The jury awarded the winner for his unmatched teaching skills and the significant contribution to the course materials.
The Outstanding Teaching Award was introduced by the AIC board in 2023 to recognize excellent work done by our teaching assistants (TA). Outstanding TA goes beyond the standars set of duties which is exactly what Václav Mácha did in the the Julia for optimization and learning course taught in Winter Semester 2022/2023.
He also created very complex and engaging study materials that he also publicized on several Julia forums and made public on Github. For his outstanding contribution, Václav received the first ever award and a scholarship of 15 000 CZK. What makes Václav's teaching worthy of the award? See for yourself!
What do you like most about teaching?
What I enjoy most is that I was able to participate in the creation of the entire course from the beginning. It was a very interesting experience, and I also had the opportunity to influence the form of the course and how it is taught in a way that suits me as much as possible.
What makes a good teacher?
What I appreciate most is when a teacher can explain things in multiple different ways and use their deeper knowledge of the subject to illustrate the issue to the students with more tangible examples.
How is your approach different compared to other teachers?
I wouldn’t say that I am different from other teachers or that I use any alternative approaches. Rather, I would say that I am simply lucky to be teaching what I really enjoy and am interested in.
What advice would you give to felow teachers?
I always appreciate when the materials for the lectures are well prepared so that the students can concentrate in class as much as possible and not be worried if their notes are complete. However, I know from my own experience how much work it takes to create quality materials for a lecture.