My teaching rationale aligns with social constructivist learning theory, which suggests that students learn most effectively by relating new concepts to existing knowledge. I subscribe to a learner-centred ideology, and my teaching style thus emphasises the collaborative, social nature of learning. I subscribe to constructive alignment, ensuring my teaching is outcomes-based, and that the learning environment enables students to achieve those outcomes; I recognise that at the heart of UNSW’s Integrated Curriculum Framework is the goal for students to understand the connection between individual course components and the learning outcomes of the course and program. I thus write appropriate learning outcomes clearly aligned to the Graduate Capabilities for all teaching activities and check in with students using quizzes and 1-minute paper summaries, to ensure that they have been met

My teaching practice is wide-ranging in terms of the disciplines and subjects I teach. Leading a small campus with a small staff means that I am necessarily versatile, willingly teaching outside my core subject areas, even outside my comfort zones, as appropriate. I co-convene the Foundations course in the first year of the medicine program, ensuring that students continue in their studies appropriately equipped with the necessary skills for academic success. I teach aspects of all other 7 Phase1 courses including facilitating small group sessions (scenario-based teaching), delivering lectures, teaching practical laboratory skills, and delivering tutorials. In each teaching course I oversee the running of the complete program in addition to teaching into the program at several different levels. I design and deliver revision lectures for our rural cohort, particularly around concepts they find more complex. I use diverse teaching strategies (e.g. incomplete handouts, think-pair-share, interactive quizzes). I introduced semi-flipped teaching, giving students material to engage with pre-class, then involving them in interactive participation in class.

My student satisfaction ratings (myExperience) demonstrate my consistent excellent performance in teaching over the period 2017-22, with a mean rating of 5.8 (maximum possible = 6) for satisfaction with my teaching. Relative to Faculty of Medicine and Health tutors overall, students’ satisfaction with my teaching rates significantly higher (see reports published in this portfolio).