The University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prizes honour exceptional educators, who provide instruction of incomparable quality while conducting solid research programs. Higher order derivatives. Asymptotes. Concavity. Found on the syllabus for Richard Blute’s mandatory first-year calculus course for business, administration and economics students at the University of Ottawa, these are words that can breathe fear and loathing into even the heartiest of first-year souls.
I can feel their pain,” says Blute, a professor in the University’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics and recipient of the University’s 2007-2008 Excellence in Education Prizes. “That’s why I work really hard at trying to demonstrate to my students why and how calculus is relevant to their programs of study and the vocations that they are considering.”
Blute’s students couldn’t agree more. Christel Binnie, a former student and at one time the director of research communications at the University of Ottawa, says that Blute managed to do the seemingly impossible in not only making calculus accessible, but in making it fun as well. “He had a real knack for making you feel like he was speaking to you directly,” she says. “In a class that averages 250 students, I think that is quite a gift.”
Blute knew from an early age that he was fascinated with mathematics, especially in dealing with the more abstract nature of some mathematical problems. It was in college, however, under the mentorship of professors he fondly remembers as exceptional teachers, that Blute became inspired to take up teaching himself.
ldquo;They took the art and task of teaching very seriously,” he says, “and tried to make the learning experience as personable as possible. I try, as much as possible, to emulate the way they taught courses – I hate to think that one of my students is sitting there thinking they are anonymous and don’t matter, that they are just a face in the crowd.”
Blute is especially appreciated by his students for tailoring his examples to their program interests. By talking about calculus with business students in terms of interest rates or consumer and producer surplus for example, students tend to come out of his class recognizing how calculus is relevant in a wide variety of fields.
“I think if students are personally engaged in the course, they will learn more,” insists Blute. One of the ways that he keeps his students engaged is by switching between formal and informal approaches to lecturing. He likes to talk about baseball and horror movies, topics that seemingly have nothing to do with math, but will allow his students to feel connected to the lecture. Blute likes to talk about the movie The Blob to illustrate the concept of “exponential growth.
“Giant amoeba-like aliens that terrorize small communities are simply way cooler than bacteria in petri dishes,” says Blute with a sly grin. “Who am I to mess with a good thing?”
Blute is the third member of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics to win an Excellence in Education Prize. “We take the question of teaching very seriously and work very hard at it, always comparing notes and best practices and mentoring each other.
“I am honoured to receive the Excellence in Education Prize for the credit that it brings to the whole department.”
