Dr Zenda Woodman – Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Dr Marcin Nejthardt is a Distinguished Teacher Awardee at UCT and views the honour as a validation of his teaching nous.

Assoc Prof Tasleem Ras is one of three recipients of UCT’s 2022 Distinguished Teacher Award.

Associate Professor Elena Moore is the sole recipient of UCT’s 2021 Distinguished Teacher Award.

The primary task of a history teacher is to encourage disagreement in a consensus-ridden climate, said DTA winner Dr Bodhisattva Kar.

For his versatile, flexible and creative approach to teaching and learning, UCT has honoured Dr Marlon Swai with a Distinguished Teacher Award.

For Professor Andrew Argent, one of four recipients of a 2019 Distinguished Teacher Award, passion, commitment and a good dose of laughter makes a good teacher.

Educator-performer and co-head of UCT’s sociology department, Associate Professor Amrita Pande, is one of four recipients of the 2019 Distinguished Teacher Award.

Recipient of a 2019 Distinguished Teacher Award Dr Tessa Dowling knows how to bring Xhosa Communication classes alive with her “groovy and innovative” teaching style.

Recipient of a 2019 Distinguished Teacher Award Associate Professor Romy Parker is achieving the goals she set for herself when she began teaching 15 years ago.

Despite the challenges, Anneliese Schauerte – a recipient of UCT’s Distinguished Teacher Award for 2018 – says she’s right where she’s meant to be.

Curiosity, responding to change, technology and empathy are what 2018 Distinguished Teacher Award recipient Jeff Murugan says make an excellent teacher.

Trauma surgeon Professor Pradeep Navsaria, one of four 2017 Distinguished Teacher awardees, describes himself as ʻan accidental or incidental teacherʼ.

Lead from the front, support from behind, says acclaimed teacher and spinal surgeon Professor Robert Dunn, who was recently honoured with a Distinguished Teacher Award.

Relaxed, irreverent, interactive, engaging. That’s how physics lecturer Gregor Leigh describes his teaching style. Leigh is one of four new Distinguished Teacher awardees.

Distinguished Teacher awardee Associate Professor Jacqueline Yeats didn’t plan to become a teacher, but almost 13 years later she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Distinguished Teacher Awardee Dr Janice McMillan's work is not discipline-specific; rather it's about transformative teaching and how we engage the wider world beyond the university. This community-based learning encourages students to think about themselves simultaneously as students, emerging professionals and active citizens.

Senior lecturer Dr Miguel Lacerda teaches statistics with an artful combination of precision and creativity.

Associate Professor Ryan Kruger has taught on every finance course offered at an undergraduate level, which he says has allowed him an understanding of the development that students undergo over the course of their academic careers.

Associate Professor Jimmy Winfield, an accounting scholar at UCT, runs a course called Business Ethics which aims to open his students’ minds a little

Dr David Erwin’s philosophy of creating a comfortable classroom, keeping students focused, and developing the structures they need to succeed is visible in his teaching.

Dr Jonathan Shock, who convenes a dreaded first-year mathematics course, was one of six DTA awardees for 2016.

Dr Joanne Hardman of the School of Education gives us a peek into her classroom and talks about her teaching style, what makes a good teacher and her five top tips for teachers

Associate Professor Jacqui Kew from the College of Accounting engages her students by asking questions in the classroom.

Dr Azila (Tzili) Reisenberger, Head of Hebrew in the School of Languages and Literature, says that her classes are like communities and she's always on the lookout for that amazing bit of information to impart when she's teaching.

Dr Adam West of the Department of Biological Sciences says that a teacher’s job is to help students realise that the creation of scientific knowledge is on-going and dynamic, and that they have a role to play in that.

Dr Spencer Wheaton creates multi-dimensional, active experiences for students by making connections with the real world and linking physics to their major subjects.

Assoc Prof James Gain believes that it is important to create the type of environment where students are not afraid to ask questions.

For Prof Delawir Kahn, being a surgeon and being a teacher are intricately intertwined.

Dr Linda Ronnie believes that an eagerness to learn is vital to being a great teacher.

Dr Helen Macdonald's teaching portfolio and her students' and colleagues' comments all indicate clearly that she is as passionate about her teaching as she is about her discipline, anthropology.

Dr Hedley Twidle believes that teaching literature in English should be a fluid and evolving thing.

Dr Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk is described as an inspirational teacher of film studies, film production and screen-writing whose energy, enthusiasm, deep generosity and passion for cinema have captivated a generation of students.

Paul Maughan’s teaching philosophy is underpinned by a fundamental insight: Ken Bain’s view that effective teaching results in deep learning that is best achieved through the disruption of existing mental models.

Professor John Higgins believes that what counts is the question of identity, in a view of teaching as process and not transmission.

Dr Jeremy Wanderer believes that it is possible for academic life to be set up in a way that does not lead academics to experience a tension between teaching and research.

Students working under the tutelage of Dr Zenda Woodman have remarked on her use of humour to create a safe environment for learning.

On the 30th anniversary of UCT’s Distinguished Teacher Award (DTA), four recipients joined the ranks.

Professor Roland Eastman and Professor Zephne van der Spuy, both of the Faculty of Health Sciences, have been named the recipients of UCT’s 2010 Distinguished Teacher Awards.