2009 Winners: Teaching Awards

Excellence in Teaching Award - Christina Bourne

I am a graduate student in the department of biology where I am conducting research on stream connectivity and the impacts of humans on fish movement.

I received my undergraduate degree in biology from Memorial in 2005. I have always been interested in teaching and began peer tutoring when I was in high school. I continued to work as a tutor throughout university, with the Learning Disabilities Association and at the university’s Writing Centre.

During my graduate studies, in addition to tutoring, I have worked as a teaching assistant in several courses where I have helped supervise and instruct students in biology labs, marked reports and ran a weekly journal discussion group. During this time I have also taken  various workshops to improve my teaching skills through the university’s Teaching Opportunities for Graduate Assistants (TOGA) program. In addition, I completed the Graduate Program in Teaching (GPT) which not only taught me about teaching theories and methods, but gave me the opportunity to give three lectures to a large undergraduate biology class.

Excellence in Teaching Award - Maria Angeles Rodriguez

My name is Maria Angeles Rodriguez. I completed a Master of Arts in English and a Master of Education in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Studies (with a specialization in Second Language Education) at Memorial University. I am currently a third-year doctoral student in the Faculty of Education.

My research focuses on international students and web-based distance learning. I have taught Spanish courses in the Department of French and Spanish since 2002 and designed and taught two online Spanish courses for the department. I have also had the opportunity to teach two online graduate courses in Second Language Education in the Faculty of Education. My supervisor, Dr. Elizabeth Murphy, and I co-wrote a paper which has been selected by the Journal of Distance Education’s editorial review board as its best research article of 2008. I have also been honoured to receive a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship.

I would like to thank the Graduate Student Union for selecting me to receive the Award for Excellence in Teaching. Thank you also to the students who supported my nomination. I would like to thank especially my thesis supervisor, Dr. Murphy, for her support and guidance.