Excellence in teaching acknowledged

Posted on November 10, 2014

Dr Alta Jooste received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Prof Cheryl de la Rey with the following citation:

"The BSc Extended Programme has been restructured to be functional in 2014, a major process that required rethinking of a teaching model that is applicable to almost a thousand students, spread over three campuses. Alta Jooste has been instrumental in this process and has been a dedicated leader in the important first semester precalculus module WTW 133. She guided and monitored the activities of the WTW 133 module in her capacity as course coordinator. She tirelessly commuted between campuses, always keeping a tight rein on the academic activities. The excellent and vastly improved results of this module are testimony to the role she played in this process and to her leadership. The department has received praise for the improved model, the success of which is a contributor to access of large numbers of previously disadvantaged students. Alta’s input into restructuring and leading this important entrance module makes her a worthy recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award for 2014."


 

Prof Lou Pretorius received the award for Adding Value to Teaching from Prof Marietjie Potgieter (Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning) with the following quotation:

"Lou Pretorius has added value to teaching mathematics over a period that spans almost five decades. He has witnessed many changes on the university teaching front and has not only managed to implement and adapt to these changes but has consistently functioned in a leadership role. Lou has always been willing to venture and to learn, whether it was moving from teaching small classes, which was the norm when he started out, to teaching classes that fill large lecture halls, or moving from traditional blackboard teaching to using the latest technology such as Tablet PCs and online homework systems. He has consistently taught with enthusiasm and diligence at all levels. He is known for placing a large premium on cultivating mathematical thinking in students, never giving way to superficial teaching. He has mentored many junior staff members and has guided them into becoming valuable teachers of mathematics. Lou has often spearheaded teaching initiatives, of which the most notable is the role he played in leading the Quality Teaching Committee from its inception to becoming an integral part of the department’s structure and activities. This is a task that he performed with singular dedication. Lou is an exemplary academic, combining research and lecturing successfully but it is for the value that he has added to teaching mathematics that he deserves to be honoured with an award that recognises his lifelong contribution."
 

 

- Author Ronel Oosthuizen

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