Louisa Lim and Dylan Bird win 2024 JERAA Award for Outstanding Teaching in a Journalism Program
By JERAA VP (Awards) Jeanti St Clair
November 28, 2024
Associate Professor Louisa Lim of the University of Melbourne and Dr Dylan Bird, a lecturer in journalism at RMIT University, have won the 2024 JERAA Outstanding Teaching Award in a Journalism Program for their joint entry, ‘The Masterclass: Flipped-Classroom Learning Through Podcasting and Padlet Tasks’.
The 2024 JERAA teaching award was judged by Honorary Professor Trevor Cullen of Edith Cowan University and Dr Caroline Graham of the University of Queensland.
The Masterclass approach
The judges wrote that: “The Masterclass, a podcast approach to a flipped classroom, is an outstanding contribution to teaching and learning. First, the authors identified a problem: how to update teaching for a large undergraduate Text and Audio Journalism subject and increase student engagement with news and tutorial discussion.
“In response, they used a university teaching innovation grant to redesign and update an existing podcast series The Masterclass, with the aim of improving content, delivery and student participation in the undergraduate unit. As with the previous series, this redesigned podcast season was made freely available for use by other journalism educators, students, and the interested public.
“The outcome was overwhelmingly positive student feedback and increased participation in tutorials. Nearly two thirds of enrolled students expressed a preference for podcasts over traditional textbooks, and forthcoming research into this project suggests there will be a range of exciting applications for podcasting in journalism education in a range of contexts.
“In addition to traditional research outputs, plans are in place to design a best-practice tool kit based on this pilot. Series 3 of the Masterclass has also received industry recognition through nomination for four nominations at the 2024 Australian Podcast Awards, winning the Education category.
“This entry represents clever integration of journalism practice and pedagogy, with sustained impact. Both educators are heavily involved in research that informs their teaching and thoroughly deserve to win the 2024 JERAA award for Outstanding Teaching.”
This is Louisa’s second win in this category: she also won in 2021.
The award attracts a $2000 prize.
Enhanced student engagement
Dylan and Louisa said their project re-design showed significant improvements in student satisfaction and engagement compared to prior iterations of the subject.
“We were successful in engaging students in their journalism education by including a range of voices in the podcast, [and] making journalism seem accessible as a career path.”
The duo has shared their results from this project at the 2024 JERAA Conference at the University of Melbourne in November and are writing a peer-reviewed article on their findings.
University of Wollongong lecturer Benjamin Ball has been commended by the judges for the same award:
“Benjamin’s innovative and holistic approach to immersive teaching and learning is evident in the use of the Integrated newsroom. His students have gained important skills and insights from this experiential learning model which is clearly reflected in student feedback, and his student-centred approach creates a safe and inspiring classroom culture for his students.”
Entries to the 2025 Outstanding Teaching Award will open in the new year.
Best Lightning Presentation
Winner of the popular vote at the 2024 JERAA Award for Best Lightning Presentation on Teaching Journalism is Professor Andrew Dodd of the University of Melbourne for his five-minute presentation, The Graveyard Shift. His presentation shows how his students honed research and writing skills to tell true tales about forgotten people, using the Melbourne Cemetery, and local archives.
