Award for Lecturer Marks Polytechnic Trifecta
- Judy Magee recieves her award from Hon Anne Tolley, Minister for Tertiary Education
Otago Polytechnic Senior Lecturer Judy Magee has been presented with a prestigious Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in a ceremony held at Parliament.
This is the third year running that a member of Otago Polytechnic’s lecturing staff have been awarded a $20,000 prize by Ako Aotearoa – The National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, the only Polytechnic in the country that can claim such an achievement.
Previous winners were Margo Barton, Adademic Leader for Fashion in 2007 and Adrian Woodhouse, Senior Lecturer in Cookery in 2008.
“I believe our continued recognition by Ako Aotearoa is due to the real depth of teaching talent at Otago Polytechnic as a result of recruitment, cultivation and development.” says Polytechnic CEO Phil Ker. “We have consciously devoted a lot of resources to teacher development and benchmarking shows our investment in this area is at the top of our sector.”
Judy Magee was instrumental in the development of new delivery methods for the Polytechnic’s Certificate in Health which doubled its enrolment numbers between 2007 and 2008.She is currently programme manager for the course and lecturer in bioscience. Her nomination for the awards commends her ‘love of science’ and ongoing passion for the practical application of the disciplines.
“Judy teaches difficult concepts in innovative, collaborative and memorable ways. She makes learning engaging. Working with distance and on-campus students, Judy has developed successful learning opportunities for a range of learners, including those who may not necessarily have had positive educational experiences previously.” Reads the application.
“I have no doubt that Judy’s outstanding commitment to student focus and learner-centredness was evident in her portfolio,” says Phil Ker who will attend tonight’s ceremony. “We all want that for our teaching practice, but Judy practices what everyone preaches. She truly ‘walks the talk’ – one of the most important criteria considered by the Awards committee.”