Lena Ivarsson Awarded the STINT scholarship | 2013 |
When Lena Ivarsson received the e-mail informing her that she had been awarded the scholarship “Excellence in Teaching”, she had to read it several times. She could not believe that it was true.
The scholarship is awarded by the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT). STINT’s mission is to promote the internationalization of Swedish higher education and research. Lena had applied for the scholarship, but she did not really believe that she would be chosen. Her prize was to teach one semester at Ohio State University.
In Ohio, Lena chose to teach together with one of the university’s teachers, so called co-teaching, in order to gain new ideas and inspiration. Otherwise, she believed that she would teach in the exact same manner that she did back home in Sweden. Once she was home again in Sweden, she presented her experiences to her colleagues and she has tried to implement selected parts in her own teaching. She has also recommended others to apply for the scholarship.
– The scholarship has meant a lot to me personally. It was an amazing experience to be away for a full six months and to work at a university that is so different from Mid Sweden University. One of my sons also came along and when I had time off, we took the opportunity to travel. We got to know a lot of people that we are still in contact with, Lena recounts.