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2021 Education Prize goes to Professor Bjørge Herman Hansen

“He makes the subject easy to understand, interesting and comprehensible”, the justification reads when this year’s education prize is awarded to Professor Bjørge Herman Hansen at the Department of Sport Science and Physical Education. The prize is NOK 100,000 and must be spent on the further development of the learning environment and education quality.

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Bjørge Herman Hansen, Sunniva Whittaker and Sveinung Berntsen, photo
A happy prize winner of UiA’s Education Prize for 2021: Professor Bjørge Herman Hansen at the Department of Sport Science and Physical Education. Here flanked by UiA Rector Sunniva Whittaker and Head of Department Sveinung Berntsen Stølevik at the Department of Sport Science and Physical Education.

 

“I was completely stunned, at the same time as I am very grateful for the award”, a slightly shaken professor Bjørge Herman Hansen said when he was surprised by UiA Rector Sunniva Whittaker at a meeting this week.

With a camera in tow, she read out the jury's justification and awarded the prize to the unsuspecting professor.

Watch a video from the event:

Marked and documentable effort

The purpose of the education prize at the University of Agder is to give recognition to a unit, an environment or an individual at the university who has made a marked and documentable effort to develop the learning environment and/or quality of education.

The jury for the education award consisted of Vice Rector for Education Morten Brekke, Director of UiA PULS John Olav Bjørnestad, and student Cecilie Helen Askland.

Metodos

Hansen is praised for having initiated the development of a computer game about research methods, Metodos.

The game should contribute to greater interest in the relevance and understanding of methods. An objective is that the game should be adaptable to other disciplines and languages, as well as both lower and higher levels.

“Such a game is considered to be a good example of how digital and innovative measures can stimulate better quality instruction through different but relevant academic and pedagogical activity”, the jury writes in its reasoning.

Hansen earned his doctorate from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH) in 2013 and came to UiA in 2018. Here he works on sport medicine and explores the connection between physical activity and health. He is also very interested in statistics and method development.