Excellence in teaching

Marie Bogoyevitch is a senior lecturer in Biochemistry. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award (Honours Research Supervision) in 2000. This award represents a joint effort by the Guild and the University to recognise and reward exemplary teaching

I came to UWA in mid-1997 following my postdoctoral research work in London. I had witnessed first-hand the latest advances in biomedical science and I wanted to share this excitement with everyone around me. This was realised very quickly, and by early 1998 I was directly supervising my first Honours and postgraduate students. This transition from scientist to supervisor challenged me to consider the best approaches to research supervision. This column has provided me with the opportunity to share briefly three thoughts on this experience.

I was first struck by how large-group undergraduate teaching has dominated the previous learning experiences of our Honours students. This has limited their time for discussion with peers and mentors and has fostered a reticence to express ideas, formulate questions, or even offer answers to problems. Our reliance on didactic teaching methods continues despite our efforts to encourage a teaching and research nexus. Fortunately, the Honours year re-addresses this imbalance by bringing together students within a focused research team. Co-operation, collaboration, and independent work are all required by students to achieve their research goals, and good supervision should ideally be able to help the students address this balance. A good dash of enthusiasm doesn’t go astray either!

A second point, which is also centred on the student, is that each student brings with them a different personality and approach to work. Because each supervisor is also different, a good working relationship can require moderating these personalities. Students also change tremendously during their Honours year. Yes, the students might joke nervously about the stresses of the Honours programme and how this “changed” them (and not for the better). But, at the end of the year, they do admit that their Honours experiences together with their supervisor have been able to guide them in their development of transferable skills such as data presentation and time management. By the end of the Honours year they are ready for almost anything!

The third point, is really the most humbling. I’ve realised that, as a supervisor, I can help with some of the things some of the time. I now seem to frequently say “I just don’t understand that” when I talk with my students about their latest, most unusual, and most unexpected result. This might now be a laughing point in my lab, but it does allow us to work through problems together. It equally emphasises that a supervisor should always be honest as well as be able to encourage their students to interact with others in their Department and in their broader discipline area. This certainly helps to fill the gaps.

As I begin my fifth year at UWA, I know that I have been very fortunate to work with an excellent group of Honours and post-graduate students. I thank them all for their courage in entering the lab of a new academic, their enthusiasm and interest in their research, and their personal encouragement of my teaching efforts and research supervision.