Dr Peter Klappa

National Teaching Fellow 2014 Dr Peter Klappa was in secondary school when he decided he wanted to become a teacher. He found the prospect of being able to make complex topics accessible to other learners, while continuously learning himself, very appealing. During his studies to become a secondary school teacher, and in particular during postgraduate training, he became fascinated by the concept of student-centred learning, and aims to overcome barriers to learning in his current teaching by making topics accessible to all students. In his lecturing position at the University of Kent, Peter has introduced teaching props into his lectures, such as rubber tubing to illustrate how proteins insert into membranes. To further improve his teaching skills for higher education, he took the Universitys Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) programme and was the first academic to graduate from it. Fascinated by the educational possibilities of the emerging technologies of the internet, Peter introduced basic online teaching in all of his modules. He became more and more interested in using technology in his teaching, but the interaction with students remains central to his approach. So for example, he uses video and voice recordings to provide students with meaningful and individualised feedback to their assessments. Inspired by the success of khanacademy, Peter now creates videos and lecture-captures to improve learning resources for students. His videos on YouTube have attracted a large international audience of both students and teachers. He developed a strong collaboration with colleagues from the University for the Creative Arts to produce high-quality computer-generated animations to make complex biological topics accessible for learners worldwide. Recently Peter has started to incorporate social media in his teaching - this approach gives him the opportunity to interact with a large cohort of students in an individualised format, using technology most of them are familiar with. As Master of a College at the University, Peter is in the unique position to be able to combine his teaching with the provision of a stimulating and safe non-academic environment.