My name is Vibeke Damlund, and I am a senior educational consultant at SDUUP.
I am educated within English language, pedagogics and psychology. My PhD is in pedagogics/educational studies. I have been working with developing teachers’ teaching competences for many years.
I am particularly interested in the relations between the teacher and the students and how the teacher can support and scaffold the development of the students’ learning strategies. Generally, students often need to learn how to become a student, how to approach a course and how to be recognised as someone who masters what needs to be mastered within the professional field. This is what the teacher needs to incorporate in his/her planning of the course.
When I offer assistance, it happens in a variety of ways. It could be through the course on Motivation that, as its starting point, uses the participants’ preceding inquiry into their students’ own opinion of what motivates and engages them. The course is offered in both Danish and English.
I also offer individual support, for example if a teacher wishes sparring on/inspiration for his/her teaching. This often happens under a more informal structure. I observe the teacher in class and afterwards we discuss the elements on which he/she wants sparring. As an example, Harun Kaygan, associate professor at the Department for Design and Communication, asked for supervision of his teaching because he was an international teacher and relatively new at SDU. He stresses that he felt welcome with SDUUP and that SDUUP gave him a fine introduction to fundamental matters, as for instance the Danish grading system. SDUUP also held meetings with him on different formats and methods of teaching, and how to best meet the students’ expectations.
”I found it very useful to have these conversations about teaching. I have 12 years of teaching experience, but I am fairly new at SDU, so it was a privilege to interact with an educational specialist about my teaching.”
He mentions that not only international teachers can benefit from collaborating with SDUUP: ”In my opinion, teaching always can, and should, be improved, so it was nice to talk to someone who knows the latest trends and methods who could function as a guide.”
Harun thinks that his participation in workshops, meetings and Brown Bag Meetings has been very inspiring and has helped him reflect on the choices he makes in his teaching. Furthermore, it has helped him update his courses more frequently, to make them fit into the relevant context, including online teaching during the Covid-19.