Aarhus University Anniversary Foundation Prize of Honour for Pedagogics

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TOVE HEDEGAARD JØRGENSEN

Evolution is normally a slow process. But since evolutionary biologist Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen started to teach the subject, the teaching itself has picked up speed.

Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen is passionate about teaching development. Among other things, this is reflected in the fact that her current employment is split between the Department of Bioscience and the ST Learning Lab (STLL).

Furthermore, her own teaching is so imaginative, dedicated and engaging that not only her students but also her colleagues enjoy it.

She has a strong focus on how to engage and motivate the students in order to develop their autonomy and deep learning, and colleagues who have taught alongside her highlight her unique ability to explain complex matters in an engaging way. This view is shared by her students, who are impressed with her determination to make them understand the material.

“Tove is a very dedicated teacher and very ambitious. It is delightful to meet a teacher who takes communication seriously and makes an effort to ensure that we gain the best possible understanding of the subject – I am impressed,” reads one student’s evaluation from the Bachelor’s course on Evolution and Diversity, which Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen developed after she was recruited back to Aarhus University in March 2013.

In her day-to-day work, Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen draws on her long experience as a lecturer at three European universities and her thorough pedagogical training. Since she took her PhD at Aarhus University in 2000, her international research and development career as an evolutionary biologist has included posts as Lund University in Sweden and the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK. At UEA Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice and was subsequently made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is still associated with UEA as an Honorary Lecturer.

At the ST Learning Lab Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen focuses especially on developing and enhancing supervision as a form of instruction. In collaboration with the faculty’s graduate school, she runs courses and workshops for PhD supervisors to support and develop the researchers in this role.

A number of the teaching methods and techniques that Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen presents to the faculty’s PhD supervisors, such as guidance on writing, are now in general use in ST’s departments. Right now she is developing and testing new methods of supervision in groups at the Department of Bioscience with a large element of peer instruction and peer feedback. The students rate the courses very highly, and colleagues report significantly improved learning outcomes among the participants.