"It's quite an honour to receive this recognition. It's important to continually improve teaching and develop courses to ensure the students get the best learning experience," says Gjesteland.
The Olav Thon Foundation annually awards a teaching excellence prize to educators in the fields of natural sciences, medicine and mathematics within the university and college sector. A total of nine individuals receive the award, with each winner receiving NOK 500,000.
In the foundation's citation, they write that Gjesteland has shown an exceptional ability to inspire and engage students throughout his career. In addition, he has contributed significantly to the development of mathematics education at several university departments. Gjesteland has also led UiA's Centre for Excellence in Education, MatRiC, and has influenced mathematics education both nationally and internationally.
"I've been fortunate to work with MatRIC and UiA, which are great at supporting efforts to improve educational quality," says Thomas Gjesteland .
Motivated by working with students
Gjesteland has 17 years of teaching experience from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bergen and UiA, where he has taught at the bachelor's, master's and PhD levels in mathematics, physics and space physics.
In recent years at UiA, he has been responsible for mathematics and physics teaching for engineering students, as well as supervising master's and PhD students.
"It's fantastic to talk with students. They have great ideas and it's inspiring to tackle challenges alongside them. It's fun to see students have those 'aha' moments," he says.
Grateful for UiA's work on educational quality
The award not only recognizes individual efforts but also highlights the importance of quality in teaching. With ongoing reductions in funding for educational development, Gjesteland hopes this recognition will lead to a greater focus on effective learning methods.
The professor points out that facilitating learning requires the commitment of the entire institution; it's not just about having good educators. Gjesteland shares that working with MatRIC was one of the reasons he chose to apply to UiA.
"UiA is great in this regard. We're fortunate to have an institution that invests in centres for excellence in education. It's a continuous effort to maintain high quality in education," says Gjesteland.
The official award ceremony will be held in May, where Gjesteland will receive both the cash prize and a physical award.