Overview

The Morton Medal is awarded to the individual who has best demonstrated excellence in chemical engineering education. It looks to recognise the work of outstanding educators as well as 'game changers', and to promulgate best practice in chemical engineering education.

Professor Nicky Eshtiaghi, RMIT University, Australia, is the winner of the IChemE Morton Medal. The first couple of minutes of the webinar will be for the awarding of the Morton medal. The next 30 minutes will be for her to present on the subject of designing creative, adaptive and inclusive learning approaches that enable diverse engineering students to become successful learners and develop into ethical professionals.

Professor Eshtiaghi has a philosophy that all students should have the opportunity to develop to their full potential and combines the following strategies:

• creative use of educational technology to cater for individual differences via flexible, multi modal learning
• authentic industry engaged learning to develop professional identity
• effective, personalised and inclusive research mentoring to address individual needs and build all students' skills and experience.

This presentation will cover how creatively to use educational technology to offer flexible, multi-modal learning experiences in a core chemical engineering course. A course architecture with sustained industry partnerships that scaffold students’ professional learning and development of emergent ethical professional identity is also presented. Effective mentoring, of and by students, including personalised and inclusive research supervision to build skills and experience for all students is another teaching practice that is presented.

This webinar is aimed at all members and will be useful for anyone who teaches or mentors and also for students themselves. It will also be of particular interest to Heads of Department in universities worldwide.

Speaker

Professor Nicky Eshtiaghi, Professor in the School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, RMIT University

Nicky is an Associate Professor in chemical engineering at the School of Engineering of RMIT University. Her current research interest is sludge rheology, converting biosolid to bioenergy, green or construction materials, multiphase flow, and particle technology.           

Nicky is a professor in the chemical engineering discipline of RMIT University, an Engineers Australia (EA) Chartered Engineer and Fellow, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, UK). She is the recipient of several prestigious recognitions and awards including the 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT, citation) and Engineers Australia Caltex Teaching Award for outstanding contribution to students learning and teaching excellence.

The Professor's inclusive approach enables students to succeed academically, develop into ethical professionals and achieve sustainable practice. She views difference as a rich resource that can enhance learning for all students. Nicky’s teaching philosophy is founded on the belief that all students should have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. Facilitating a safe and inclusive learning environment where students can develop professional identities and ethical practice, alongside core technical skills, is critical for Nicky. She combines different strategies to foster student success.

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Education Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time

09:00–10:00 GMT.

Software

The presentation will be delivered via GoToWebinar®.
Check system requirements.

You are advised to join the webinar at least ten minutes before the scheduled start time, to allow for your computer to connect.

Webinar archive

This webinar is free of charge and open to all to attend, but if you wish to access the slides and a recording to replay on demand then you will need to be a member of the Education Special Interest Group.