Showcasing award-winning teaching: LayPeng Tan

What does it take to win a learning and teaching award? In this series of Teche posts we showcase our award-winning teachers and uncover the methods and approaches behind their award-winning practice.

LayPeng won a Student Nominated Award in the 2023 Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards.

My goal is to inspire students to “want to learn”. I achieve this through an integrated approach that includes innovative curriculum design, a supportive learning environment and empathetic support to ensure student success.

A competency-focused approach in action

While LayPeng is well regarded by her students for her passion, dedication and genuine concern for their education and well-being, what truly stands out is her focus on providing relevant real-world learning experiences. This approach translates into the development of key skills that are crucial for employment, particularly important for her third year and postgraduate marketing students.

Here’s how she achieves this:

• Curriculum design emphasises learning for enhanced employability with contemporary knowledge and skills embedded in the unit.
• In class workshop activities involve active learning, where students learn and practice workforce relevant skills such as keyword advertising, email marketing and social media marketing.
• Each assessment is tailored to build real life skills relevant to students’ academic and professional goals. Upon completion, students can add these practical competencies (e.g. Google Certification) to their CVs.
• Students engage in teamwork, collaboratively producing worksheets and templates every week.
• Ongoing relationships are cultivated with industry partners (real businesses, real marketers) to ensure teaching remains industry relevant and to create valuable engagement and authentic learning opportunities for students. Students are encouraged to apply course contents to solve actual marketing problems provided by the companies. A true example of authentic assessment!
• Students have opportunities to ‘win’ paid internships (see below for details).

Industry partnerships provide fantastic internship opportunities for students:

When an industry partner brings a real strategic challenge to LayPeng, she weaves this into the assessments. Students complete the assessment task with the marks contributing to their overall final grade for the unit as usual.

Students also have the opportunity to submit an EOI for an internship with that company – on an opt-in basis. Students submit a cover letter, CV, 2 min video about themselves and why they should be considered for the internship, and their written response to the strategy challenge. The industry partner reviews the EOIs and shortlists students to interview. The internship is completely independent from the MQ assessment and the industry partner makes the decision about the successful applicant.

Remembering the basics: effective communication, presentation and interpersonal skills

1. Clear and organised learning materials and iLearn site

• The layout of the iLearn site is neat, consistent and well organised. Assessment information and other important documents are easy to find.
• Weekly updates and instructions are provided to the class on the topic and key deliverables.

2. Clear explanations of concepts

• Students value the clear explanations of key concepts and clear instructions provided for assessment tasks.

3. Timely and effective feedback

• LayPeng monitors student progress throughout the session, engaging with students to provide tailored and constructive feedback.
• Marking is thorough and provides clear guidance for students to understand the most appropriate way to approach their assessments.
• Students value LayPeng’s constructive criticism and feedback which she delivers in a way that is always respectful and empathetic.

4. Monitoring student progress

• LayPeng takes an active interest in student’s learning and ensures they are provided with the tools they need to succeed, not only in the unit but in life.

5. A caring and supportive environment

LayPeng makes sure students feel valued by:

• Taking the time to get to know their names.
• Encouraging them and making them feel comfortable to participate actively in the classroom.
• Having genuine conversations with students, especially about their future and work possibilities.
• Being approachable.

What her students say:

“The workshops genuinely contribute to our learning. We learn and practice skills that will actually help us in the workforce”.

“The tasks applied the course material in a highly practical and engaging way. My skills were tested and enhanced in a way I’ve never experienced in any unit of study”.

“Dr LayPeng encourages her students to achieve their potential in and outside the classroom”.

“She is always enthusiastic and goes the extra mile to challenge us and our thinking, also in arranging industry contacts for us to connect with and learn from”.

---

Are you considering applying for an award in the future?

Start gathering your evidence now so you will be ready to apply for a Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in the future.

• Read this post on 15 ways to evidence your teaching achievements at university.  
• View these resources for informal evaluation of teaching – Explore other approaches to collecting feedback from students and peers. 
• Set a reminder to order an LET survey next session to gather student feedback on your teaching.  
• Read about our award winning teachers. 
• Visit the Awards for Excellence in Education site for details of awards and guidance on writing an award application. 

Banner image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Post compiled by Kylie Coaldrake