As a lecturer, you are essentially laying down a series of stepping stones for your students, creating a path for them to take towards realising their learning goals. “You can step over there to understand this. Across to that stone to get a grip on that.”

The stepping stones symbolise the activities Magdalena Pyrz plans for her students at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics.

“As lecturers, we set ambitious goals – and we should – but they can seem overwhelming for our students at first,” she explains.

“You need to set a direction in order for the students to be able to find their way across the right stepping stones. And I fail as a lecturer if that path is not clear.”

After each lecture, Magdalena Pyrz asks her students what they found most difficult. And then she starts the next lesson explaining it using other words or others figures.

“Sometimes I have to explain something in different ways twice, sometimes three times, but it’s my job to communicate in a way that the students understand,” she says.

She uses her hands. Gestures, models, illustrations, bracelets – whatever it takes to make it easier for her students to visualise the processes.

“Molecular biology is a cornucopia of amazing processes. But they can be difficult to understand, so using recognisable analogies works wonders. It really works, in my experience,” says Magdalena Pyrz, adding:

“And my reward, of course, is when students suddenly understand the underpinnings of these complex processes and express their enthusiasm, like ‘Wow, that’s so cool’. That is meaningful to me.”

Wants to understand her students

Magdalena Pyrz is head of the teaching laboratories at the department. She divides her teaching time between lectures and laboratory work, and feels that the latter is what create most value for her.

“A laboratory is a less hierarchical space and gives me a chance to get closer to the students. When lecturing, I’m often standing in front of perhaps 150 students, but in the lab we are on the floor together, and I can talk to two students at a time. It’s more personal, and I really love that,” she says.

She sees getting close to her students as extremely valuable in her work to understand them even better and, through dialogue, shift discussions to higher levels of abstraction.

Magdalena Pyrz also feels that dialogue is key to creating the best possible learning environment.

“I’m certainly not a fan of the zero-error culture. Students are always welcome to ask questions, and it is okay to feel unsure or to not understand something,” she says, explaining:

“In my planning, I make sure there’s plenty of time to start over or redo an experiment. There must be time to fail.”

Lecturer of the Year several years in a row

The space created by Magdalena Pyrz and the relations she fosters also make an impression on the students. This is evident from the three prizes displayed on the wall of her office: ‘Lecturer of the Year’ at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2022, 2023 and 2024. A prize awarded by the students at the department.

One of the reasons given is as follows:

“Magdalena is not only a brilliant lecturer, she is also absolutely passionate about the well-being of students at the department, both in and outside the classrooms and laboratories. Nobody does more for both the physical and social study environment.”

Magdalena Pyrz is willing to go above and beyond what is expected of her to create a good study environment for her students and all other students at the department.

Among other things, she was behind the establishment of the MBG Studenterudvalg, a committee of representatives of the department’s student association, tutor association and Friday bar, and which meets regularly with her as the department representative to discuss broader aspects of teaching, well-being and the study environment.

She does this to be accessible to the students, but also to gain a better sense of what matters to the students she teaches.

And despite already having three awards to her name, Magdalena Pyrz is delighted to receive the Lecturer of the Year prize.

“I feel humbled, proud and touched. Basically, I’m just very grateful for the recognition. It’s an honour I would like to share with my many colleagues, for whom teaching is also a joy,” she says.

Founded in what is real

Magdalena Pyrz has been teaching at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics for more than ten years, which is also where she herself graduated from.

She remembers most of the lecturers who taught her, and many of them have inspired her own teaching style.

In that light, she reflects on how important it is for lecturers to have a sense of their students’ framework of understanding and what motivates them. It makes it much easier to ensure your teaching comes across as relevant and founded in what is real without compromising on content. Through exposure to impassioned lecturers, students will be able to find their own motivation.

Magdalena Pyrz believes that the years students spend at university are just as much about acquiring a strong academic foundation as they are about strengthening their curiosity to learn new things – and their courage to explore the unknown. And that is why she wants to send students out into the world equipped with both academic qualifications and personal strengths.

“My hope is that students will leave university with strong academic competencies, an enthusiasm for their field of study and a strong belief in their own abilities. With a can-do attitude and the courage to throw themselves in at the deep end,” she says, pausing briefly to consider her own answer.

“Well. That’s essentially what I want to instill in our students. A fundamental belief in themselves and a fair amount of courage, even when things are difficult.”