Kudos for creative writers

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Anthology wins lecturers award for authentic learning

Kirsten Bolinger
Public relations assistant
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Producing an anthology with their students has won a senior lecturer and an award-winning Australian poet the 2010 Avondale College Learning and Teaching Excellence Award.

Carolyn Rickett received with colleague Judith Beveridge the 2010 Avondale College Learning and Teaching Excellence Award for producing an anthology with students that also features the work of leading Australian poets. President Dr Ray Roennfeldt presents Carolyn with the award during World Teachers’ Day Breakfast. Credit: Ann Stafford.

Carolyn Rickett and Judith Beveridge received the $2000 award for Wording the World, an anthology published by independent Australian publisher Puncher & Wattmann featuring poetry from students in the Creative Writing class and from leading Australian authors.

The award not only recognises the publication of the anthology but also the multifaceted nature of the project. Students from the Design Studio class designed the cover of the anthology. One of the creative writing students is coordinating, for her independent topic, the production of an electronic book featuring short stories from students in the class. And students in the Print Journalism class are reporting the news of the launch of Wording the World as one of the components of their end-of-semester test.

Vice-president (learning and teaching) Dr Philip Brown describes the project as “creative” and “innovative.” “The correlation between [Carolyn and Judith’s] teaching approach and the achievement of enhanced learning was clearly evident.”

Wording the World is not the first project on which Carolyn, a senior lecturer in communication, and Judith, a lecturer in the Department of English at The University of Sydney and poetry editor of literary journal Meanjin, have collaborated. They also edited an anthology as part of the New Leaves research project, which examines the relationship between writing and healing.

Wording the World will launch on Thursday this week (October 21).

The presentation of the award and those for recognition of service came during World Teachers’ Day Breakfast, held in the cafeteria on the Lake Macquarie campus this past Tuesday. Avondale presents the service awards based on five-year increments, with Marian de Berg, David Potter and Eldon Rosenberg (all 20 years) acknowledged as the longest-serving among the recipients this year.

Award recipients

2010 Avondale College Learning and Teaching Excellence Award: Individual
No award presented

2010 Avondale College Learning and Teaching Excellence Award: Team ($2000)
Carolyn Rickett and Judith Beveridge, Wording the World

Recognition of Service
Lyn Daff (5 years)
Christine Davenport (5 years)
Dr Robb Dennis (5 years)
Dr Murray House (5 years)
Nick Hartigan (5 years)
Dr John Skrzypaszek (5 years)
Brenton Stacey (5 years)

Kathy Hancock (10 years)
Jane Fernandez (10 years)

Barbara Duncan (15 years)

Marian de Berg (20 years)
David Potter (20 years)
Eldon Rosenberg (20 years)