Innovative awards for teaching 2004

The 2004 awards for innovative teaching is shared this year by a group from the Centre for Applied language Studies (CALS) and Sheena Gall, Lecturer in Nursing.

Mark Pegrum, Marion Sporing and Bridget Cook from CALS were chosen for their Master's TMLA (Teaching Modern Languages to Adults). Conducted entirely online, this distance-learning course represents a whole new approach to Master’s degrees for lecturers and teachers of EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second Language) and MFL (Modern Foreign Languages).

Mark said, "We are delighted to have received the award in recognition of the development of innovative, interactive distance learning approaches in CALS. Working with language educators all over the world and covering a whole range of languages is exciting and rewarding for both students and lecturers. Dundee has become the hub of online conversations between places as far-flung as the Maldives, the UAE, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Latin America!"

Further information is available on the TMLA website at: www.dundee.ac.uk/languagestudies/teachers/TMLA.htm

Sheena Gall's winning project is a teaching programme in Carer Support for health professionals, in collaboration with service providers and carers. The programme has significant implications for developing a theoretical base for the professional practice of supporting carers of people with long-term health problems.

Commenting on her award, Sheena said, "I was delighted to receive the award for innovative teaching. The award highlights the importance of the need for teaching in the area of carer support. The work outlined in the award proposal has been ongoing since 1999, and since this time I have seen a number of important legislative and policy changes in this area. Most recently the Scottish Executive has put out for consultation draft Guidance for the introduction of NHS Carer information strategies. A central element of this is the education of NHS staff. The carer support teaching programme for health professionals outlined in the award goes a long way to addressing the issues raised in the Scottish Executive consultation paper."

Further information is available from: www.calm.dundee.ac.uk

Details about this year's, and previous years', winners can be accessed at: www.dundee.ac.uk/learning/qau/qualindex/goodprac.htm