Excellence in teaching

Tanya Dalziell is a Lecturer in English, Communication and Cultural Studies, School of Social and Cultural Studies. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award (First Year) in 2002.

English, Communication and Cultural Studies sets in motion questions about power, knowledge and meaning, and encourages students to examine not only what they know but also how they know. This is a disciplinary feature that translates into the students' learning processes. It has been my experience that learning is successful when well-designed, yet flexible, teaching strategies build on students' curiosity about the subject by guiding them through debates and ideas, and empowering them to form their own positions and conclusions.

Such student-centred approaches are of the highest importance at all levels of learning; they are especially significant for the first year level which is often students' exciting introduction to the University. However, for many students the first year is a period of uncertainty, isolation and transition. Students travel from other places to study at the University; others are making the shift from high school to the University; others still have made the decision to begin or return to university education as mature age students. As such, teachers need to recognise and understand first year students' specific circumstances and employ learning strategies that are attentive to their needs.

I work with first year students to establish their goals and to develop strategies for meeting them. I also ensure that students are aware that I am always available and willing to speak with them. This gives the students a point of personal contact that assists in countering the perceived unfamiliarity of university life. From this, I encourage students to connect the new knowledges they begin to acquire in their first year with their extant experiences so that they recognise that learning is an active and ongoing process. This is crucial for first year level learning as students often feel that their knowledge and opinions are unsophisticated, which they are most certainly not.

Ultimately, I aim to make learning meaningful to students at all levels. I want students to complete the courses in which I teach not only with good grades, but also with new ways of understanding and questioning the world and their relations within it. When students tell me that they "can never again think about a particular topic/issue/text in the same way" they are voicing skills and knowledge that will enable them to conduct their lives as active, inquiring people. To me, this is the most fundamental knowledge that university education can advance and it is a privilege and pleasure to play a part in its development at the first year level.