Andrew, a Professional Teaching Fellow at UoA’s Business School, was among nine other tertiary teacher finalists gathered at parliament to receive their Sustained Excellence Awards at an event hosted by Minister of Education, Hon Chris Hipkins. Now in its 18th year, Ako Aotearoa has managed the awards since 2007.
Each awardee receives $20,000 in prize money. The Prime Minister’s Supreme Award, worth an additional $10,000, is presented annually to the awardee that best exemplifies the Awards’ Sustained Excellence criteria.
In the committee’s recommendation to the Minister, Andrew is described as “…an enthusiastic, generous, innovative teacher who has a significant impact on the learners. His teaching inspires, and his leadership strongly supports teachers throughout the institution.” A colleague describes Andrew as ‘the innovator of the department’ – he is renowned for employing technology to improve and enhance teaching and learning.
Working with more than 20,000 learners over the past ten years, Andrew describes his role as ‘motivator in chief’ as he watches them move from “Aha!” to “I’ve got it!” Learners comment on his high levels of engagement and support, even when teaching classes of 1,000. “He thinks about the whole student experience”, one commented.
While he creatively cultivates all learners’ passion for information technology, helping those that are struggling is one of Andrew’s passions. This has resulted in him receiving a fellowship to support his work in identifying, supporting and mentoring ‘at-risk’ learners.
He believes in sharing knowledge and empowering his colleagues; helping to design, develop and implement an Educational Technology Hub for the University of Auckland staff. He also helped establish a self-service video recording tool, the One Button Studio, as a useful tool for the wider University.
“Somebody said “If you go to work and do something you love, you never do a day’s work in your life” – honestly that’s how I feel about teaching.” – Andrew concludes.
- Read Andrew's citation and profile and watch the 3-minute video
- Find out about the ten Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award recipients for 2019