Australian Awards for University Teaching — 2008

Awards for Teaching Excellence — Law, Economics, Business and Related Studies — Recipient

Dr Allan Chay
Queensland University of Technology, Queensland

Synopsis

Dr Chay’s personal quest for a ‘theory of lawyering’ has informed his contributions to teaching and learning in postgraduate practical legal training (PLT) and in undergraduate clinical legal education. His quest has been informed by his early experiences in the workplace, his PLT teaching and his study and research in cognitive psychology and other domains. One of the outcomes of his quest is his effective use of work-integrated learning to provide students with a rich variety of authentic learning activities in both PLT and undergraduate courses, and in both on-campus and electronic environments. Allan's quest has led to numerous teaching and learning, curriculum and assessment innovations that seek to develop each student’s ability to practise law and to enable them to examine how the law impacts on individual lives. His work in course design and in developing online learning environments has opened his course up to students who otherwise would not have had access. His PLT work and contributions to the development of national standards have had an impact nationally.