This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO.
– Which teaching program would you like to highlight for your colleagues at the faculty right now?
– I've just conducted a new undergraduate course at the TIK centre within the Innovation Certificate, focusing on innovation in the life sciences and societal change (TIK2201 “Innovations in the Life Sciences and Social Change”). Innovations in the life sciences are considered crucial for achieving goals related to creating sustainable societal change. This pertains to medicine, health, and the economy. Simultaneously, the manner in which life sciences produce knowledge is evolving, for instance, through new technology, new experimental organisms, or new collaborative and working methods.
– The ambition is to create a multidisciplinary course for students from across the university, including students from the life sciences, who wish to gain insight into the relationship between science and society and the role of the life sciences in value creation by being closely involved in knowledge production in practice.
– Who are you collaborating with?
– In the new course, we've collaborated with UiO Life Sciences, which has granted support for the course to run over two years, and the Norwegian Sequencing Centre and the Life Sciences Building, where we've conducted field visits. The students have greatly appreciated these visits, which we have also extensively used as a basis for discussions in lectures and seminars.
– This is a good teaching practice that I've brought from the master's programmes at the TIK centre, where we've always collaborated with actors both inside and outside the university as part of our teaching, and to demonstrate how the knowledge they acquire is relevant and important to society and working life.
– In your opinion, what are the three most important factors for achieving good teaching in this field?
– It’s challenging to rank what's most important for effective teaching, but the most enjoyable aspect of what's crucial, in my opinion, is the combination of passionate lecturers, inquisitive students, and the ability to link the subject to the social issues and challenges that one feels are vital and cares deeply about.
– If you were to give one piece of advice to new teachers at the faculty, what would it be?
– It would be to create space and time to reflect on and discuss teaching with colleagues at the institute and faculty – everything from positive to less positive experiences and the small and large details that one often feels they grapple with alone and never quite find the time to discuss.
– I think it's a way to demystify teaching and transform it into a collective experience.