Mary Tasker Award - Winners 2013
This Award is for excellence in teaching at the University.
This year's joint winners of the Mary Tasker Award:
Dr Christopher Clarke
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
About Dr Christopher Clarke
Dr Christopher Clarke was selected by the Committee for this Award for his significant commitment to the delivery of excellent teaching evidenced by consistently high scores in unit evaluations. A number of Dr Clarke’s students took the time to provide detailed statements presenting a strong case for this Award. Students acknowledged Dr Clarke’s enthusiasm and love for his subject, his ability to communicate new concepts in a clear and engaging way in addition to always being open and welcoming to students needing help. Dr Clarke’s work to inspire students to develop their skills and knowledge in other areas and courses was also highlighted with particular reference made to the field of digital design and the Mouse project. Other highlights of Dr Clarke’s teaching included the quality of his teaching materials, innovative use of email technology for student feedback and the ‘leading edge’ content of his courses. Dr Clarke’s colleagues also commented on his ‘proactive engagement with, and innovation in, teaching and learning’, his work in redesigning the Integrated Engineering unit resulting in dramatic improvements in student feedback and his introduction of leading edge industrial software and hardware to ensure engineering programmes are in line with leading industrial practice. Having reviewed the evidence of Dr Clarke’s impressive track record as a highly committed, inspirational and caring teacher, the Committee felt this Award to be highly deserved.
Dr Aydin Nassehi
Department of Mechanical Engineering
About Dr Aydin Nassehi
Dr Aydin Nassehi was selected by the Committee for this Award for his innovative and exceptional commitment and approach to teaching. This was evidenced in supporting statements submitted by colleagues and students. One student described Dr Nassehi’s teaching as ‘engaging, relevant, practiced, considered and inspiring.’ This was further supported by a number of other students who described extensively Dr Nassehi’s proactive and participative teaching style, his encouragement to students to use their initiative and think pragmatically and his constant willingness and flexibility to provide support to students outside formal teaching time. Dr Nassehi was also complimented, by both colleagues and students, on his use of new technologies to enhance his teaching, specifically Panopto to record lectures, the use of SMS interactivity and his skills, knowledge and extensive use of Moodle, including support to departmental colleagues on using these tools. Dr Nassehi’s approach to ensuring excellence in teaching, pastoral care and administration were also highlighted and noted by the Committee. Nominated by both staff and students, the Committee were left in no doubt about the significant achievements of Dr Nassehi in learning and teaching since his appointment as a lecturer in December 2012, and felt he was extremely well deserving of this Award.
