Jan Ernest: 2019 Golden Owl
The student association VSETH has awarded the 2019 Golden Owl to Dr Jan Ernest, lecturer at the Department of Mathematics.
The Association of Students at ETH Zurich (VSETH) along with the Association of Mathematics and Physics Students (VMP) awarded the 2019 Golden Owl to external pageDr Jan Ernest.
In the following interview we ask him what the award means to him and what he considers excellent teaching to be.
You work as Head of Monitoring & Oversight Models Validation at UBS. What motivates you to teach as a lecturer at the ETH?
The answer to this question is simple: I enjoy teaching a lot. Every week I am looking forward to the two hours that I spend teaching at the ETH.
What do you consider to be excellent teaching and how do you achieve this in your lectures?
For me, excellent teaching means striving to provide a stimulating learning environment and showing an honest interest in student development. This involves never leaning back and constantly trying to improve and innovate the way things are done.
I achieve this by trying to be well-prepared for every single lecture, have a clear course structure, provide high quality and multifaceted course materials, and promote an open and trustful atmosphere where students dare to ask questions and speak up. In addition to that, I try to actively listen and react to the students' feedback and needs.
What do you think your students particularly enjoy about your lectures?
I think my students notice my passion for teaching and statistics. They also seem to enjoy that I do not only teach formulas and concepts, but also spend a lot of time explaining my intuition, answering their questions and showing real-world examples and applications.
What does the Golden Owl mean to you personally?
When I was informed that I won the Golden Owl, I was overwhelmed. I did not realize that I was eligible for it as an external lecturer. And if I had known, I would have never expected that so many students would vote for me since I am quite new to teaching.
The Golden Owl really means a lot to me. I feel deeply honoured and grateful. It gives me confidence that I am on the right track and serves as a great motivator to further improve the content of my lectures and my teaching skills.
I want to use this opportunity to thank Markus Kalisch from the Seminar for Statistics for his excellent support in the preparation of the course materials.