Science
Paramvir wrote and sang two original songs about computer programming for his ENGGEN 131 class of >1,000 students. He released them as music videos to motivate and engage his students in online learning.
Dr Pedram Hekmati
Faculty of Science
Pedram used 3D graphs and models of minimal surfaces to help calculus students understand multivariable functions better. He showed them how calculus connects to real-world applications.
Dr Rajshri Roy
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Rajshri asked her students to work in teams and follow a fad diet for a week. They had to create a nutritious recipe and share it online using technology and social media. A traditional assignment became more dynamic and fun.
Waruna Weerasekera
Faculty of Science
Waruna wanted to get more students involved in his live lectures. He used one of online polling tools to let them ask questions or make comments anonymously, enhancing student engagement in synchronous teaching sessions.
Associate Professor Lokesh Padhye
Faculty of Engineering
Lokesh identified the concepts that his students found troublesome in environmental engineering. Using feedback videos to explain such concepts better and help overcome the difficulties, he made the abstract concepts more relatable and clear.
Dr Yantao Song
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Yantao developed an e-learning course in Canvas to teach students how to use personal protective equipment (PPE) correctly. She enabled over 2,000 students from different faculties and universities get their N95 respirator tested in a time and resource-pressing situation.
Dr Elizabeth Peterson
Faculty of Science
Elizabeth used survey data to find out what new tutors needed and wanted to know about their role. She then tailored the content of a tutor training workshop and designed scenarios to address their concerns, building tutor confidence in creating more inclusive classrooms.
Page updated 28/03/2024 (moved from main page)