BOKU Teaching Award 2025

Allgemeine Mykologie

We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Dipl.-Ing.ⁱⁿ Viktoria Steininger and Dipl.-Biol. Dr.sc. ETH Zurich Martin Altvater on winning the BOKU Teaching Award!

This year, a team of instructors in the field of food and biotechnology was awarded the Teaching Award for the course “Allgemeine Mykologie”. As part of the bachelor’s program reform, this elective course was redesigned from a didactic perspective.

Jury's comments:

The elective course “Allgemeine Mykologie” stands out for the instructors’ visible enthusiasm and the continuous, reflective refinement of the teaching and learning approach. The successful integration of theory, laboratory practice, and experimental work creates a practical learning experience. The learning environment, which fosters a sense of equality, strengthens critical thinking, self-organization, and self-efficacy, and stimulates scientific discourse among students. From a didactic perspective, the course excels through clear learning outcomes, engaging methods, open discussions, and a supportive learning atmosphere that sparks curiosity and promotes individual knowledge transfer. The course offers a forward-looking teaching and learning design with high potential for application in research, practice, and societal issues.

Student feedback:

I believe this course deserves the teaching award because the instructors are truly committed to helping students grasp the material and, in the process, develop an understanding of the field of mycology. The course isn’t about performance (of course, experiments need to be conducted and assignments completed, etc.), but rather about learning something new, even when things don’t go as planned. The instructors’ dedication also really motivates you to do your best on the assignments! The teaching is based on mutual respect, and while it’s fun, precision and seriousness in the lab are never neglected. Even though I didn’t have much experience in the field yet, I was able to participate just like everyone else and complete the course under the instructors’ guidance. The content is also designed to be super engaging and really encourages you to delve deeper into mycology. I really enjoyed it and still often think about it today when I see mushrooms in nature. :)
I was really enthusiastic about the “Allgemeine Mykologie Übung” course. The entertaining style made the lessons very engaging. This made it easier for me to retain the information for a long time, well beyond the duration of the course.

The selection was made by an expert jury.