Press release

Roel Dijksma Teacher of the Year 2016 Wageningen University

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April 25, 2016

The Wageningen University ‘Teacher of the Year Award’ has been awarded to dr Roel Dijksma. He gets the price for his approachability, enthusiasm and the students’ appreciation over the years. Dijksma teaches a total of ten courses at the Hydrology and Water Quality Group. The award was presented at 21 April in Impuls in Wageningen.

Roel Dijksma started working in Wageningen in 1982 on water and irrigation related subjects. His first teaching activity was a hydrology field practical. Over the years, he grew into his role as a teacher, according to the jury. He teaches first year students up to final year master students. “Dijksma is very approachable, he is a good story teller and always himself,” the jury writes. “He knows how to motivate students, is always present at activities like the Soil Drilling Championship, and attends classes of colleagues to see whether he can improve to his classes.”

Dijksma was flattered when he was told he had made it to the shortlist, earlier this year. He considered it a great compliment. Dijksma had made it to the longlist several times, but never before to the shortlist. Unfortunately he was not present at the awarding ceremony due to a foreign trip.

Nominees

Also nominated this year were: André van Lammeren (Laboratory for Cell Biology), Maria Forlenza (Cell Biology and Immunology), Noëlle Aarts (Strategic Communication) en Ute Sass-Klaassen (Forest Ecology and Forest Management).

Student jury

The Teacher of the Year Award is awarded by students. All students of the second year and up could vote for the best 250 teachers based on the course evaluations, which 21% did. This way a longlist of 16 teachers was compiled. A jury of 6 students, under the chairmanship of Jaco Slingerland, interviewed these teachers about their view on education, teaching methods and motivation, and decided on the winner.

Teacher of the Year Award

The Teacher of the Year Award is an initiative of the University Fund Wageningen to stimulate the quality of education at Wageningen University and to publicly honour a teacher. This year the award was presented for the 20th time. The price is a replica of the statue De Leermeester (The Master) of Jan Praet, a certificate and the jury report. All nominees on the shortlist also received a cash prize to purchase education materials.