The Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence is delighted to announce the winners of the Learning and Teaching categories in the Keele Excellence Awards 2020.

The Keele Excellence Awards celebrate excellence, innovation, and outstanding contributions from staff who inspire learners and colleagues. This year, two winners were chosen in the Learning and Teaching categories:

• Vikki Foley - Keele Excellence Award in Learning and Teaching
• Aimee Merrydew - Keele Excellence Award in Learning and Teaching (Early Career)

Vikki Foley is a Lecturer in Medical Education, and Aimee Merrydew is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant based in the School of Humanities.

The panel was particularly impressed by the range of Aimee’s experience, from someone so early in their career. The panel observed:

“Aimee demonstrates outstanding commitment to both her own personal development and the learning of her students. She is already able to evidence significant impact on students and colleagues both at Keele and beyond.”

The panel praised Vikki’s adept application of technology to pedagogy, and also her understanding of underlying instructional design. There was clear evidence in her application of the way online communities can be built and nurtured to maximise collaborative learning and student-led discovery.

The panel commented:

“In recent weeks many colleagues have been thrust into a world of online learning they are unfamiliar with. We are all now more aware of how challenging this can be to do well. Vikki has a sustained track record of working this way, and has shared her work widely at Keele and beyond.”

Speaking about her award, Aimee Merrydew commented:

“I'm delighted to have been awarded a Keele Excellence Award in Learning and Teaching. I have loved teaching at Keele these past three years and this award has reaffirmed my desire to continue teaching in the future. I'd like to thank my colleagues in the School of English and Creative Writing and within Student Learning for supporting me in developing my teaching practice and also for encouraging and helping me to apply for this award.”

Congratulations to Aimee and Vikki! The full list of winners for 2020 will be announced soon.

Winner Profiles

Vikki Foley - Keele Excellence Award in Learning and Teaching
Vikki Foley is a lecturer in Medical Education based in postgraduate medicine. Since moving to Keele Medical school in 2016 she has clearly demonstrated her passion for continuous improvement and innovation in teaching health care professionals. Drawing on her previous experience in the NHS she has a deep understanding of her learners and that has enabled her to create engaging social learning environments that have enabled her learners to reach their full potential as clinical teachers within a busy NHS environment. In the summer of 2019 she created an inclusive social learning environment using Microsoft Teams to deliver distance learning, providing her learners with options for study delivery and highlighted new approaches on programme design and delivery for the sector.

Vikki has successfully built a community of learners within her own teaching as well as with her peers within Keele University and higher education nationally.

Aimee Merrydew - Keele Excellence Award in Learning and Teaching (Early Career)
Aimee Merrydew is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant based in the School of Humanities. Aimee has also delivered Higher Horizons+ Outreach sessions and, until recently, worked within KIITE as a Write Direction Academic Tutor, where she provided one-to-one learning support for students across the institution.

Since she started teaching at Keele in 2017, Aimee has sought to promote inclusive teaching, culminating in the Trans Youth and Education: National Issues and Solutions Conference. Colleagues have commended Aimee’s ability to progress their teaching and to impact positively on student learning, particularly through her leadership in organising the aforementioned conference. She continues to inspire colleagues internally and externally by disseminating her inclusive teaching practices at international conferences. Feedback from students reiterates Aimee’s positive impact on learning. She is consistently praised for being approachable, supportive, and innovative, in the process supporting students to engage with their curriculum and achieve their academic goals.