Innovative teaching methods recognised with Psychology Lecturer Award

Kell Tremayne is the latest academic from Western Sydney University to win an award for his innovative teaching methods, which include in-class votes and taste tests.

Dr Tremayne was formally presented with the Australian Psychological Society's Outstanding Psychology Lecturer of the Year Award 2015, which was based on votes of University psychology students.

When teaching, Dr Tremayne says he breaks up his lectures into modules of 15 minutes, punctuated by hands- on experiments to support theories, such as conducting a Coke and Pepsi taste testing to cement the concept of confounding.

Dr Tremayne has also introduced voting technology into his lectures, allowing students to text their responses to questions in real time.

"I initiated this method as I wanted to build informal touch points for students in lectures, and see it as a fantastic method to gauge students' understanding of the content," he says.

Dr Tremayne says he's honoured the students voted for him.

"I feel very privileged to do something that I love to do and at the same time be acknowledged for the planning and effort that goes into making these lectures," he says.

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16 November 2015

Mark Smith, Senior Media Officer