Australian Awards for University Teaching recognises Dr Lynn Gribble

Dr Lynn Gribble, a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School, has challenged herself to dream big and achieve results from a young age. By 13, she was living overseas on her own, training and performing as a professional ice skater. Now, Dr Gribble has channeled her passions of conceptualising possibilities and continuously looking for innovative ways of doing things into a career as an academic, where she teaches and designs several programs across UNSW Business School and AGSM.

Recently, she received a highly prestigious Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning by the Australian Awards for University Teaching for ‘a decade of creating, sharing and advocating deeply personalised, learner-centred and innovative online teaching strategies for Business students using readily available technologies.’

Dr Gribble is honoured to be recognised and said, “In a highly competitive space, knowing that what you have done is considered outstanding is an inspiration to reach higher and do more.”

She uses personalised, learner-centred teaching strategies to help students improve their learning outcomes so that students achieve their best.

“Students online will often be ‘lost’,” she said. “I learn as much as I can about the students before I answer them and consider things like how they are engaging with moodle and resources, what is their underlying question, and how can I help them understand the content and process better? I’m digitally curious and I think there’s always an answer if I start with the student and then look at the available technology because I can engage more with the students’ situation and personalise my interactions too.”

Dr Gribble believes learning should be meaningful and engaging and enjoys constantly thinking of new ways to explain or demonstrate things. “Innovation is about thinking how to do something differently, and I like to encourage my students and my peers to learn with me as this makes risk seem possible and allows new practice to emerge,” she said.

When asked what role technology has in future university settings, Dr Gribble said technology is the future but should be seen as the assistant rather than the driver. “People often still crave physicality and not everyone will be happy in a virtual world. Real people and real connections matter, but technology allows us to work anywhere any time. It can create greater equity in many cases and at the same time the greatest risk is access. Not everyone has access to technology and so we need to be aware of that too,” she said.

With upskilling lecturers, tutors and students, Dr Gribble believes UNSW can become a leader in the online teaching experience space and help build a world class online experience more broadly.

In terms of favourite available technologies, Dr Gribble has several. “Socrative is my current favourite because it does so much more than quiz the students. Moodle Personalised Learning Developer is great for connecting with students based on their profile after assignments and Powtoon is excellent for making videos,” she said.

When asked what Dr Gribble is most proud of, receiving this citation for the Australian Awards for University Teaching was right up there along with being an international athlete. “Of course, being a mum to an amazing human can’t be underestimated either,” Dr Gribble added.

In her spare time Dr Gribble enjoys staying active and now boxes to keep fit. She is also working on a book chapter co-authored by Dr Janis Wardrop that is focused on improving assessment and feedback processes.

“You have to dream big,” said Dr Gribble, “if you can conceptualise it, you can find a solution.”