Change One Thing Challenge recipients

Eileen’s “Hot Seat” activity in 4th-year psychology seminars enhanced communication skills and confidence by having students answer spontaneous questions, creating a supportive and engaging learning environment.

Profile: Eileen Lueders

Nuddy used FeedbackFruits in a Team-Based Learning course to ensure fair recognition of individual efforts through AI-supported peer assessments, improving teamwork skills and fostering constructive feedback.

Profile: Nuddy Pillay

Blair modernised lab inductions with AI-generated videos covering safety and equipment usage, including interactive quizzes, enhancing engagement and knowledge retention.

Profile: Blair Sowman

Selena relocated a weekly clinic to an aged care setting, providing Speech Language Therapy students with hands-on experience and enhancing their understanding and confidence in real-life environments.

Profile: Selena Donaldson

Judy introduced movement-based activities in tutorials, such as “Game, Set, Match” and “Think, Pair, Walk, and Share,” to reduce sitting time and increase engagement and active learning.

Profile: Judy Thomas

Minh enriched Civil Engineering courses with individualized datasets and AI tutoring, fostering authentic problem-solving and improving data analytics skills.

Profile: Minh Kieu

Nicole’s “Interpreting Folktales” course featured a creative assessment where students developed their own folktale characters, enhancing their understanding of folktales and improving writing skills.

Profile: Nicole Perry

Courtney’s project in chemistry courses used AI to design artwork and posters, connecting theoretical knowledge with practical applications and fostering teamwork and research skills.

Profile: Courtney Ruha

Amanda improved teamwork in the ENGGEN course series with Team Charters, Feedback Fruits evaluations, and Team Debriefs, fostering better team dynamics and conflict resolution.

Profile: Amanda Di Ienno

William and Jesin introduced non-invigilated post-test reflection quizzes in ELECTENG 101, promoting self-regulated learning and deeper understanding, and improving student engagement.

Profiles: William Lee, Jesin James

Hazim improved MECHENG 222 with Inspera’s Numerical Simulation Question Type, providing fairer assessments and better feedback, leading to increased participation and higher scores. 

Profile: Hazim Namik

Nawawi transformed “Structural Dynamics” teaching by using real-life situations and analogies, making complex concepts more relatable and engaging for students.

Profile: Nawawi Chouw

Christopher engaged students in China with interactive poster sessions on drug discovery, fostering active participation and collaboration, and plans to implement this model in first-year biochemistry at UoA.

Profile: Christopher Squire

Udayangi integrated Generative AI into data analytics coursework, enhancing students’ technical proficiency and critical thinking for AI-integrated workplaces.

Profile: Udayangi Muthupoltotage

An transformed the International Economic Regulation course with written and oral briefings, ensuring thorough reading and enhancing presentation skills.

Profile: An Hertogen

Anthony’s SUSTAIN Citizenship Portfolio bridges classroom learning with real-world sustainability practices, enhancing coursework and developing practical skills.

Profile: Anthony Gampell

Kathryn’s interactive guessing game in her Cellular Regulation course enhanced student engagement, creative thinking, and factual recall.

Profile: Kathryn Jones

Stephanie and Leila’s Interactive Oral Assessment in STATS 150 enhanced student engagement and preserved academic integrity, boosting confidence and pass rates.

Profiles: Stephanie Budgett, Leila Boyle

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

Watch on YouTube

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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.

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Waruna wanted to get more students involved in his live lectures. He used an online polling tool to let them ask questions or make comments anonymously, enhancing student engagement in synchronous teaching sessions.

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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.

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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.

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