One of the most fulfilling parts of the work of the Enhancement team is working on the Teaching Awards for each year, especially the Student Led Teaching Awards.

We have recently completed the process for 2016-17, having presented the awards to staff at the Annual Teaching and Learning Conference 2017.

2016-17 SLTAs

So what are the Student-Led Teaching Awards?

The awards are a way for students to recognise the valuable contribution of staff to their teaching and learning experience.

You can read the full description of the awards and categories on our blog post on last year’s awards, or on the ADQE webpages.

There were no major changes to the Student-Led Teaching Awards this year, however we began asking students to provide their study level (undergraduate or postgraduate) and to suggest a category of award to give to their nominee. This helps the decision panels making the awards to agree the category of award.

We have also emphasised the importance of detailed supporting comments, which worked well and most of this years’ supporting comments were detailed and clear.

How do the Awards work?

Any student was able to complete the nomination form as many times as they liked, which asked for some details about themselves and the staff they wish to nominate.

They were asked to tell us the staff they felt deserved an award, the category of award they would recommend, and to give some supporting comments for their nomination.

ADQE pulls together and checks all of the nominations received from students, as well as supporting the decision panels.

These decision panels are groups of Students’ Union Officers and Student Representatives who decide which staff should receive awards based on the supporting comments.

All nominations are considered by Student Reps from the same cluster (namely Arts and Humanities; Social Sciences; Sciences) so they are considering staff with whom they may have some interaction.

Once the decision panels have agreed which staff should be given an award, ADQE contacts the winners and provides anonymised nomination text in the announcement.

We then get ready to present the certificates at our Annual Teaching and Learning Conference – more on that below.

What were the numbers for this year?

This year we had a huge increase in the number of nominations, around double last year’s nominations.

As a result of the excellent supporting comments received from students, the decision panels made more than double the number of awards!

The number of nominations, awards and the change between years are shown on the chart below:

Summary of awards, nominations and % change for SLTAs 2013-17

Who won Student-Led Teaching Awards this year?

As mentioned above, we had a bumper 77 awards given this year across the five categories of award.

The complete list of winners for 2016-17 can be read below:

Outstanding or Innovative Assessment and Feedback

• Dr John Masterson (English)
• Dr Gianluca Gentili (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Prof Aleks Szczerbiak (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Prof Jamie Ward (Psychology)

Outstanding or Innovative Postgraduate Teaching

• Miss Elizabeth Cousins (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Benno Teschke (Global Studies)
• Dr Rosemary McGee (Institute of Development Studies)
• Dr Boidurjo Mukhopadhyay (Business, Management and Economics)
• Prof Paul Nightingale (Business, Management and Economics)
• Dr Nigel Marshall (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Simon Thompson (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Kingsley Sage (Engineering and Informatics)
• Dr Luc Berthouze (Engineering and Informatics)
• Dr Evan Killick (Global Studies)
• Dr Pablo Iglesias-Rodriguez (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Mr Peter Garwood (Psychology)
• Dr Jules Winchester (Sussex Centre for Language Studies)
• Ms Susan Robbins (Sussex Centre for Language Studies)

Outstanding or Innovative Undergraduate Teaching

• Mr Frank Brouwer (Business, Management and Economics)
• Mr Harri Koivisto (Engineering and Informatics)
• Dr Lyndsay McLean (Global Studies)
• Dr Akanksha Mehta (Global Studies)
• Prof Claire Annesley (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Dr Stephen Wilkins (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Farai Jena (Business, Management and Economics)
• Dr Mohammad Moeini Aghkariz (Business, Management and Economics)
• Mr Chowdhury Shabab (Business, Management and Economics)
• Dr Hannah Field (English)
• Dr Rebecca Jackson (English)
• Dr Anneke Newman (Global Studies)
• Dr David Ockwell (Global Studies)
• Dr Thomas Chambers (Global Studies)
• Miss Carmen Leon Himmelstine (Global Studies)
• Miss Karis Petty (Global Studies)
• Dr Benedict Burbridge (History, Art History and Philosophy)
• Dr Feras Alkabani (History, Art History and Philosophy)
• Dr Ben Fincham (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Miss Fiona Clements (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Dr Alan Stewart (Life Sciences)
• Prof Jonathan Bacon (Life Sciences)
• Dr Darren Baskill (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Marco Peccianti (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Michael Taylor (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Nicos Georgiou (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Vanessa Styles (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Prof Jacob Dunningham (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Dr Alison Pike (Psychology)
• Dr Eleanor Miles (Psychology)
• Miss Arabella Kyprianides (Psychology)
• Prof Martin Yeomans (Psychology)
• Miss Axelle Fleury (Sussex Centre for Language Studies)
• Mr John Walker (Sussex Centre for Language Studies)

Outstanding Professional Services Support for the Learning Experience

• Mr Kevin Clarke (Media, Film and Music)

Outstanding Support for the Learning Experience of Students

• Dr Jacqui Shepherd (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Rachel Burr (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Rebecca Webb (Education and Social Work)
• Mr Richard McFahn (Education and Social Work)
• Mrs Deborah Brown (Education and Social Work)
• Mrs Jacqueline Young (Education and Social Work)
• Mrs Julie Bailey (Education and Social Work)
• Ms Meryl Williams (Education and Social Work)
• Ms Rebecca Stephens (Education and Social Work)
• Dr Graeme Pedlingham (English)
• Dr Sara Crangle (English)
• Dr Elizabeth Mills (Global Studies)
• Dr Synne Dyvik (Global Studies)
• Ms Wendy Ashall (Global Studies)
• Prof Geert De Neve (Global Studies)
• Prof Martin Todd (Global Studies)
• Dr Anne-Marie Angelo (History, Art History and Philosophy)
• Dr Lars Otto Naess (Institute of Development Studies)
• Mrs Mary Lee (Law, Politics and Sociology)
• Dr Joanna Richardson (Life Sciences)
• Dr Sabita Menon (Life Sciences)
• Dr Adhip Rawal (Psychology)
• Dr Prabha Parthasarathy (Life Sciences)
• Dr Shane Lo Fan Hin (Life Sciences)

The complete list of winners of Teaching Awards from previous years can be viewed on the ADQE webpages.

Quotes from successful nominations

Of course another fantastic part of the process is being able to read the nominations themselves and learn more about the incredible work being carried out across the University. The emotion and passion coming through in the supporting comments is heartwarming, and so I am pleased to be able to share a small flavour of the comments received this year:

He is pioneering intersectionality within the department and the university itself. He takes student voices really seriously and has given students the opportunity to have an impact on the curriculum.

She is passionate about her area which makes her lectures and tutorials interesting and fun. She is kind and extremely supportive. She has time for any student no matter what her work load is. Her communication with students is outstanding considering she is a course leader, lecturer, researcher and supervisor to many students and she always has time see an individual whatever the issue may be. She is approachable and friendly and I really feel she deserves this for her lovely personality and all of her hard work for the faculty.

He manages to make us think critically constantly and his teaching has seeped into my every-day life.  It is really encouraging to see someone like him as a teacher at Sussex. He is open to listening everyone’s ideas and never makes you feel like you said something completely out of place, instead he works through it with you allowing you to understand complex concepts. He is very open to constructive criticism, both from him to us and us to him.

Her explanations of complicated material were always clear, logical and thoughtful. But there was an unfailing enthusiasm that made what started as our least become our most enjoyed module. Every single lecture was engaging and she went beyond the content of the course to impart why statistics is important and relevant and interesting.

The best teaching techniques I have experienced at Sussex University. Well organized classes, planned way ahead of time. Study direct ready the minute we finish our class. Class time management incredibly well distributed. Makes all students feel confident and comfortable… Made my experience at Sussex good enough that I am thinking to apply for a PhD here.

He has been encouraging to every student in the department I know from day one, always offering support and a listening ear if we need one. He has always been fantastic at helping us with technical problems, as well as offering advise on getting through the course. I cannot imagine these three years without his support.

Presentation ceremony at the Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, 5 April 2017

The winners were invited to collect their certificates at the Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, held on the 5th April 2017.

The presentation ceremony was well-attended and the certificates were presented by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Prof Clare Mackie.

A gallery of photos from the presentation ceremony can be found below:

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Finally, let me just add our warmest congratulations to all winners of Teaching Awards this year – your hard work is much appreciated by staff and students!