Kim Beerden wins 2016 LUS Teaching Prize
Kim Beerden, lecturer in Ancient History, has won the 2016 LUS Teaching Prize.
Beerden received the award during the opening of the academic year on 5 September 2016 in the Pieterskerk. She was presented with the prize - a place in the Leiden Teachers Academy and 25,000 euros to be used for innovation in teaching - by Mikal Tseggai, chair of the Leiden University Student Platform (LUS). Every year the LUS honours a lecturer who has made an 'exceptional contribution' to teaching.
Enormous commitment
Tseggai praised Kim Beerden as ‘a lecturer who knows her subject through and through, who is enormously committed to improving her teaching and inspiring her students.' According to her students, Beerden effortlessly integrates research and theory in her teaching in a way that is understandable and refreshing. They describe her as very popular and a good motivator, and also praise her enthusiasm for her specialist fields of religious, food and mentality history.
Word of thanks
Beerden said in her speech of thanks that she sees enormous potential in blended learning - the combination of contact teaching and online learning. In an interview earlier, she explained how she uses this in her teaching, for example by having students review one another's work.
Respect and appreciation
Students and the LUS expressed their respect and appreciation for the two other nominees, Jan van Lith, head of the Obstetrics Department at the LUMC, and Marion Boers, lecturer in Dutch Art History, praising them for their commitment and enthusiasm.
About the LUS Teaching Prize
The three nominees for the LUS Teaching Prize were all put forward by their students. Members of the LUS attended a number of lectures and made a shortlist with three finalists. The LUS paid particular attention to teaching innovation, interaction with students and the lecturer's ability to continuously improve his or her teaching.
Interview with Kim Beerden
The secret of Beerden's teaching method? ‘It's all about interaction between the lecturer and students,' she said in an interview following her nomination for the LUS Teaching Prize.