King’s Education Awards

This award recognises the contribution of an individual (or team) over time which has led to a sustained positive impact on the learning and teaching community, or overall student experience at King's. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Francisco as the 2024 winner of this category: Francisco has been nominated for an Education Award in high numbers (ten this year) by his students for many years and has been shortlisted by the faculty twice before. The themes that consistently emerge from the nominations are the high quality of both his online materials and live teaching sessions, and the high level of support provided to students.  Students praise Paco in the comments: two students wrote "Francisco (Paco) is without a doubt, just the best educator I have ever had in my life" and "Paco is the best lecturer/teacher I’ve ever had in my life".  Students appreciate the effort he makes to ensure that they understand material, saying "He is genuinely passionate about teaching and about conveying ideas not only in a way that is understandable, but also in a way that is profound and intuitive." Other students comment on his friendliness, patience, and positivity. From the student’s comments it is clear that he prioritises student experience and genuinely loves imparting knowledge. Paco is also an innovator and works hard to improve his teaching, spending a large amount of time pioneering the use of mathematical visualization software to make the subject accessible to students and additionally goes out of his way to answer student questions and finding ways to motivate them to learn more. In summary, Paco is an outstanding educator and deserves to be recognised as such.

This award recognises the contribution of a pioneering individual (or team) who has taken on new, innovative approaches to designing effective learning environments, delivering creative and inspirational teaching. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Aleksandra as the 2024 winner of this category: Aleks would be a very worthy recipient of this award as outlined by her students: "Aleks did not just teach us the course but also Eastern European culture, which helped enrich the teaching of the Culture of Revolutionary Russia. This would include Aleks bringing in traditional goods and us spending a little time playing / doing certain activities, for example certain Russian snacks and drinks which were popularly consumed during Soviet 1920s Cinema. Hence, I have gained far more knowledge than the course alone itself aimed to impart us with. Every single one of us looked forward to *Friday evenings* just because we were going to this seminar. " "Aleks actually took an interest in our own research projects putting together a dissertation workshop / mock academic conference to help us explore the ideas and approaches we would include in our dissertations – which was an extremely valuable experience and helped us understand what may need strengthening by hearing other approaches taken by fellow students. We were treated as actual academics with valid ideas."

This award recognises an individual (or team) who shows commitment and dedication to widening participation by creating a diverse and inclusive environment, through curriculum content and design, teaching practice, and/or supporting students and colleagues. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Jadbinderpal as the 2024 winner of this category: Dr Seehra is a long-standing member of the FoDOCS community who consistently strives to provide an excellent experience for students. He has lasting impacts on the student community, as evidenced by being nominated for a KEA award by two separate students in this nomination process. Students describe him as a ‘fantastic clinical supervisor and lecturer’ who is highly supportive and meets learners where they are. He arranges sessions in a variety of formats and ‘uses his spare time to hold teaching sessions in the evenings’ for students who haven’t been able to attend in regular hours. Students also mention how he works with them one-on-one, showing them ‘how to use journal websites, how to do advance searches and what to look at in essay titles and analysis’. He caters for all learning styles by working in a flexible and inclusive way. Dr Seehra ‘empowers students ensuring they feel at ease to get engaged within the faculty’ and works tirelessly to include all students so that they have a great student experience.

This award recognises an individual (or team) who consistently applies feedback practices that are integral to supporting student development and learning. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Raquel as the 2024 winner of this category: Raquel would be a very worthy recipient of this award as outlined by her students: "Raquel made a personalised audio for each of her students, to give us an oral correction of a written assignment. " "She goes out of her way to make a document with… any of the students’ common weaknesses so that we can retain as much information as possible and get the most out of the lessons." "I was blown away by how detailed and actually helpful her written and audio feedback on my formative was, and she does that for every student."

This award recognises an individual (or team) who frequently goes the extra mile to support students in and outside of the classroom. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Holly as the 2024 winner of this category: Holly goes ‘above and beyond’ to support students pastorally as a personal and clinical tutor. When a student faced a challenging situation, Holly immediately rearranged her working day to support them. She waited in A&E for many hours with the student, buying them a coffee and chaperoning them on the 1 hr train journey home. This was beyond what was required of her yet she did this without thinking twice. Not only did she support with the immediate fallout of the situation such as signposting to support services, but she also supported closely for weeks after, regularly emailing and making sure the student was coping through several specialist appointments which she even offered to support at. The student said that ‘even though I have very recently completed my studies, we still communicate and I know if I need someone to speak to, she will be there. I am due to start a foundation training year and she instantly said to keep her updated and reach out for advice if needed.’ They also said "I hope King’s realises what a great member of the team she is and she gets some recognition for being an incredible personal tutor."

This award recognises individuals who purposefully include students in co-curricular opportunities and who support students in engaging in ways to connect their academic experience to broader initiatives such as service, internships, employability skills, or through involvement in improving the wider teaching and learning community at King’s. This category has two winners because there was a tie in the Student Judging panel’s votes; they will each receive an award for this category. Below is the supporting statement that led the Student Panel to choose Wei as the 2024 winners of this category: Wei leads the Engineering innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum delivering a second year and MSc module in which Engineering is related to the wider context of technology innovation and management. These are core topics for students but students can approach these reluctantly since they are considered ’non-technical’. Wei has brought in a huge number of external speakers from her network who have engaging and inspiring stories of how design and entrepreneurship have changed lives through her ‘entrepreneur stories’ series in the second year module, together with real and meaningful design projects connecting students to opportunities to make a difference to society. She has supported students to develop their ideas in conjunction with our Entrepreneur in Residence to enter these into the Engineers in Business and King’s Idea Factory competitions with success for students. She has unmatched energy and enthusiasm in the department which is recognised and appreciated by students motivating them to attend her classes with them commenting on how fun and engaging the experience is.

This award recognises the contribution of an individual (or team) over time which has led to a sustained positive impact on the learning and teaching community, or overall student experience at King's.

This award recognises the contribution of a pioneering individual (or team) who has taken on new, innovative approaches to designing effective learning environments, delivering creative and inspirational teaching.

This award recognises an individual (or team) who shows commitment and dedication to widening participation by creating a diverse and inclusive environment, through curriculum content and design, teaching practice, and/or supporting students and colleagues.

This award recognises an individual (or team) who consistently applies feedback practices that are integral to supporting student development and learning.

This award recognises an individual (or team) who frequently goes the extra mile to support students in and outside of the classroom.

This award recognises an individual (or team) who purposefully include students in co-curricular opportunities and who support students in engaging in ways to connect their academic experience to broader initiatives such as service, internships, employability skills, or through involvement in improving the curriculum.