Traditional Good Teacher awards were announced in the ceremony held by The Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology and The University of Tampere Foundation on 5 September 2022. We students want to show our appreciation towards the work of our teaching faculty by giving out this award. This award is given in collaboration with The Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology and The University of Tampere Foundation.
The award is given out to three members of the teaching faculty of Tampere University. The recipients of the award have been selected on the basis of student proposals. This year we received 17 proposals. Based on these proposals, the coordinating committee submitted their suggestion of the recipients to TREY’s board. Good Teacher award committee’s chair Eemeli Lahtinen announced the recipients on behalf of TREY. In this speech we got the chance to highlight these teachers’ excelent work. You can find Eemeli´s speech below.
TREY’s board decided to give the Good Teacher 2022 Award to following members of our university’s teaching faculty
Mark Kaunisto, the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
Markus Pöllänen, the Faculty of Built Enviroment
Matti Rintala, the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
The award recipients will be awarded a stipend from The Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology and The University of Tampere Foundation, and TREY will have their caricature pictures made for the Good Teacher -award walls on campuses. This caricature will be published at TREY’s anniversary celebration.
The Good Teacher award is an annual tradition at TREY. With this tradition we, in collaboration with the foundations, will support the work of development of education and thank the members of our teaching faculty that inspire the students with their own work.
Eemeli’s speech at the awards ceremony on 5 September 2022
Dear Provost, foundations, honourees, and audience
We students believe it is important that our university provides quality teaching and guidance. This is why we at TREY, together with The University of Tampere Foundation and The Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology, want to thank and reward distinguished members of the teaching faculty. The Good Teacher Award 2022 honourees shall receive a €2000 award. Additionally, we have commissioned caricatures of the honourees, and the caricatures will be unveiled at the TREY anniversary celebration, where we will get to celebrate the honourees again. In time, the caricatures will be hung on campus walls where they can be admired by the entire community.
We students appreciate those who work hard to improve their teaching and help us students reach our potential. TREY’s traditional Good Teacher Award is a token of our appreciation and is given out annually to three teachers who excel in their work and inspire us. This speech will be in Finnish, but it will be translated and can be found on the TREY website afterwards.
The TREY Good Teacher Award is given annually to distinguished teachers. The students at our university can suggest teachers for the award, and TREY selects the final honourees from among the suggestions. The special criteria this year was “supporting student goals through study guidance”. The teachers awarded today encounter their students personally and help them fulfil their potential. They encourage their students to have self-confidence, appreciate their students’ hard work and help their students find their own paths.
The first honouree is from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication. He is described as a flexible and caring teacher. His manner of teaching is student-oriented and inspiring. In his teaching, he makes use of various teaching methods that encourage interaction with the group. He creates an environment which facilitates asking questions and bringing up problems. He makes an effort to be understanding of his students’ different situations in life and to build a flexible and encouraging space for students to advance their studies. He reminds his students to look after their mental health and well-being. The special criteria of the year is featured in his work especially as a thesis supervisor. During seminars, students are encouraged to have conversations and think critically. His manner of supervision is mainly based on feedback and supporting his students to find self-confidence. As a PSP advisor he emphasises the importance of providing guidance to students throughout their studies and not only during their first year and seminars. Together with his colleagues, he has built his courses into rewarding experiences with a focus on making realisations, absorbing ideas, and applying and adapting the learnt material.
Due to these merits, the first Good Teacher Award 2022 is given to Mark Kaunisto.
The second honouree is from the Faculty of Built Environment. In the proposal, this teacher is described as committed to improving his courses and implementing the feedback of his students. He actively collects feedback on his classes and has, between courses, made noticeable improvements based on student feedback. His teaching methods account for student mental health and resources with, for example, flexible arrangements that distribute the workload evenly. The feedback culture in his classes is direct. For example, when working on big projects, students receive mid-project feedback with relevant ideas for improvement. In his teaching, this teacher aims to include important working life skills such as presentation skills amid the substance of the course material. One of the ways he encourages his students is by sending their coursework in to the publications on the field, which students find very touching. The special criteria of the year is featured in his work especially in the way he gives and receives feedback. He is particularly good at using student feedback to improve his teaching methods and their functionality, and he gives feedback to students actively, as well. This teacher is available to students both for feedback and guidance, and he uses various methods to encourage his students.
It is our pleasure at TREY to give the second Good Teacher Award 2022 to Markus Pöllänen.
Our third good teacher is also from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication. The honouree is an inspiring and development-focused teacher. His courses make use of various methods of teaching which encourage and motivate his students to learn new things. He goes to extra lengths to prepare his teaching materials, organises Q&As, genuinely helps with challenges and also provides additional fun for students with the bloopers of his recordings. This teacher is available to students and gives personal guidance and support for advancing your studies. He is always available via course discussion channels and makes an effort to support his students as well as he can. His teaching schedule and methods are flexible, and his carefully prepared and well-reasoned materials support students even with complex topics. The special criteria of the year is featured in his work in many ways, including his availability to students, high-quality teaching and materials, and encouragement to students to interact both among themselves and with him. He has made successful use of various teaching methods that help students both get to know new topics and achieve wider understanding of them. He has a talent for inspiring his students regardless of topic, and he devotes his time to ensure the quality of his teaching and courses in both their functionality and their substance.
Our third Good Teacher Award 2022 honouree is Matti Rintala.
On behalf of TREY, I want to give warm thanks and congratulations to all Good Teacher Award 2022 honourees for the work you have done for your students. We want to participate in improving teaching at our university and rewarding those who have excelled at it in the future, too. The TREY Good Teacher Award was given out for the third time today, in collaboration with our support foundations. We hope this tradition encourages both our teachers and students to take part in the improvement of teaching. Once more to you, dear honourees, thank you and congratulations.