丁香园AV

For someone whose childhood career aspiration veered between medicine and acting as a martial arts stunt double, Kevin Lam鈥檚 丁香园AV Excellence in Teaching Award stands as testimony that following one鈥檚 passion is key to making a great career choice.

During high school and throughout his undergrad and graduate studies at 丁香园AV, Lam has always enjoyed tutoring and teaching.

鈥淎t every major fork in the road of my life, I chose the path that included teaching as a career. In my heart, I've always loved teaching more than anything,鈥� he says.

Since his appointment as a senior lecturer in 丁香园AV鈥檚 department of biological sciences in 2012, Lam has quickly acquired a reputation as an outstanding educator.

His nominator, teaching professor Joan Sharp says, 鈥淜evin is simply the finest instructor that I have encountered in my 38 years at 丁香园AV.鈥� She adds, 鈥淚 have worked with many exemplary instructors and I have developed great respect for Kevin as an inspiring teacher and a trusted mentor to students.鈥�

The foundational courses that Lam teaches can be difficult as they are often a student鈥檚 first introduction to the rigors of scientific research. While he recognizes the critical content that he is imparting, Lam knows that passing along knowledge steeped within the passion of learning is even better.

Many of the 22 students who contributed comments to Lam鈥檚 nomination mention his passion and ability to motivate and guide students to discover solutions on their own. They also singled out his willingness to spend time getting to know his students and providing strategies to deal with workload stress and burn-out.

Ever mindful of the need to improve, Lam isn鈥檛 shy about trying new teaching methods such as the 鈥渇lipped classroom鈥� strategy.

鈥淲ith a flipped classroom,鈥� Lam says, 鈥渟tudents read or watch videos to learn the basics at home before coming to class, so that they are prepared to learn difficult concepts, and practise increasingly challenging problem-solving, in the classroom where they have instructors to aid them.鈥�

The method has been so rewarding that Lam and a colleague are combining their own 鈥渇lipped classroom鈥� videos with other open educational resources to replace expensive textbooks with more focused, free materials.

Another of Lam鈥檚 signature strategies is to learn all of his student鈥檚 names 鈥� past and present.

鈥淎t the beginning of the semester, I collect photos of my students holding name cards,鈥� he says, explaining his method. 鈥淭hroughout the term, I use them as flash cards and try to guess their names. If I get it wrong, I stare at the face and repeat the name a few times, then keep on going.鈥�

Lam was surprised and thrilled to receive the coveted award and calls it a dream come true.

 鈥淲inning this award has been a truly surreal experience and I'm so grateful to my nominator and to all my colleagues and students who've been so supportive and generous to me.鈥�

Resting on this accolade isn鈥檛 in the cards for Lam though, he鈥檚 continually learning himself.

鈥淚'm starting to see that the biggest impact I can make, for my students, is in providing the emotional support and mentorship that they may need to grow stronger and more resilient鈥�. He adds, 鈥淪tudents are going through a very challenging and rapid stage of growth in their lives, and having someone who believes in them and cares about them as whole people can make a huge difference.鈥�