Teaching award for tutors

The winners of the 2020 Tutor Teaching Award:

Congratulations! The 2020 Teaching Award winners were celebrated on Tuesday, 10/11/20 (see screenshot).

The winners of the 2020 Teaching Award are:

Andrés Cortez (Regular price)

Conveying enthusiasm is a key goal for Andrés. The experienced tutor creates extensive materials for his students, which he shares with colleagues, relies on practical examples and the use of a variety of didactic methods to activate and survey learning levels (e.g. clicker questions). The self-confidence gained by the learners motivates Andrés to look into further subject knowledge, as well as to research new effective learning methods. Bei der Prüfungsvorbereitung unterstützt er mit Erfahrungstipps hinsichtlich Priorisierung und Zeitmanagement. The students appreciate the very good structure and preparation of their tutor, as well as the documents for preparation and follow-up, and some of them come to the tutorial on the recommendation of higher semesters. One student writes, “His calm, patient and helpful manner, creates a comfortable learning atmosphere and encourages questions.”

Fabian Krüger (Regular price)

Fabian manages to activate his students’ prior knowledge and motivates them to support each other. He always has several possible solutions at hand. If many questions are asked at the same time, Fabian first tries to find out whether several students have the same question in order to then answer them in bundles. He is familiar with various didactic methods. His students especially praise the specially designed instruction sheets that do not anticipate solutions. Other tutors also benefit from this. Fabian’s self-generated anonymous feedback is particularly impressive. “I decided to support Fabian for the tutoring award because he is my most motivated and dedicated tutor. […] In my opinion, Fabian’s competence, commitment and interest in helping and teaching students are the most crucial points that speak for him in this teaching award.” said one student.

Felix Schlösser (Regular price)

Felix’s application-oriented lab (lab appointments) has a didactically well thought-out structure. It is important for Felix to communicate with the students at eye level. Felix succeeds in motivating the students to find independent solutions. His communication is open and friendly, so the students are not afraid to ask questions. A student writes: “I nominate Felix Schlösser for the Teaching Award for Tutors 2020, as he once again stood out in the spectrum of excellent tutors whose courses I attended.” The close collaboration with the institute is exceptional and exemplary. When meeting with other lecturers of the module, Felix brings his competences, in particular by reflecting on the learning objectives, very well. Thus, Felix contributes to the sustainable improvement of teaching in the course.

Marco Repke and Andreas Mohr (Special award: Outstanding commitment to the holistic development of teaching as a team)

Tutors for simulation of transport and handling systems

This teaching award is a first: the supervisor was so enthusiastic about the work of her two tutors that the duo was nominated. She writes: “Andreas Mohr and Marco Repke have far exceeded our expectations as tutors. In addition to their expertise in content, their enthusiasm for teaching and novel teaching concepts and their commitment to students in particular led us to nominate them for the Teaching Award for Tutors.” Marco and Andreas were already involved in the preparation of the course. They checked the contents for their topicality and created example models and teaching videos. A particular challenge of this course is the very heterogeneous level of knowledge of the learners in terms of programming skills. The two tutors master this challenge and pick up the learners at their appropriate level of knowledge. “It was important to them that as many participants as possible understand the content of the event and that no one misses the boat,” says one student. In addition, it is important to them not to anticipate solutions in order to encourage student creativity. This event is the first complex group work for many students, and the team met this challenge with aplomb as well.

Robin Hohberg (Special Award: Outstanding Commitment to Advancing Understanding through Experimental Teaching).

Robin’s tutorial features outstanding structure and preparation. He makes an exceptional contribution through the experiments he has devised himself, which illustrate the subject matter in an exciting and practical way. Robin also makes these available to other teachers. Robin says of his tutoring that he “led the group with enthusiasm, spectacle, and commitment.” Robin keeps track of his students’ learning through testing. It is important to Robin that students develop a conceptual understanding and he applies the principle of Minimal Help. Robin’s very good work is confirmed to him by feedback obtained in a structured manner. One student writes that it was the best tutorial he has ever attended and the best tutor in the program so far. “In addition, Robin’s manner made it so that I personally didn’t give up on calculating certain difficult parts of tasks and, that I was able to have fun and figure out the solutions without pressure.” For the first tutorial an impressive achievement!

Bildquelle: Beitragsbild Sterngrafik: Background vector created by brgfx - www.freepik.com

Teaching Award for Tutors 2019

The Institute of Communications Engineering has written its own announcement about the 2019 awardees*.

Information about the 2019 tutor teaching award:

At the event “Research-Related Teaching at TUHH: Collaborative and Discursive” on 06.06.2019, the 2019 teaching award winners were announced. From Vice President Teaching Prof. Kerstin Kuchta, the tutor and the tutors each received a book voucher for 250,-€ in addition to the certificate. Congratulations!

We are now pleased to present the award winners here as well:

Deniz Razi

– Regular price –

Student of the study program “Civil and Environmental Engineering

Tutor for Math Repetitorium I and II

Deniz Razi particularly impressed the jury with her motivation, her willingness to develop and self-reflection, and her commitment to her students.

She looks after her students individually, involves them, reacts to different learning speeds and gives feedback very conscientiously – and is particularly pleased when she can give positive feedback. At the same time, she dares to confront students when they show what she considers to be unfavorable learning behavior. However, she always remains at eye level and maintains the pleasant and open learning atmosphere that her students greatly appreciate: “With Deniz, you can always count on help and constructive criticism,” writes one of her students.

The success of her students is personally important to Deniz Razi. So she spends a lot of energy on supporting the individual students as well as possible and tries to find out what the reasons are when students fail, so that she can then give them appropriate tips.

We share the enthusiasm of her supervisor and her students and are pleased to recognize Deniz Razi’s outstanding achievements today with the Teaching Award for Tutors.

***

Felix Ganz

– Regular price –

Student of the study program “Mechatronics

Tutor for Signals and Systems and Fundamentals of Control Engineering

With Felix Ganz, we are awarding a tutor who manages to get students excited about complex content as early as eight in the morning. This is impressive – and certainly due on the one hand to his high motivation and the good learning atmosphere that the tutor creates. One of his students, for example, writes: “Felix made it fun for me to participate in the tutorial”.

On the other hand, Felix Ganz distinguishes himself through a very good and well-considered didactic approach. In the exercise, whose structure is praised by the students, the tutor supports the students in solving the tasks independently, actively approaches them and follows up with questions if something was only apparently understood. In this way, the tutor ensures that the students have really understood the content in depth. The tutor adapts to the pace of the students and is acknowledged by them as having successfully dealt with heterogeneous learning levels.

Felix Ganz does not keep his experiences and findings to himself, but shares them with his supervisor and colleagues. For example, his suggestions have made it possible to improve exercise materials.

For these impressive achievements, we would like to honor Felix Ganz today with the Teaching Award for Tutors.

***

Hendrik Geisler

– Regular teaching price –

Student of the study program “Mechatronics

Tutor for Fundamentals of Control Engineering, Computer Science for Mechanical Engineers, Mechanics 2, Bridge Course in Mathematics.

“I always looked forward to Hendrik’s tutorials because I knew I would learn something here,” is how one of Hendrik Geisler’s students put it. Hendrik Geisler has also convinced us: In his work as a tutor, he not only shows a high degree of motivation, but also a pronounced ability to reflect, didactic intuition, as well as sovereignty and flexibility in the teaching situation. He has to teach control engineering, a subject that is very demanding and not easy for many students.

Hendrik Geisler, however, has understood that students benefit from understanding technical contexts independently and takes this as a starting point for the didactic design of his course. In the exercise, he systematically gets feedback on the students’ level of knowledge and understanding – and responds directly to this by offering the students different approaches to penetrate the problem.

Furthermore, we find it remarkable that the tutor evaluates his course on his own initiative after half of the semester in order to get suggestions for the further design. Here, he not only shows great commitment, but also involves the students in the design of the exercise. For all these reasons, we are very pleased to award this year’s teaching prize for tutors to Hendrik Geisler.

***

Jan-Joshua Schmitt

– Special award: Outstanding didactic skills -.

Student of the study program “Electrical Engineering

Tutor for Fundamentals of Control Engineering, Electrical Engineering 1, 2 and 3, Signals and Systems, Electrotechnical Project Practical Course

“He has taken away some of the fear of studying for me and my friends,” writes a student about Jan-Joshua Schmitt. The tutor has already supervised a wide variety of exercises and shows a special degree of didactic flair as well as flexibility and sovereignty in the teaching situation.

To plan a session, Jan-Joshua Schmitt first puts himself in his students’ shoes and their level of knowledge in order to design the exercise in such a way that they can grasp the topic quickly. We found it particularly remarkable that he has the students reconstruct the contents of the lecture at the beginning of the session. He picks up on misconceptions that arise here and uses them to get into the topic. In addition, he trusts himself to make his own decisions as to which tasks contribute best to understanding, thus reducing the abundance of material. It is also noteworthy that he shows the students the larger context of the tasks and thus conveys their relevance to them. In this way, he also succeeds in passing on his enthusiasm for his subject.

Students write that some of them have been coming to Jan-Joshua Schmitt’s tutorials for several years. A great compliment, which we would like to reinforce today with the teaching award for tutors in the category “Outstanding didactic skills”.

***

Tal Peer

– Special award: Outstanding contribution in the development of an innovative course -.

Student of the study program “Electrical Engineering

Tutor for Modern Wireless Systems (PBL), Electrical Engineering Fundamentals, Fundamentals of Control Engineering, and Microsystem Engineering.

“Tal shows extraordinary commitment. He made a special experience out of an important event for me!” With these words, Tal Peer is recommended for the teaching award by one of his students.

Tal Peer’s motivation and commitment also fully convinced the jury of the tutoring award. The event, which the tutor supervised, was held for the first time and Tal Peer was entrusted with a wide range of tasks: from programming the learning materials and supervising the students to advising on the poster presentation. The tutor fulfilled these tasks with a high degree of competence and independence as well as a credible interest in his students. It is particularly noteworthy, for example, that he did not resign in the face of initial demotivation on the part of the students, but instead held individual discussions to find out the reason and deal with it constructively.

Without Tal Peer, it would not have been possible to hold this event at this high level, praises his supervisor. For all these reasons, today we are awarding Tal Peer the Teaching Prize for Tutors in the category “Outstanding Contribution in the Development of an Innovative Teaching Event”.

Teaching Award for Tutors 2018

On June 4, the time had finally come: At the event “Research-Related Teaching: Loud, Colorful and Discursive at TUHH”, this year’s teaching award winners were announced. Prof. Sönke Knutzen, Vice President Teaching, presented the five tutors with a certificate and a €250 book voucher. We are pleased to present the award winners here as well:

Judith Angel

– Regular price –

Student of the bachelor program “Technomathematics

Tutor for Math Repetitorium I/ II and Linear Algebra

With Judith Angel, we are awarding a tutor who succeeds in giving students back their confidence in their own abilities and sowing motivation for math through dialogue and feedback. For example, one of her students writes, “Judith spoke to me in the language I could understand math and no one in the class was afraid to ask questions.” This merit is notable because Judith Angel’s math retreat includes students who have failed or deferred math exams.

The positive results attributed to Judith Angel’s work are certainly attributable to the tutor’s very good didactic approach: The students actively develop the exercise content and are accompanied by Judith Angel with targeted but minimal support as needed. The tutor accompanies this with differentiated, qualitative feedback, with which she helps the students to structure their learning process. In this, but also through her committed introduction of her own ideas into the course design, Judith Angel shows that she has a personal interest in the learning success of her students.

We share the enthusiasm of the students and their supervisor for Judith Angel’s excellent work and therefore award her the Teaching Award for Tutors.

***

Moritz Wittlinger

– Regular price –

Student of the master program “Energy and Environmental Engineering “

Tutor for Particle Technology for International Masterprogram Students and Particle Technology I (Lab)

Moritz Wittlinger tackles challenges in his teaching in a solution-oriented manner. He has proven this in his English-language exercise, which is attended by international students. The differences in terms of prior knowledge, but also the differences in the teaching/learning culture that come together here are a real challenge. Moritz Wittlinger, however, consciously incorporates these differences in his didactic approach. In this way, he gives students who cannot cope with purely frontal teaching room for more exchange and discussion.

To get an overview of the extent to which his students have understood the subject matter, Moritz Wittlinger has also introduced clicker quizzes on his own initiative, for which he designs the questions himself. No wonder that one of his students writes: “Moritz teaches us with full enthusiasm and zeal. He makes sure that every student gets to the core of the concept.”

Moritz Wittlinger has convinced us with this well thought-out and strongly activating teaching concept, his open-minded attitude towards his students as well as his creative commitment to the exercise. Therefore, we award him with the teaching prize for tutors.

***

Judith Marie Undine Siebert

– Regular price –

Student of the Master’s program “Product Development, Materials and Production

Tutor for CAD practical course, thermodynamics learning weekend, design project 1, design project 2, measurement, control and feedback control lab.

Judith Marie Undine Siebertis a tutor who has particularly convinced us with her distinctly mature and reflective attitude as a teacher as well as with her distinctive didactic flair. In her diverse tutoring activities, she always encourages her students to deal with the learning content independently in order to gain a deeper understanding. For better clarity, she incorporates the demonstrator pool. In addition, the tutor successfully motivates her students to independently engage with the technical literature to get questions answered. We were particularly impressed by this.

The support Judith Marie Undine Siebert received from her students during the application process for the teaching award was enormous. It was noted by several students that Judith Siebert quite openly formulates very high performance expectations for them. But it is precisely for this that they greatly appreciate the dedicated tutor, who always remains fair and at eye level! Finally, Judith Siebert also sets the highest standards for herself. For example, she voluntarily acquires further specialized knowledge in order to support her students even better and in a more goal-oriented manner. One student praises that her tutorial was “by far the most helpful event”.

We honor this extraordinary achievement by Judith Marie Undine Siebert with the Teaching Award for Tutors.

***

Mats Bednarczyk

– Special award “Outstanding commitment to the holistic development and establishment of innovative teaching/learning formats” -.

Student of the master program “International Industrial Engineering “

Tutor in the Learning Center, Analysis I and II, Writing Fellow, and tutor for submissions in Institute W-4 (ORIS) events.

“Always committed to making sure you understand everything and that no question goes unanswered,” “A competent force to be reckoned with!” This is how Mats Bednarczyk is described by his students. The tutor is excellent at empathizing with students’ difficulties, translating difficult material into their language and encouraging them to find solutions on their own. In doing so, he is always patient, friendly and at eye level.

However, the long-standing tutor not only uses his didactic knowledge, which he has gained through numerous further qualifications, in his courses, but also to further develop tutorial offerings. This includes the fact that Mats Bednarczyk has adapted didactic methods for use in the LearnING Center. We were particularly impressed by the fact that he strongly identifies with the tutorial offerings he runs and also proactively drives them forward. For example, his supervisors from the LearnING Center and the Writing Fellows report that Mats Bednarczyk is actively involved in the organizational and conceptual development of their offerings and has even facilitated synergistic effects here.

Today we honor this special commitment of Mats Bednarczyk with the teaching award for tutors.

***

Karl-Philipp von Berg

– Special award “Outstanding achievement in the independent development of a course” -.

Student of the Master’s program “Product Development, Materials and Production

Tutor for mechanical engineering – development project and tutorial for construction theory in mytrack

“We as TUHH need many more tutors like Karl!” – this is the conclusion of a student about the work and person of Karl-Philipp von Berg. The tutor not only succeeds in making “dry” material lively and comprehensible, but with his approachable and empathetic manner he also creates an atmosphere in which learning is fun and no stupid questions exist. Even though participation in his event was voluntary and no credit points beckoned, his students were highly motivated and continued to tinker with their projects beyond the tutorial and acquired knowledge independently.

Karl-Philipp von Berg’s didactic approach also convinced us across the board: he encourages students to actively engage with the material, reacts to the different levels of knowledge of his participants and takes the initiative to obtain feedback in order to reflect on his teaching. We were particularly impressed that Karl-Philipp von Berg was heavily involved in the conceptual and content development of the tutorial and also independently selected suitable learning methods. His supervisor also mentions with praise that the tutor also created documentation for subsequent tutors.

We are enthusiastic about this strong commitment to good teaching at the TUHH and are therefore awarding Karl-Philipp von Berg the Teaching Prize for Tutors today.

By the way:Teaching awards for research assistants are of course also available. You can find an overview here.

Winners of the 2017 Teaching Award for Tutors

Claudia Richert

– Regular price –

Student of the Master’s program “Materials Science

Tutor for computer science for mechanical engineers I and II

Claudia Richert is a tutor who is characterized by an excellent sense of didactic design as well as high commitment and motivation. The tutor offers a well-planned and structured exercise in which she attaches great importance to the fact that the students actively deal with the material, independently come to the solution and thus gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Claudia Richert keeps an eye on the students’ learning processes by regularly asking them for feedback and uses the results as an opportunity to adapt her course individually to the respective group. However, she not only uses her teaching experience for herself, but also passes it on to her fellow tutors and uses it to create or revise the students’ preparation sheets.

To this end, the tutor sees herself as a role model for her fellow female students and sees it as part of her job to take away their inhibitions about the seemingly “male subject” of computer science. She does this successfully, as the comment of a female student shows: “I am in my 7th semester and have met many tutors. Claudia as the only female tutor has convinced me the most and managed to make computer science one of my favorite subjects.”

Christos Gountis

– Regular price –

Student of the bachelor program “General Engineering Science”.

Tutor for math pre-course, mathematical analysis, mechanics I and II, fundamentals of electrical engineering.

The didactic approach of Christos Gountis can best be described as planned and student-oriented. The tutor uses targeted methods to encourage students to think and participate, and ultimately to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. He always finds a good solution to challenges such as performance heterogeneity and motivation problems: he puts together working groups in such a way that the students benefit from each other; he clarifies difficult learning content by making references to everyday life and by pointing out interdisciplinary connections. Christoph Gountis regularly asks for feedback on the students’ level of understanding – also in order to optimize his courses. That he is successful with all this is confirmed not least by his students. One student writes: “He made it possible for me to stay on the ball in a subject that was important to me during the semester, which played a big part in my very good grade in the Mechanics II exam.”

Christos Gountis’commitment to good teaching is also convincing: the tutor contributes his knowledge of specific student comprehension problems, which he has gained through his courses, to the revision of the teaching/learning materials. In this way, not only the supervising teachers and his direct tutoring colleagues benefit from his experience, but also subsequent generations of students.

Katharina Klioba

– Regular price –

Student of the bachelor program “Technomathematics

Tutor for Math Repetitorium II, Stochastics, Linear Algebra

“Her tutorial just makes you want to do math!” – this is probably the nicest compliment you can get as a tutor of a math retreat. After all, students are sitting here who have failed math exams or have put them off because they have too little confidence in their math skills. This confidence needs to be (re)established. Katharina Klioba masters this particular task extremely well. She offers an exercise that is very well structured, methodologically versatile and planned, and oriented to the needs of the students. It is important to the tutor to support the students in finding their own solutions and thus developing a deeper understanding of the subject matter. She succeeds in creating an atmosphere in which questions per se are not stupid and students help each other. And if someone is still sitting alone on the tasks, Katharina Klioba makes sure that a partner is found.

The fact that teaching and learning are close to Katharina Klioba’s heart is reflected not least in her great commitment: for example, she develops her own ideas for the further development of the Repetitorium, which she discusses with her supervisors as well as her tutor colleagues; she also conducted an additional learning weekend for the students together with other tutors.

Christoph Rennpferdt

– Special Award “Outstanding Commitment to Good Teaching” –

Student of the Master’s program “Product Development, Materials and Production

Tutor for design project 1, 2 and 3/4, major design project as well as for the office hour design theory.

Christoph Rennpferdt is a tutor who is characterized by a keen sense of learning processes. He not only feels the need to guide students to a deeper understanding of design theory, but also has the social and motivational components of successful learning in mind. For example, he encourages the formation of learning groups and also involves tutors in the management of his office hours. All this makes it credible that he meets the students at eye level and that he manages to create an atmosphere free of fear and conducive to learning.

His commitment to good teaching is particularly convincing: Christoph Rennpferdt not only mediates between students and lecturers or the institute, but also takes the initiative and actively works to improve the teaching/learning conditions in his course as well as the didactically sound expansion of the machine elements pool.

How should we conclude this eulogy if not with this quote from one of his students: “In conclusion, I just want to say that these are exactly the kind of tutors who make our university better every day. Because these are the people who, through their commitment, help us to discover our own abilities and enthusiasm for knowledge. Later, when we show our full potential at work, the fact will always be traceable to achievements of tutors like Christoph.”

Teaching Award for Tutors 2016

A total of 15 tutors applied for the teaching award for tutors at the TUHH, which was offered for the first time. From a very strong field of applicants, the members of the selection committee chose one tutor and four tutors:

• Anne Hagemann (Civil Engineering M. Sc., Tutor for Mechanics I and Mechanics I&II for Technomathematicians)

• Fabian Laukotka (Mechanical Engineering B. Sc., Tutor for Computer Science for Mechanical Engineers I&II)

• Jan Schattner(Mechatronics M. Sc., Tutor for Fundamentals of Control Engineering and Control System Theory and Design)

Special prices:

Category “Best Newcomer

• Duy Anh Pham Dao (Civil and Environmental Engineering B. Sc., tutor in the office hour Structural Analysis I)

Category “Particularly committed promotion of students

• Matthias Teichelmann (Electrical Engineering B. Sc., Tutor for Procedural Programming and Object Oriented Programming)

On March 29, 2016, the time had come: Anne Hagemann, Fabian Laukotka, Duy Anh Pham Dao, Matthias Teichelmann and Marcus Bartels, who represented the award winner Jan Schattner as supervisor, accepted the teaching awards at the “TUHH hautnah – Studierendenprojekte” in the CCH. The TUHH Executive Board, represented by President Prof. Garabed Antranikian and Vice President Teaching Prof. Sönke Knutzen, as well as the Center for Teaching and Learning, represented by Executive Coordinator Dr. Andrea Brose and subject specialists Jenny Rohde and Caroline Thon-Gairola, congratulated the award winners.

Currently, it is not possible to apply for the teaching award for tutors.

Who can apply for the Teaching Award for Tutors?

Tutors who hold

• an exercise or revision
• a (construction) project,
• a writing consultation (“Writing Fellows”)
• a consultation hour (also “LearnING-Center”) or
• “Supervised learning”

StartING@TUHH, TUHH4u tutors and research assistants are not eligible to apply.

How to apply?

To apply for the tutoring award, the following documents must be completed:

• einMotivationsschreiben der Tutorin/ des Tutors (Tutor motivation letter)
  
• zwei Unterstützungsschreiben von Studierenden, die eine Veranstaltung der Tutorin/des Tutors besucht haben (Student support letter)
• ein Empfehlungsschreiben der Betreuerin/des Betreuers[1] der Tutorin/des Tutors (Supervisor Letter of Recommendation)

There are two ways to initiate a tutor teaching award application:

1. self-proposal by the tutor

The tutor applies with the motivation sheet and asks two students and a supervisor to complete and submit the above documents in the following.

2. nomination by students or supervisors

Students and supervisors can nominate tutors for the teaching award on their own initiative. For this purpose, they fill out the corresponding documents (support form or letter of recommendation) and submit them. In the following, we inform the tutor about the nomination and motivate him/her to apply.

The nomination should be submitted early[2] so that the tutor has enough time to find other supporters and apply.

When all documents have been submitted, the tutor will be informed by confirmation email.

[1] Person who is or was the contact person for the tutor during his/her employment.

[2] To speed up the process, supervisors and students can provide us with the name of the tutor before submitting the documents so that we can inform them immediately.

Application Process Tutorial Teaching Award 2020

Application Process Teaching Award for Tutors 2020

What are the criteria for the teaching award for tutors?

The teaching prize for tutors is awarded for above-average performance in teaching. The decisive factor here is how the tutor designs his or her course didactically, how he or she fulfills his or her role as a tutor, and to what extent he or she is committed to good teaching.

Prices

Three prizes will be awarded on a regular basis. Special prizes are possible; these will be decided by the jury. The winners will receive a book voucher of 250 euros each and a certificate.

By the way:Teaching awards for research assistants are of course also available. You can find an overview here.