Fred de Boer hears he is on the shortlist. Photo: Resource Jessica Duncan, Hannie van der Honing, Fred de Boer, John Beijer and Huub Savelkoul made it onto the shortlist for the Teacher of the Year Award 2019. Savelkoul and Duncan have won the prize once before; Van der Honing is on the shortlist for the first time.
The first round, in which students could vote for their favourite teacher, generated a longlist of 17 teachers. A jury of eight students interviewed all these teachers and selected a top five: the shortlist. The jury’s main considerations were their innovative teaching methods, involvement with students and passion for teaching. This week, the shortlisted teachers were surprised at work by the jury and a Resource video crew.
Huub Savelkoul
The jury praises Savelkoul for being ‘really involved with his students’ and making ‘sure there is no barrier. He schedules time for students on Tuesday morning and he uses the news and newspapers to keep his courses interesting and up to date.’ The jury surprised Savelkoul in his office.
John Beijer
‘His passion is incredible’, says the jury about Beijer, who will retire soon (although he does not want to talk about that). ‘How he talks about his students and of course about teaching is as inspiring as his stories.’ Beijer says he will miss teaching. ‘And also the students and the university in general. It’s always been a pleasure ever since I started working here. I feel proud of that.’
Fred de Boer
The jury nominated De Boer (Resource Ecology) because ‘it is really impressive that you can make a course like statistics fun.’ Also he ‘has many different and unique ways to transfer the information and the theory to the students’ and is very involved with his students. De Boer says he is honoured to be nominated.
Hannie van der Honing
According to the jury, Van der Honing ‘is really involved with her students. Furthermore she is super structured which makes it very clear for the students what and when everything is expected.’ Van der Honing, degree programme coordinator for Cell Biology, is ‘very happy’ with her top five spot. ‘As a student I already enjoyed giving oral presentations and during my PhD I taught at a high school. I really enjoy explaining things in a structured way.’
Jessica Duncan
The student-jury praises Duncan for her openness, as written in the jury report. ‘She is very open to the ideas of students and is really approachable. She wants to create the perfect atmosphere and creates a safe space which makes it easy to ask questions. Also she knows what to say to make students think.’
All five teachers on the shortlist receive 2.500 euro. Duncan’s money goes to her ‘Diversity Chronicles‘ workshops, in which students learn the art of storytelling about diversity.
In 2017 Duncan won the Teacher of the Year award. Among other things, she includes memory games and pub quizzes (without beer) in her lessons.
