Elizabeth Smith

Research Interests

Engineering education

Ms Elizabeth Smith

Senior Lecturer

School of Civil Engineering and Construction

College of Engineering and Information Technology

Elizabeth (Liz) Smith, BEng (Mechanical, Hons), is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering at Adelaide University. Liz has extensive experience coordinating engineering design and professional practice courses, as well as mapping and embedding professional skills development and industry engagement across engineering programs. She is also a former Program Director of undergraduate engineering programs.  Liz currently coordinates Work Integrated Learning courses in Engineering. Her research focuses on engineering education and professional skills development.  Liz has received numerous awards for her teaching, including a national citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Commonwealth Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), recognising her work in developing inclusive teamwork skills in engineering.
 
 

Engineering education, professional skills development and curriculum design and mapping. 

Date Position Institution name
2020 - 2025 Academic Lead Professional Practice Program University of South Australia
2019 - 2020 Program Director, Online Associate Degree in Engineering (XTEN) University of South Australia
2019 - 2020 Program Director, Associate Degree in Engineering (on campus LTEN and Open University Australia LTENC/LTENO) University of South Australia
2017 - 2025 Senior Lecturer University of South Australia
2016 - 2017 Program Director, Masters Civil Engineering Programs (LCCV, LMCV and LMCL) University of South Australia
2014 - 2016 Lecturer Level B, Teaching Academic University of South Australia
2012 - 2020 Program Director Civil Engineeirng University of South Australia
2010 - 2014 Lecturer Level A, Teaching Academic University of South Australia
2006 - 2010 Lecturer Level A, Teaching Academic University of South Australia
2001 - 2005 Casual Consulting Engineer Turbulence, Energy and Combustion Research Group, University of Adelaide
2001 - 2005 Casual Course Developer, Lecturer and Tutor University of Adelaide
2000 - 2000 Manufacturing Engineer Kemalex Plastics

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2022 Teaching Award Honourable Mention, STEM/FII Team Award for Teaching Excellence University of South Australia Australia -
2014 Teaching Award Office for Teaching and Learning (OLT) National Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning Office For Teaching and Learning Australia -
2014 Teaching Award UniSA Indigenous Education Award University of South Australia Australia -
2013 Teaching Award UniSA Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning University of South Australia Australia -
2008 Teaching Award UniSA Enhanced Learning Award, Division of ITEE University of South Australia Australia -

Date Institution name Country Title
1996 - 2020 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours)

Year Citation
2026 Wella Hewage, S., Doan, L., & Smith, E. (2026). Lessons from practice: Implementing project-based learning in a water engineering course. Learning Letters, 6, 51-1-51-16.
DOI
2024 Smith, E., Pardo, A., Mills, J., & Birbeck, D. (2024). Curriculum renewal to enhance the acquisition of professional skills and engagement with professional practice across engineering programs. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 29(2), 1-12.
DOI Scopus7
2019 Gamage, S. H. P. W., Ayres, J. R., Behrend, M. B., & Smith, E. J. (2019). Optimising Moodle quizzes for online assessments. International journal of STEM education, 6(1), 1-14.
DOI Scopus85 WoS40
2019 Ahammed, F., & Smith, E. (2019). Prediction of students' performances using course analytics data: a case of water engineering course at the University of South Australia. Education sciences, 9(3, article no. 245), 1-15.
DOI Scopus11 WoS9
2018 Baker, S., Trabulsi, J., Evans, T., & Smith, E. (2018). Improving Nutrition Students’ Knowledge and Perceived Competence to Provide Nutrition Education to Adults with Disabilities via Experiential Learning. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 118(1), 23-29.
DOI Scopus8 Europe PMC4
2013 Faulkner, M., Aziz, M., Waye, V., & Smith, E. (2013). Exploring ways that ePortfolios can support the progressive development of graduate qualities and professional competencies. Higher Education Research and Development, 32(6), 871-887.
DOI Scopus28 WoS21
2009 Smith, E. J., Mills, J. E., & Myers, B. (2009). Using wikis and blogs for assessment in first-year engineering. Campus Wide Information Systems, 26(5), 424-432.
DOI Scopus7

Year Citation
2026 Von Itzstein, S., Darzanos, K., Smith, L., Kelly, D., Wigley, G., & Zucco, J. (2026). Adapting a practice-based system requirements subject for intensive studio delivery: first-year information technology students’ perceptions overtime. In 2025: ASCILITE 2025 Conference Proceedings. Adelaide.
2024 Smith, E., Mills, J., Pardo, A., & Birbeck, D. (2024). Developing perceptions of teamwork in first and second year engineering students. In Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE 2024) (pp. 1020-1028). New Zealand: Engineers Australia.
2023 Harris, D., Von Itzstein, G. S., Kelly, D., & Smith, E. (2023). IDE vs. pen-and-paper showdown - performance and perceptions of testing first-year IT students' programming skills. In 2023: ASCILITE 2023 Conference Proceedings: People, Partnerships and Pedagogies (pp. 1-5). New Zealand: ASCILITE.
DOI Scopus1
2020 Duff, A., Zamecnik, A., Pardo, A., & Smith, E. (2020). The SEIRA approach: Course embedded activities to promote academic integrity and literacies in first year engineering. In LAK '20: Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (pp. 218-223). Germany: ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY.
DOI Scopus2
2019 Duff, A. H., Smith, E. J., Boase, J., Nisi, P., Hanchant Nichols, D., Bown, B., . . . Gamage, S. W. (2019). Right way, wrong way, better way a global model for engineers working with Indigenous communities. In R. Clark (Ed.), Proceedings of the 46th SEFI Annual Conference 2018: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Excellence (pp. 756-763). Denmark: European Society for Engineering Education SEFI.
Scopus1
2019 Corcoran, P., Moulton, D., Smith, E., & Quinn, D. (2019). Program roadmap - a visual, interactive and self-regulating digital representation of the student learning journey. In Proceedings of the AAEE2019 Conference Brisbane, Australia (pp. 1-8). Australia: University of Southern Queensland.
2017 Smith, K., Kehrwald, J., Smith, E., Moulton, D., & Corcoran, P. (2017). Becoming civil engineers: Embedding academic and professional communicative practices in the curriculum. In R. Walker, & S. Bedford (Eds.), Research and Development in Higher Education: Curriculum Transformation Vol. 40 (pp. 344-355). Australia: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia.
2014 Mills, J., & Smith, E. (2014). Developing professional skills: you can't leave it all to final year!. In A. Bainbridge-Smith, Z. T. Qi, & G. S. Gupta (Eds.), AAEE2014: Proceedings of the Australasian Association for Education Conference (pp. 1-9). New Zealand: Australasian Association for Engineering Education.
2013 Lonie, A., & Smith, E. (2013). A model for increasing online engineering student engagement in group project work. In C. Lemckert, G. Jenkins, & S. Lang-Lemckert (Eds.), Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education - AAEE2013 : work integrated learning - applying theory to practice in engineering education (pp. 1-8). Queensland: Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University.
2012 Kelly, P., Smith, E., & Ford, J. H. (2012). Revisiting a transformative approach to engineering education. In Proceedings of EE2012: International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in Engineering Education (pp. 1-10). England: Loughborough University.
Scopus1
2012 Smith, E., & Lonie, A. (2012). Towards a sustainable support strategy for online students. In M. Brown, M. Hartnett, & T. Stewart (Eds.), Future challenges, sustainable futures : proceedings ascilite Wellington 2012 (pp. 847-851). New Zealand: Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education.
DOI
2011 Quinn, D. M., Smith, E. J., & Aziz, S. M. (2011). First year engineering learning space: Enhancing the student experience. In R. Freuler (Ed.), 2011 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition (pp. 1-18). Vancouver Canada: American Society for Engineering Education.
Scopus2
2011 Quinn, D., Duff, A., Brodie, T., Darzanos, K., Smith, E., Carmody, M., . . . Dansie, B. (2011). Indigenous knowledge, cultural awareness and communication skills for information technology, engineering, mathematics and environmental disciplines. In J. D. Yorke (Ed.), 2011 Meeting the Challenges: Proceedings of the ATN Assessment Conference. Australia: Curtin University of Technology.
2011 Duff, A., Brodie, T., Furber Gillick, D., Quinn, D., & Smith, E. (2011). Do with and not to. Building cultural understanding, enabling communication and promoting the spirit of reconciliation in first year engineering. In Proceedings of the 2011 AAEE Conference: Developing engineers for social justice: Community involvement, ethics & sustainability (pp. 133-139). Australia: Engineers Australia.
2010 Smith, E. J. (2010). ePortfolios as a sustainable assessement tool in first year engineering. In ePortfolios Australia Conference 2010: Widening participation-engaging the learner - Book of Abstracts and papers (pp. 152-161). Australia: eLearning Services.
2010 Smith, E. J. (2010). Online assessment is not always quick and easy. In C. Carter, & K. Kirsty (Eds.), EE2010 Conference Proceedings: Inspiring the next generation of engineers. UK: Higher Education Academy.
2009 Smith, E. J., & Mills, J. E. (2009). Using blogs for course evaluation in first year engineering. In A. Auer, & M. Michael (Eds.), The challenges of lifelong learning. Germany: Kassel University Press.
2009 Lee, S. H., Smith, E. J., & Eley, V. (2009). Undergraduate and beyond - retaining undergraduates for higher degree research study in the school of AME at UniSA. In C. Kestell, S. Grainger, & J. Cheung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th annual conference for the Australiasian association for engineering education (pp. 674-677). Adelaide, South Australia: University of Adelaide.
2009 Smith, E. J., & Mills, J. E. (2009). E-portfolios and first year students - do we assume too much?. In C. Kestell, S. Grainger, & J. Cheung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th annual conference for the Australiasian association for engineering education (pp. 400-404). Adelaide, South Australia: University of Adelaide.
2008 Smith, E. J., Mills, J. E., & Myers, B. R. (2008). Online learning techniques : using wikis and blogs for assessment in first year engineering. In ATN Assessment Conference 2008: Engaging students in assessment. South Australia: University of South Australia.
2007 Mills, J. E., Mehrtens, V., Smith, E. J., & Adams, V. (2007). Would you choose an engineering degree course if given the choice again?. In Proceedings of the 2007 AaeE Conference. Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne.
2007 Mills, J. E., Mehrtens, V., Smith, E. J., & Adams, V. (2007). CREW revisited in 2007 - the year of Women in Engineering. In CHEMICA 2007 - Academia and Industry strenthening the profession. Australia: Engineers Australia.

Courses I'm associated with:

  • ENGI 1900 Engineering Internship UG
  • ENGI 5902 Internship PG
  • ENGI 3900 Professional Engineer Career Preparation
  • ENGI 3901 Professional Engineer Engagement with Professional Practice
  • ENGI 5900 Masters Professional Engineer Career Preparation
  • ENGI 5901 Masters Professional Engineer Engagement with Professional Practice
  • ENGI 4030 Engineering Experience Internship 

Programs I'm associated with:

  • Undergraduate and Postgraduate Engineering Programs

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2019 - 2020 Secretary HERDSA SA Committee Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Australia
2017 - 2023 Member HERDSA SA Committee Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Australia
2013 - 2023 Secretary Institution of Mechanical Engineers (SA Branch) Institution of Mechanical Engineers Australia
2007 - 2011 Chair Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Young Members Australia) Institution of Mechanical Engineers Australia

Date Role Membership Country
2020 - ongoing Member Engineers Australia -
2017 - ongoing Member Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) -
2011 - ongoing Member Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) -
2008 - 2019 Member International Member, American Society of Engineering Education -
2007 - 2023 Member Institution of Mechanical Engineers -
2007 - ongoing Member Australasian Association of Engineering Education (AAEE) -

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