AUT team win Australasian award
A team from AUT’s Centre for Learning and Technology (CfLAT) won the Australasian Blackboard Award for Professional Development for their work on supporting Ako Aronui: the Pathway to HEA Fellowship.
The Blackboard Professional Development award recognises those who support and enhance their faculty and staff’s professional development.
Director of CfLAT Mark Northover and his team were honoured alongside other awards winners during Blackboard’s annual Teaching and Learning conference in Sydney. “Building the Blackboard course was a collaborative effort between the academic staff on the Ako Aronui team and the Learning Technologies team who support Blackboard.”
Ako Aronui is a professional learning programme for all AUT staff involved in learning and teaching. Ako Aronui contextualises the Higher Education Academy’s (HEA) UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) in Māori values and principles through the Ako Aronui Professional Standards Framework, underpinned by the Iho Matua (philosophy) of manaaki. Ako Aronui: Pathway to HEA Fellowship is accredited by the HEA and over 80 staff have completed Fellowships and there are another 50 - 60 currently underway.
Mark explains, “the Ako Aronui team made a deliberate decision to try to promote ‘best practice’ in the use of Blackboard in building this course. It gives an opportunity for staff to experience the system ‘as a student’ and understand the importance of the digital student experience. The success of this has been evident in the number of participants who have requested further advice and assistance in using some of these design elements to make their own courses more engaging for students.”
Blackboard Inc is a leading education technology company for teaching, learning and student engagement. “I’m proud to recognise this year’s outstanding recipients of the Blackboard Awards for their demonstrated commitment to using technology to enhance the learning experience,” said Lee Blakemore, Chief Client Officer and President, Global Markets at Blackboard.