Dr Kevin Coward, Director of the MSc in Clinical Embryology, was one of three shortlisted candidates in 2016 for The Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award. The Royal Society of Biology offers this annual award to teachers who have shown an outstanding contribution to higher education in the biosciences. The scheme rewards lecturers who have developed innovative and inspirational teaching methods, as well as undertaken professional development and supported colleagues.
Kevin recognises that postgraduate students will inevitably be responsible for teaching and inspiring their own future generations of students. As such, he is developing novel methods for practical laboratory classes which move away from classical teaching paradigms. The primary aim of these methods is to provide our students with valuable teaching experience in laboratory scenarios but also to promote deeper learning and encourage discussion as to how lecture-based material can be enhanced by laboratory work.
I was thrilled to have been selected as a finalist for such a prestigious award and delighted that the innovative teaching styles being developed on the Oxford MSc in Clinical Embryology are being recognised at a national level."
Dr Kevin Coward
Congratulations to Kevin who was highly commended by the judging panel for his outstanding contribution to Higher Education in the Biosciences.
More recently, Kevin has also been awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGDipLATHE) with Distinction by the Department of Education, University of Oxford. He has been studying this course part-time at the Oxford Learning Institute since September 2015. His final course portfolio focused upon academic development of the MSc in Clinical Embryology in a series of strategic areas: student learning & development, feedback & assessment, diversity, equality, inclusivity, teaching settings and strategies, discipline-specific teaching concerns, course design and leading education change. By gaining Distinction, Kevin also gained Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, a national institution which promotes excellence in higher education.