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Teaching and learning in interaction

Three people interacting round a computer.

Veronika Burcar Alm, a teacher at the Department of Sociology, has this year been named Qualified Teaching Practitioner by the Faculty of Social Sciences' Teaching Academy.

Meet the department's Qualified Teaching Practitioner Veronika Burcar Alm as she talks about her views on teaching and why she applied to the faculty's teaching academy.

The faculty’s Teaching Academy is a means to promote teaching expertise and stimulate continued teaching development. Lecturers, senior lecturers and professors at the Faculty of Social Sciences are entitled to apply to the Faculty teaching academy to have their teaching skills assessed and be admitted as a Qualified Teaching Practitioner (QTP) or Excellent Teaching Practitioner (ETP).

This year, the Faculty Board has adopted six new teachers for the teaching academy. Veronika Burcar Alm of the Department of Sociology is one of them.

Why did you apply to the Faculty teaching academy?
- I saw it as an opportunity to reflect on my role as a teacher and the teaching I have devoted myself to for quite a number of years now, from the time I started my educational experience, as a facilitator of a study circle in social sciences for job seekers, when I was 20 years old. Writing a so-called teaching portfolio provided a framework for gathering and reflecting on important educational experiences, how I have developed as a teacher and in which direction I want to continue working.

What does teaching mean to you?
- For me, the teacher's role means trying to provide good support for the students' learning process. It is not about transferring knowledge to them but about contributing to their knowledge. Of course, it is important to know the subject area, but as a teacher I would like the students to actively create, and not only consume, knowledge.

What makes a good teacher in your opinion?
- That's a pretty difficult question. It is possible to list a number of characteristics that, in general, could describe "a good teacher" but what I think is more important to keep in mind is that teaching and learning take place in interaction. Perhaps it is especially important therefore to, as in all social relationships, try to have a responsive, respectful and communicative approach. And to not to be so prestigious.

Will it make a difference in your role as a teacher that you have been appointed Qualified Teaching Practitioner?
- Well, not in my teaching role as such. My educational approach will not really change, but by working with the teaching portfolio this approach has become more apparent to me. I have also been able to identify more clearly what I want to develop, and I have gained even more inspiration to do so.

Teaching academies can be found within Lund University at the Faculty of Engineering LTH, at the Faculty of Science and at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Photo of Veronika Burcar Alm.

Veronika Burcar Alm is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Sociology. Her research focuses on young people's experiences of violence, fear of crime, and digital crowdsourcing. Veronika Burcar Alm is a teacher primarily for the department's Swedish bachelor programme Kriminologiprogrammet.

The qualified teaching practitioner is to show in their teaching portfolio:

  1. An approach that promotes the students’ learning process
  2. A basis in research and a scholarly approach that reflects subject breadth and depth
  3. Teaching skills and commitment
  4. Holistic view and interaction
  5. Continual improvement and in-depth reflection on the basis of knowledge of teaching and learning