Awards and Qualifications

Faculty of Science and Engineering Excellence in Sessional Teaching Award, 2018
For going above and beyond the expectations of a sessional teacher. I co-developed a valuable mini-research project to give students a realistic research experience in BIOL229 Comparative Physiology and presented on building a digital profile & professional social media use in BIOL391 Biology Capstone.

Fellowship of Advance Higher Education (HE), 2019.
This internationally recognised program is a formal recognition scheme for professional practice in higher education teaching and learning support. Fellowships are awarded to individuals for their teaching and learning support experience, accomplishments and practice.

Anonymous student feedback

“She was very clear in her explanations and instructions. I felt that I was prepared for labs after her discussions.”

“You could tell she was passionate about what she taught and it helped motivate me throughout the unit.”

“The teacher had a good background with the material, she explained clearly and created [a] good atmosphere in the lab.”

“She kept class interesting and made me want to come to lab and learn.”

“Asked many questions [of] us in regards to lectures to test our knowledge, rather than telling us all the info straight away.”

“By far one of my favourite tutors.”

R coding and data management

Presented the Git and GitHub workshop for Macquarie University R Users Group in October 2020.
This workshop introduced Git and Github to R users at Macquarie University. I demonstrated the creation of a GitHub repository and how to create a version control RStudio project linked to the GitHub repository. I showed the participants how to commit new files and changes and then push those commits to GitHub. A recording of the presentation is available here.

Presented ‘Data Visualisation with ggplot’ lesson of Data Carpentry Introduction to R workshop online for Macquarie University in September 2020. 

This online Data Carpentry workshop was an introduction to R for absolute beginners to provide them with the skills to import data, manipulate it and create plots using the tidyverse. I presented the section of the workshop on data visualisation using ggplot which incorporated pivoting data, building ggplot code using the three crucial elements (data, mapping and geoms), customising plots and exporting plots for use in journal articles. A recording of the workshop is available here.

Unit development

2019: Big Data Analysis & Synthetic Biology CBMS836 – Masters unit with ~70 students. Designed and taught a multi-week ‘Introduction to the Tidyverse’ R workshop to  postgraduate students with no prior coding experience – included designing the workshop to fit within a pre-determined unit structure and assessment schedule (soil microbiome sequencing data analysis and poster presentation), preparing the code and materials for lesson (students downloaded and followed along) and delivery of the workshop with live coding.

Comparative Physiology students presenting their research project ideas.2019: Big Data Analysis & Synthetic Biology CBMS836 – Masters unit with ~70 students. Designed and taught a multi-week ‘Introduction to the Tidyverse’ R workshop to  postgraduate students with no prior coding experience – included designing the workshop to fit within a pre-determined unit structure and assessment schedule (soil microbiome sequencing data analysis and poster presentation), preparing the code and materials for lesson (students downloaded and followed along) and delivery of the workshop with live coding.

2018: Comparative Physiology BIOL229 – co-badged 2nd year & Masters unit. Co-developed a mini-research project assessment to give students a realistic research experience.

Tutoring

2019-2020: Molecular Biology & Genomics MOLS8411 (previously CBMS836) – Masters of coursework unit
Tutor for 4 hour classes on an introduction to R and RStudio, using the R package DADA2 to analyse 16S genomic read data, and manipulating and plotting data using the R packages in the tidyverse.

2017-2020: Biology Capstone BIOL3620 (previously BIOL391) – 3rd-year unit
Tutor for 2-hour classes designed to prepare students to be successful in job applications after graduation and provide them with the necessary skills for succeeding in the workplace
Marking – presentations, job application portfolios, mock interviews, videos (vlogs), grant applications (including outreach activities)

2017-2020: Comparative Physiology BIOL2210 (previously BIOL229) – co-badged 2nd year & Masters unit
Unit administration – includes preparation of the unit guide for internal and external students, set up and administration of the unit webpage using iLearn (Moodle system), setting up online quizzes and Turnitin assignment links and sourcing extra resources to support content and loading on iLearn (blog posts, podcasts, new articles).
Demonstrator for 3-hour practical classes, including preparing slides, explaining practical exercises and theoretical background, supervising class of 32 students, interpreting experimental results and explaining the significance of the results. During COVID-19 pandemic we pivoted to online practicals using Zoom.
Marking – mid-semester test, report on physiological process (using Turnitin Studio) and final exam (short and long answer questions).

2015-2020: Molecular Biology and Genomics BMOL3402 (previously CBMS336) – 3rd-year unit.
Senior marker for four scientific journal articles (based on practical work) using Turnitin Studio. I developed the resources used by the tutors for marking, such as the rubric and a marking guide. Each year I train the markers in the use of Turnitin Quickmarks and comments for marking as well as allocate the submissions to markers and compile the marking spreadsheets. After marking is completed, I manage student enquiries about their grades and provide additional feedback to assist the students.

2016 & 2015: Plant Structure and Function BIOL210 – co-badged 2nd year & Masters unit
Demonstrator for three hour practical classes, including preparing and presenting the theoretical background, explaining practical exercises, supervising three classes of 30 students, interpreting experimental results and explaining the significance of the results.
Marking – weekly paper-based quizzes and final exam long answer questions.

2016: Human Biology BIOL108 – 1st year unit with enrollment of 1000 students.
Marking three assignments using Turnitin grading facility.

Lectures

2017: Biology Capstone unit – 3rd-year unit
Guest lecture on use of social media as scientists and for communicating science to the public.

2016: Plant Structure & Function – 2nd-year unit
Guest lecture about Masters of Research project on extrafloral nectaries.

2015: Evolution and Biodiversity – 1st-year unit
Guest lecture about postgraduate student experience and Masters of Research project on extrafloral nectaries.