Winners Dugga Teacher Award 2021
Stockholm, December 10, 2021
The jury has during their annual meeting selected the winners of the Teacher Award 2021 based on their excelling efforts in driving the digital transformation at their schools to increase quality and equality in learning and assessment. They are inspiring other teachers to improve learning outcomes through digital assessment. The winners are representing different regions of the world, where each teacher hero has made an impact locally with their teaching and assessment of pupils and students. The winners of the Dugga Teacher Award is announced on the annual Nobel Day.
CRITERIA: Teacher heroes who are:
- driving the digital transformation to increase quality and equality in assessment
- making their school a digital pioneer in assessment to improve learning outcomes
- inspiring and motivating other teachers to reach pedagogical excellence with the help of digital assessment
“On behalf of the Jury, I would like to congratulate the winners of the 2021 Dugga Teacher Award. They have all demonstrated in an exceptional way their drive and success in relation to the criteria for the Dugga Teacher Award 2021. The Winners have all demonstrated a great impact for their learners in their educational context that serves as an inspiration to many others in other contexts. The winners of the Dugga Teacher Award 2021 are all heroes and the Jury wishes them all the best.”, says Dr. Ebba Ossiannilsson, spokesperson of the jury.
Winners of the Dugga Teacher Award 2021: Claire Arnold, KSE, The Netherlands, Cheryn Ridge, Christel House Schools, South Africa, Kajsa Källsen Bernhardsson and Dan Svanbom, Västerås municipality.
Read the interviews with this year’s winners below.
Claire Arnold, KSE, The Netherlands
In your opinion, what is the best thing about being a teacher?
To see the happy faces every day, the feeling that you really have taught them something. What I’m most excited about is that they enjoy my classes and are excited to come to my class.
What/who inspired you to become a teacher?
My old geography teacher from high school. He was very kind and excited when he spoke to us. He was a good teacher because he really saw talent in every student.
When you were a child, who were your idols and why?
I was fan of Phil Collins, I loved his music. When I was a teenager, I flew with my mom to Dublin to see him in the Aviva Stadium.
What is your favourite feature of Dugga?
Currently in this remote era with students at home and at school, Xit-Check is my favorite feature. It keeps students honest and works on any device.
How has Dugga changed your daily work?
I don’t need to print so much paper anymore. It takes less time to check the results of the students.
How have the many different question types contributed to how you can assess your students/pupils?
For my subject: Geography, it’s enough to make great tests! I have enough possibilities to make a test where there is a lot of options to put every type of questions in it.
Cheryn Ridge, Christel House Schools, South Africa
In your opinion, what is the best thing about being a teacher?
The best thing about being a teacher is having the opportunity to make an impact on a child’s life and as a result, their family, the community, and the education landscape. As teachers, we can develop a legacy of learning, create problem-solvers, and prepare learners for a changing global landscape.
What/who inspired you to become a teacher?
The teachers at Ubombo Primary School, Eswatini especially Mrs. Barbour, my grade 6 English and drama teacher. She instilled a love for reading, creative writing, and learning. She connected with her learners individually and it was her influence that drew me to teaching. She fostered confidence in her students through participation in junior school plays and public speaking competitions. This has stood in me in good stead.
When you were a child, who were your idols and why?
My role models were, and still are, my parents. My father is a man of integrity, strength, and wisdom. My mother is gentle, calm and very present for her family.
How has Dugga changed your daily work?
Dugga Digital Assessment saves valuable time, which may have been spent on marking, creating, or editing question templates. I can spend more time with my students. It is easy to collaborate with colleagues and build a digital question bank within Dugga.
What is your favourite feature of Dugga?
The variety of question types and the ease with which I can add these questions into my tests.
- The security features of Dugga.
- Dugga integrates so well into Microsoft Teams, our school communication hub.
- Dugga is user-friendly and intuitive.
- Students can save a test if there is a drop in the internet connection.
How have the many different question types contributed to how you can assess your students/pupils?
There is an opportunity for all learners to show what they know. I can easily assess higher-order thinking.
Please share with other teachers your thoughts about digital assessment as part of today’s way of teaching
Digital assessment has the potential to break down barriers that can exist in traditional assessments. Digital assessments help ensure learning and assessing are accessible and inclusive. Digital assessments prepare students for external exams, many of which are now digital.
Kajsa Källsen Bernhardsson & Dan Svanbom, Västerås municipality, Sweden
In your opinion, what is the best thing about being a teacher?
When we were teachers we both loved to interact with students in a way that made us discover their progress. When their eyes lit up with understanding and you really could see how they felt relieved and uplifted. The job as a teacher is also very creative and it gives you lots of opportunities to develop and shape your teaching. Dugga is a tool that can be very powerful in todays teaching. Since we no longer teach students but teachers instead we have a great opportunity to make our teachers discover how they can use Dugga in their classrooms.
What/who inspired you to become a teacher?
Kajsa: My teacher in my first grade was a role model to me. She was so kind, inspiring, creative and she saw all of us children and our potential to learn and thrive. I always thought that she had the best job in the world.
Dan: My teacher in Swedish language in high school was really inspiring and made me understand how important our languages are to for how we see our self. Our identity.
When you were a child, who were your idols and why?
Kajsa: When I was young my idol was Ingemar Stenmark, a Swedish famous downhillskier. I looked up to him because he was always calm, very focused and successful. His success was amazing and inspired me to be resilient in what I do in life. In that way you can always develop yourself and become a better version, so also with your job. Not be afraid of new things, be brave and try. In that way you can develop your skills in the slopes or in the Classroom.
Dan:I feel the same way of the musicians I learned to love in my youth. They had put so much effort to be the best playing their instruments. No matter what talent you may have. You also have to add the practicing. To name a Swedish musician I love I would say the guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen.
What is your favourite feature of Dugga?
Our favorite features of Dugga is of course the self-correcting questions, in that way teachers can focus on creating good questions, quizzes assignments, save time in assessing assignments and much more for the students. And that can inspire students in their learning progress. We hear from teachers in our organisation that they really use them in different ways.
How has Dugga changed your daily work?
We work in Västerås in Sweden, which is an Organisation with students from year 1 in elementary school to year 4 in the gymnasium. We have around 1 000 teachers. One of our assignments is to teach and inspire our teachers in the best way we can. During the past two years we have taught them how to use Dugga for upcoming national standard tests but also in the classrooms for daily use and to develop teaching. Hopefully Dugga has changed and improved the way they work and in a way that they want.
How has the many different question types contributed to how you can assess your students/pupils?
We really like the possibilities Dugga gives to teachers in different school forms and subjects. You do not have to use everything but you can use some of the various question types that fits your classroom and how you teach.
Please share with other teachers your thoughts about digital assessment as part of today’s way of teaching
Dugga has several positive effects on teaching today. Dugga has to be apart of our tool box for teaching. And we really feel that since tests always has been apart of teachers tools we now have developed ways of creating assessments. The possibilities to assess tests anonymous to increase the equivalence and legal certainty is important in these digital ages. And the way you can save time when you assess tests, it´s very important for teacher nowadays. The different types of questions make the use very creative and you can vary your questions in so many ways which is positive for our students.
nominate your teacher or colleague for Dugga’s Teacher Award!
Each year Dugga awards outstanding teachers. These teachers will be honored and put in the spotlight because of their exceptional efforts in driving digitalization in their school. At the same time they are, in line with Dugga’s mission, driving pedagogical excellence and equal opportunities for each individual.
Do you want to nominate your teacher or colleague? Take one minute and submit your nomination by pressing the button below.
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