Published on June 6, 2019
This year 23 of our instructors were nominated by students for the Instructional Excellence Awards.
“The student submissions really speak to the exceptional teaching they’ve experienced,” says Natasja Saranchuk, manager of Teaching Services and chair of the Instructional Excellence committee.
“I get to hear so many great stories about our instructors but the ones that come from the students are often the most powerful,” she says.
Through the nominations, students described how their instructors responded to the needs of their students, made use of innovative teaching methods and created positive learning environments. Here are a few examples of what students told us about their instructors:
- Her encouragement has been an incredible motivator for me and many of my classmates. She is a joy to watch in the classroom; her lectures are inspiring, passionate and energetic.
- He will try multiple learning methods when a student doesn't understand the same way as other students such as pictures, drawing and acting out the material in the classroom.
- The instructor also placed large emphasis on our mental health and consistently asked about our stress levels and workloads from other classes.
- He makes students believe in themselves, builds self-esteem, and enhances the quality of our education. I feel proud of my work in this course.
To Sue Fitzsimmons, vice-president academic and provost, the student nominations illustrate one of our great strengths as a polytechnic – teaching excellence. “I really believe we have all the ingredients for NAIT to be renowned for its teaching,” she says.
“Congratulations to this year’s nominees and thank you to the many instructors who live great teaching every day.”
Meet the 2019 nominees!
- Lamya Asiff
- Brent Bereska
- Dan Brochu
- Rodger DeChamplain
- Elaine Degrandpre
- Nathan Devries
- David Dickie
- Candace Farrer
- Renae Hopf
- Timothy Lloyd
- Janet MacDonald
- Marcelo Marcet-Palacios
- Richard Poon
- Wendy Popowich
- Hilary Schmidt
- Johanna Scott
- Alex Shum
- Maxwell Stagg
- Craig Stockdale
- Brenda Stokes
- Jim Wickware
- Joy Young
- Mehdi Zahed
All Instructional Excellence nominees will be invited to a celebration event this fall, where they will be recognized alongside nominees for NAIT's SHINE Awards and the Ernest Manning Leadership Medallion.
Winners will be announced later this year and will be honoured at the Long Service and Employee Recognition Awards ceremony in January 2020.
Photo:
- Front Row (L to R): Johanna Scott, Richard Poon, Brenda Stokes, Joy Young, Wendy Popowich, Janet MacDonald, Lamya Asiff
- Back Row (L to R): Marcelo Marcet-Palacios, Hilary Schmidt, Rodger DeChamplain, Mehdi Zahed, Dan Brochu, Craig Stockdale, Nathan Devries, Alex Shum, Renae Hopf
- Absent: Elaine Degrandpre, Timothy Lloyd, Candace Farrer, Brent Bereska, David Dickie, Maxwell Stagg, Jim Wickware
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Instructional Excellence Nominees
This year, 23 of our incredible instructors were nominated by students for the Instructional Excellence Awards. Find out who they are!
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