Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence

Recently some of our School of Law staff were recognised for their high quality work. Sharon Erbacher, Rami Hanegbi, Jenni Lynch and Wes Obst were awarded Deakin University Awards for Teaching Excellence and Associate Professor Julie Cassidy was awarded a Deakin University Award for Teaching Excellence and a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Sharon Erbacher
Sharon's award was based on a sustained commitment to good teaching and assessment practices and the provision of high quality resources in her units.

Sharon demonstrates that she has taught her units with enthusiasm and dedication so as to stimulate and inspire the students to learn, provide resources of excellent quality that demonstrate an expertise in her teaching areas, and that her approach to setting and marking assessment tasks improves student learning and assists to develop practical and generic skills. 

Additionally, Sharon demonstrates that she has achieved these outcomes consistently for both on campus and off campus teaching, successfully balancing the demands of teaching in the two modes simultaneously.

Associate Professor Julie Cassidy 
Julie's teaching excellence lies in the combination of scholarship, innovation, enthusiasm and genuine concern for students.  Julie's innovation and excellence in legal education are situated within the changing demands, needs and contexts of the discipline experienced throughout the higher education system.  Through all aspects of teaching, Julie supports students in obtaining the knowledge and skills they need to excel in the ever-changing legal or business workplace.  

For two decades, Julie has facilitated students' practical legal skills development, pioneering the development of experiential learning methodologies that can be used both on-campus and off-campus.  Julie's focus on practical legal education has integrated well with the goal of making sure that her legal scholarship and practice inform both curriculum development and teaching practice.  

As with Julie's teaching generally, the innovative design of these tools has been shaped by Julie's commitment to inclusiveness and equity to develop learning environments that make the law accessible to students who face geographical barriers and those with physical challenges.  This motivation is also evident in Julie's long-term support of legal education amongst Indigenous students.  Equally, Julie is concerned that non-Indigenous students have an understanding of Indigenous legal issues and develop cross-cultural competencies.  Julie's concern for student self-development has come together with her legal expertise in Indigenous studies to provide the foundations for an innovative Indigenous study tour.

Rami Hanegbi, Jenni Lynch and Wes Obst
For over 10 years, the dedicated and creative student learning-centered team of Wes Obst, Rami Hanegbi and Jenni Lynch have developed the unit MLC301 Principles of Income Tax Law.

Although students often come to MLC301 Principles of Income Tax Law with preconceived notions that they will not enjoy studying taxation, the teaching team in this Unit has engaged, motivated and inspired students to meet the challenges of studying taxation. In this unit, Wes, Rami and Jenni have used a variety of teaching approaches to engage with students and encourage active learning in a large class setting, including many international students and a wide range of study modes including distance students. In assessment, the team have created an interactive, learner-centered and self-paced approach to assessment in tax law. Over several years, the team have also refined their curriculum to respond to research, business and industry, including developing a textbook for national use in the study of income tax law.