National teaching award for Prof Gary Marsden

Extract from the award letter:

The quality of the candidates was extremely high, and we believe your selection is a great achievement. We hope that you will be able to serve as a role model and leader with regard to teaching excellence, both at your institution, as well as in the higher education sector in South Africa.

The Committee congratulates you on your thoughtful and detailed teaching and learning philosophy with which your teaching and assessment methods are systematically aligned. The outcomes-orientation of having students think like computer scientists from the first year and to undertake activities that help them to realise the consequences of their choices are recognised as particularly effective approaches. The differentiation between your purpose in your undergraduate and postgraduate courses is noted. Your evidence of effective and innovative teaching is robust, rigorous and diverse. The Committee noted your interest in ICT and Africa and the way in which you have managed to effect positive change. Your work in collaborative environments as well as your wider impact is evident.