Edinburgh University Students’ Association’s Student-Led Teaching Awards are back to recognise outstanding members of learning and support staff. After a challenging year for everyone, we’re celebrating our worthy nominees by shouting about their successes across our digital platforms. 

What is your full name? 

Filip Balucha 

What is your job title? 

Inf1A Tutor 

What school or service do you work in? 

School of Informatics 

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your role. 

This was my first role as Teaching Support at The University of Edinburgh. I tutored two groups of students for the course Inf1A. My responsibilities included marking student submissions, explaining topics, demonstrating solutions, discussing tutorial sheets and preparing additional exercises for the tutorials. 

What does it mean to you to have been nominated for a Teaching Award this year? 

It made my day! I prepared painstakingly for every tutorial and tried to give elaborate feedback to each student, so I was delighted to see that my teaching had a positive impact on my tutees’ learning. This positive experience motivates me to seek further teaching roles in the future. It also reminds me about the importance of giving feedback to teaching staff. 

What’s your favourite part of your role and working with students? 

What I loved about my role was that it allowed us all to socialise within the tutorial. I was also able to give my tutees advice on choosing electives, balancing workload and applying for exchange, which is something I would have been thankful for. 

How have you adapted your approach to teaching and supporting students under the Hybrid Model this year? 

I always kept in mind that some of my students could be unwell because of the pandemic, and so I tried my best to keep an empathetic and encouraging approach. 

What’s been the biggest challenge in your role this year? 

The biggest challenge for me was getting students to start interacting. Often at the beginning of the tutorial, they would have their cameras and microphones turned off. This made the first few minutes of tutorials feel rather impersonal. 

What would you say to the student(s) who nominated you, or students who are considering submitting a nomination for a staff member who has had an impact on them? 

Definitely go for it! While it nominating your favourite staff member will only take a few minutes of your time, it will make their day and reassure them that their hard work is appreciated. 

To find out more about the Teaching Awards and browse nomination categories, please visit the Students’ Association’s website.