AU professor Ole Bækgaard has a special talent. His students have once again elected him Lecturer of the Year at Medicine.

2016.03.31 | Ida Kellemann Thomsen

Professor Ole Bækgaard teaches medical physiology. For the fourth time since 2003, he can take home the coveted Lecturer of the Year award.

Ole Bækgaard has a humble attitude to the election result. He claims that you cannot become Lecturer of the Year without both fruitful discussions with committed students and sparring with good colleagues – all in what he describes as "a really excellent learning environment" at physiology.

"I am extremely pleased to receive this award," says the professor, while at the same time emphasising that an award like this is also a complicated matter. When there can only be one winner, there is not enough room to give credit to all the others who deserve it, he explains.

The students' favourite

As always, the undergraduate students have had the opportunity to vote for the lecturer they think deserves special distinction. But what is it precisely a lecturer must be able to do if he or she is to be the most popular lecturer at medicine?

Ole Bækgaard’s students think that the secret of his success as a lecturer is his infectious commitment and great passion for his subject area:

"He is very good at reaching a broad group of students when he holds his lectures," explains a medical student.

"And he manages to make the teaching pedagogical. But at the same time, the academic outcome of one of his lectures is high," she adds.

Creative lecturer

When Ole Bækgaard stands in the auditorium, in-depth knowledge of theories about teaching is not everything. Instead he thinks creatively and utilises his experience to find out what works.

"My teaching is a result of learning by doing. What drives me is if I can see that it makes a difference for my students," he says, which is why he often makes use of experimental methods when faced with explaining difficult topics.

"Fear of making a fool of oneself is a serious barrier for all forms of learning. Teaching must therefore take place in a way that creates a space where both mistakes and surprises are legal," says Ole Bækgaard about his teaching methods.

Ole Bækgaard received the award from Vice-dean Lise Wogensen Bach at the medical students’ academic day on 4 March. 

 

Further information:

Professor Ole Bækgaard Nielsen

Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine

Direct tel.: (+45) 8716 7714

Mobile: (+45) 6020 2674

obn@biomed.au.dk