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SFU awards honour excellence in teaching
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February 11, 2003
A commitment to creative teaching and to fostering students’ understanding and confidence is what defines the teaching styles of the 2002 recipients of Simon Fraser University’s excellence in teaching awards. A committee of faculty, alumni and students choose three award winners annually. Their selection is based on several factors, including their ability to stimulate students to think creatively and critically. The following 2002 award winners were honoured during SFU’s annual award ceremony on Feb. 6/2003.
Malgorzata Dubiel
At 149 centimetres (4’10.5") in height, Coquitlam resident Malgorzata Dubiel often stands on her tip toes to fill a white board with equations that sometimes leave her students quaking in their seats.Yet, students refer to the SFU lecturer as a "giant in teaching" because of her unique ability to inject humour, meaning and even beauty into mind-boggling mathematics.
Dubiel, originally from Poland and a teacher at SFU since 1985, is devoted to demystifying mathematics. Her joy in seeing students "get it" drives her incessant search for creative ways of helping students grasp the basics of mathematics.
"For many of the students I teach, the key tool they need to be successful learners is confidence in their abilities. They also need to be inspired and they can tell when a teacher isn’t," says Dubiel, who has studied voice projection through SFU’s learning and instructional development centre to improve her lecturing skills.
In nominating her for an excellence in teaching award, many of her students lauded her refusal to give up on them.
Doug Wilson
SFU senior lecturer in biology Doug Wilson has earned an avalanche of praise from students. "The time and effort (he) took in ensuring that all his students had the knowledge to address the lab exercises was astounding," writes one.
He is "one of the only professors who made a difference in my life," writes another. "The only reason why I had confidence in biology was due to his teaching style."
That style has evolved somewhat since the Coquitlam resident started teaching at SFU 22 years ago, after completing both his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and his master’s degree in biology at the university.
"My teaching is mostly a struggle to deal with my own limitations," says Wilson. "When you’re standing in front of a class and you find a certain way of doing things isn’t working then you try something else. And that’s what it’s been about for me."
He believes it’s more valuable for students to master concepts than to just memorize information, a philosophy he promotes "by framing my lectures on concepts and devising short laboratory exercises and problems that illustrate them."
Andrew Heard
Andrew Heard surprised one of his first-year classes by asking them all to leave the room at the start of class on the first day, before even introducing himself as teacher.
He called them back and questioned them about their actions. "No one asked why they had to leave, or in fact, who I was," recalls the associate political science professor. "It led to a discussion about the everyday rules that govern our lives, and how sometimes those rules need to be questioned."
The Saltspring resident, whose teaching style is being recognized with a 2002 excellence in teaching award, uses the approach to explain political science, a subject many students don't understand. "My task is not simply to teach students the nuts and bolts of facts and concepts. I try to show them how the subject is relevant to their lives, and the value in trying to analyze and make more sense of the political world around them."
Students aren't the only learners in Heard's class. "I try to approach each class with an eye to learning something new about it myself, no matter how many times I've done the class before," he says. "There have been many happy surprises when my teaching leads to some spark of insight into issues I am investigating for research and publication."
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Contact
Marianne Meadahl/Julie Ovenell-Carter, Media & PR 604.291.4323 marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca
Malgorzata Dubiel
At 149 centimetres (4’10.5") in height, Coquitlam resident Malgorzata Dubiel often stands on her tip toes to fill a white board with equations that sometimes leave her students quaking in their seats.Yet, students refer to the SFU lecturer as a "giant in teaching" because of her unique ability to inject humour, meaning and even beauty into mind-boggling mathematics.
Dubiel, originally from Poland and a teacher at SFU since 1985, is devoted to demystifying mathematics. Her joy in seeing students "get it" drives her incessant search for creative ways of helping students grasp the basics of mathematics.
"For many of the students I teach, the key tool they need to be successful learners is confidence in their abilities. They also need to be inspired and they can tell when a teacher isn’t," says Dubiel, who has studied voice projection through SFU’s learning and instructional development centre to improve her lecturing skills.
In nominating her for an excellence in teaching award, many of her students lauded her refusal to give up on them.
Doug Wilson
SFU senior lecturer in biology Doug Wilson has earned an avalanche of praise from students. "The time and effort (he) took in ensuring that all his students had the knowledge to address the lab exercises was astounding," writes one.
He is "one of the only professors who made a difference in my life," writes another. "The only reason why I had confidence in biology was due to his teaching style."
That style has evolved somewhat since the Coquitlam resident started teaching at SFU 22 years ago, after completing both his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and his master’s degree in biology at the university.
"My teaching is mostly a struggle to deal with my own limitations," says Wilson. "When you’re standing in front of a class and you find a certain way of doing things isn’t working then you try something else. And that’s what it’s been about for me."
He believes it’s more valuable for students to master concepts than to just memorize information, a philosophy he promotes "by framing my lectures on concepts and devising short laboratory exercises and problems that illustrate them."
Andrew Heard
Andrew Heard surprised one of his first-year classes by asking them all to leave the room at the start of class on the first day, before even introducing himself as teacher.
He called them back and questioned them about their actions. "No one asked why they had to leave, or in fact, who I was," recalls the associate political science professor. "It led to a discussion about the everyday rules that govern our lives, and how sometimes those rules need to be questioned."
The Saltspring resident, whose teaching style is being recognized with a 2002 excellence in teaching award, uses the approach to explain political science, a subject many students don't understand. "My task is not simply to teach students the nuts and bolts of facts and concepts. I try to show them how the subject is relevant to their lives, and the value in trying to analyze and make more sense of the political world around them."
Students aren't the only learners in Heard's class. "I try to approach each class with an eye to learning something new about it myself, no matter how many times I've done the class before," he says. "There have been many happy surprises when my teaching leads to some spark of insight into issues I am investigating for research and publication."
-30-
Contact
Marianne Meadahl/Julie Ovenell-Carter, Media & PR 604.291.4323 marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca