Students campaigning to raise the status of teaching at a Scottish university have rewarded the institution¡¯s most inspiring lecturers at their own awards ceremony this week.
The Edinburgh University Students¡¯ Association was concerned about the University of Edinburgh¡¯s relatively poor ratings in the National Student Survey when it came to the feedback students received from lecturers.
It said there was a perception among the student body that many academics prioritised research over teaching.
Eusa decided that launching the student-run teaching awards would be a positive way to campaign for Edinburgh to reward good teaching more systematically, and to call on the Scottish Government to increase pedagogic funding.
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¡°There are academics who deliver great teaching despite the many demands on their time and the incentives to concentrate on research,¡± the Eusa website says. ¡°These awards aim to recognise such people and to demonstrate that students appreciate the value that good teaching adds to their learning.¡±
Students were encouraged to nominate staff who communicated a passion for their subject, who were willing to communicate with students outside lectures and who provided a high standard of feedback.
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A total of 2,704 nominations were received for 621 staff, 191 courses and 60 departments, and the winners were announced at a ceremony on 22 April.
¡°The awards night was really professional. I had no idea there would be quite so much razzmatazz,¡± said John Simpson, senior clinical lecturer in medicine at Edinburgh and winner of the Best Feedback award.
¡°The students were so full of enthusiasm ¨C they made it such an enjoyable evening. It was like the Baftas,¡± said Tonks Fawcett, senior lecturer in nursing studies, who won the award for Commitment to All-round Teaching.
The results for the 2009 Eusa Teaching Awards were:
- Best Department: Classics
- Best Course: Criminal Law
- Best Director of Studies: Tony Gilbert, senior lecturer in mathematics
- Teaching Employable Skills: Kenny Pryde, senior lecturer in design and technology
- Innovative Teaching: Richard Milne, lecturer in plant science
- Best Feedback: John Simpson, senior clinical lecturer in medicine
- Commitment to All-round Teaching: Tonks Fawcett, senior lecturer in nursing studies
- Outstanding Communicator: Ian Campbell, professor of Scottish and Victorian literature
- Best Dissertation Supervisor: Yew Ming Chia, senior lecturer in accounting
- Overall High Performer: Elizabeth Bomberg, senior lecturer in politics and international relations
rebecca.attwood@tsleducation.com
Students recently complained to a committee of MPs that there was nothing worse than lectures that amounted to ¡°death by PowerPoint¡±.
But instead of sending students to sleep, the slides Richard Milne uses have helped to inspire them and generate interest in the origins and diversity of life.
¡°My speciality is PowerPoint presentations,¡± said Dr Milne, a lecturer in plant science who has just been chosen by students as the University of Edinburgh¡¯s most innovative teacher.
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¡°It is like all these things ¨C if you use it well it is a brilliant tool, if you use it badly it is terrible.¡±
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Lectures that rely on endless slides of written information and bullet points can be ¡°dry as a desert¡±, he said.
His trick is to use words sparingly and to focus instead on graphics, animations and photographic images.
¡°Images stay in the mind and can convey ideas very quickly,¡± he told Times Higher Education.
Dr Milne can get through as many as 120 slides in a 50-minute lecture. One lecture features a sound clip from The Beatles, another a spoof of Star Trek, and a third is based around a murder mystery.
¡°I try to put it all in the context of an evolutionary story, much the same way as Sir David Attenborough might.
¡°Say ¡®plants¡¯ to most people ¨C especially those straight out of school ¨C and they will stick their tongue out at you and say, ¡®Gosh, how boring.¡¯
¡°But I want to attract students to plant science, to make them think: ¡®Actually, there is something interesting about this subject ¨C plants are not just these dull things animals eat.¡¯¡±
Students, it seems, have been won over. One of those who nominated him said: ¡°He completely turned around my attitude to plant biology: previously I thought it the dullest area of biology, now it is the most interesting to me and I plan to continue its study next year.¡±
Dr Milne said he ¡°almost jumped up and down with glee¡± and felt ¡°ecstatic¡± when he learnt of the accolade while studying plants in China.
¡°I¡¯ve been trekking across mountains on the back of mules, jumping off and looking at orchids, magnolias and hundreds of other fantastic plants, all to learn a bit more about plant evolution. I have a deep passion for it,¡± Dr Milne said, whose post is a joint appointment between the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the university.
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¡°Most lecturers have that passion, but I don¡¯t know if they all put it into their teaching. I think students respond to teachers who make an effort, who have energy and who care about them.¡±
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