The education mission of the university involves loads of people,
it's the academics, it's the support staff, its technicians and of course it's
the students themselves all working together for an exceptional educational experience.
The Pilkington Prize is Cambridge's annual celebration of
outstanding educators. It recognises both commitment and excellence in teaching.
This year I think we can also say that it recognises adaptability and
flexibility in both educators and those who support our teaching efforts.
I was incredibly fortunate during my undergraduate and postgraduate medical
education to be supported and inspired by a variety of clinical academics and I
think my own desires to be involved in
education have a reason that as a result of that and a desire to pay forwards the
tremendous support that I received myself.
What struck me from day one is
the way that Charlotte interacts with her students, with all of us, is how much she
cares and how much she's involved. You can really tell that for her it's more
than a job it's a passion and I really value that.
And more importantly I think
she always really believed and supported me when I stopped doing so and in the
dark phases of my PhD and for that reason I think I'll always remember her
as one of the most important mentors in my life.
For the last three years I've had the
privilege to teach differential equations to our first-year undergrads.
One of the things I like to do in my lectures is to show the students things
that I don't know. I think we've probably all had the experience when we're living
something new it's really easy to feel like everyone else around you knows the
answers. And this is particularly true in a place like Cambridge just surrounded
by brilliant people and it can be really daunting if you're stuck on a hard problem.
But in university level maths we get to think about problems where there aren't
easy answers and I think in many ways these problems are the most fun.
One of the things I value the most from the experience of lecturing are the
interactions that I have with the students, both before and after a lecture and the
feedback that I get from the students.
As a lecturer in first year he used very
innovative technology that none of us had ever seen before. Instead of using
the standard blackboard and chalk Dr Taylor used to write his notes on an iPad
and project it onto a screen and it was a really exciting way of doing things that
made his lectures incredibly clear to all of the students in lecture theatre, around 250 of us.
When you're on a field trip with students you can watch them
grow in confidence. Field trip teaching is just fantastic and it may be
that we move towards virtual field work learning in the future but I really hope
not because if you throw a geographer into the field if they've got the right
sort of teaching they're going to come away with a range of skills that they
didn't previously have and it's going to be something that they will remember
long after they have graduated.
In really many ways I think the Cambridge
system is ideally suited to handle the challenges that we're facing. So we know
the small group teaching in the form of supervisions as an example, are really
at the heart of our system here at Cambridge and I teach these too in
addition to lecture and hopefully we'll be able to carry on with these much as
we normally would and provide I think really an incredible level of
personalised support to each student.
Whilst I miss the face to face contact
with my students I think it has to be acknowledged that technology is allowing
us to provide education in a different format and that actually may be one
that's more fit for purpose in some cases.
Now, I know many things are going to
look different next year in Cambridge and many of our current students and our
offer holders are going to be wondering what learning in Cambridge is going to be
like next year. So the first thing I want to say is that my colleagues and I are
working really hard to maintain Cambridge's high standards and I'm
confident that we'll be able to do that next year.
Colleges are busy making preparations for a socially distanced
freshers week among other things, but we're very much looking forward to
welcoming our students, old and new, back into colleges in the Autumn
and particularly a return to face-to-face teaching. Cambridge really hasn't
been the same without them.
I am really grateful for the
hard work of all staff to ensure that our students are supported in their
education in these really difficult times. And also grateful for the
innovation and creativity as we prepare for delivery of education in the next
academic year. Thank you all for your hard work. Many congratulations to all of
this year's Pilkington Teaching Prize winners.