Mark Bradley and Dr Stef Pukallus received an award at a Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences (TESS) event for their work together on a module in our MA Global Journalism degree.
At the same time, Stef has been recognised as a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) – a powerful testament to her expertise as a lecturer and commitment to teaching and learning and student experience.
The module, Reporting the European Union, gives students a working knowledge of the EU's history, institutional structure and workings, in a way that enables them to report EU affairs as professional journalists. It combines academic and practical content and student input in a unique and very effective way which was warmly praised by the TESS judging panel.
Students taking the module are asked for their views on what knowledge they would like to develop about the EU. Their wishes are then taken into account by Stef in formulating lecture content and Mark in designing practical activities in which students form groups to develop their own news packages.
'Student-centric' approach
At the end of the module, the students who have created the best two news packages go on a three-day trip to Brussels to present their work to the European Parliament.
The panel felt that your achievements in developing an innovative and inspiring way to engage students as partners in learning and teaching are most impressive
Professor Sally Bradley
Higher Education Academy
The TESS awards – an initiative of the Faculty of Social Sciences – were given by Prof Sally Bradley of the HEA, who praised the "uniquely student-centric" approach of the Reporting the European Union modle.
Prof Bradley added: "The panel felt that your achievements in developing an innovative and inspiring way to engage students as partners in learning and teaching are most impressive. Many congratulations Stefanie and Mark."
Stef said: "We are delighted that our approach to the integration of theory and practice has been recognised so quickly as an important contribution to the school culture, both in terms of collegiality and teaching innovation."