Inclusivity, creativity key for Distinguished Teacher Award winners

Inclusivity and creativity in teaching methods have been added to the range of criteria for selecting the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) top lecturers, reflecting an important evolution in teaching styles to better meet students’ needs. This is what UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela told the audience at an event to fete the Distinguished Teacher Award recipients for 2023.

Hosted by Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Professor Linda Ronnie, on the lawns of Glenara on Wednesday, 13 November, the cocktail event marked the end of a long process to assess a large pool of portfolios, and select the esteemed awardees.

Along with evidence of inclusivity in teaching, especially accommodating diverse students and fostering an inclusive environment, the award committee also examined evidence of, for example, adapting teaching practices based on feedback received.

The 2023 recipients are Professor Brandon Collier-Reed, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Dr George Hull, Department of Philosophy; Dr Yunus Omar, School of Education; and Dr Bianca Tame, Department of Sociology.

“The evolution of the criteria to select distinguished teachers tells us that a lot is changing around us when it comes to teaching. Expectations are different from a scholarship-of-teaching perspective, from the students themselves, and in the way we are thinking about the impact of teaching,” Professor Moshabela said, adding that the award acknowledged the agility of educators in this “new world” of teaching and learning.

“For me, these shifts are indicative of the challenges we face when it comes to how we remain relevant from a teaching perspective. The 29 000 students at UCT expect us to help them learn and if we don’t take the time to reflect and celebrate our teachers, then we will fall behind,” he said, thanking the recipients and the committee for their work.

“I hope moments like these indicate how grateful we are for the contribution you are making.”

After the various citations were read and a toast proposed, Dr Hull responded on behalf of the recipients, keeping the guests laughing as he took them down memory lane to 2013, when he first began teaching at UCT.

Crowd management

Whenever he addressed a new audience, he joked, he got a flashback of his first day of teaching business ethics to 350 Commerce students who had not chosen the subject, and were in the lecture hall “under duress”.

“Even though I teach philosophy, I usually think when it comes to teaching that one needs something a bit more practical than a philosophy,” he suggested.

Hull recalled that he was more used to being in a room of one – himself, writing his PhD, which he told the guests was certainly no qualification for crowd management.

“I quickly learned how foolish one can look, shouting at the top of your lungs, ‘Let’s make a start’ over and over, while students think, ‘Well, I’m not going to stop my conversation for that’.”

After emailing around for guidance, he realised that “What I needed to do was to teach myself techniques for people to save their conversations for another 45 minutes”.

With more experience, however, Dr Hull said that whether he was teaching business ethics or philosophy of race, it had generally been a great pleasure to teach students at UCT.

“There’s always someone with a question or perspective which you have not thought of yet, and so while we are often encouraged to wax lyrical about research-led teaching, I found that the classroom is such an inspiring place that a lot my work is teaching-led research,” he said.

• Dr Omar could not attend the event.