CEFEUS wins teaching award
CEFEUS Teaching innovation recognized in inaugural team teaching award.
The Centre for European Studies (CEFEUS), based in the Politics & International Relations programme CCCU has been recognised both by the Students’ Union, and the university itself for the quality of its innovative teaching agenda in European studies.
A team of academics from the Centre, comprising Drs Amelia Hadfield, Sarah Lieberman, and Ben Martill, were awarded the 2016 inaugural Canterbury Christ Church University Teaching Excellence Award for their cutting-edge teaching using simulations of EU public and foreign policy making, as well as the collaborative pedagogy that links themes and teaching across undergraduate modules in all three years.
Drs Amelia Hadfield, Sarah Lieberman, and Ben Martill were also independently nominated for a Golden Apple award by Canterbury Christ Church University’s Students’ Union (SU) for the overall quality of their teaching and student support throughout the year. To illustrate the potential that simulation games hold for conveying a deeper understanding of tricky political issues, as well as the applicability of simulations for a range of other disciplines, a demonstration – in the form of a mock European Council meeting immediately following the UK’s ‘Brexit’ decision – was presented with the participation of members of staff at the University’s annual Teaching and Learning Conference on Thursday, 30th June by Dr Amelia Hadfield and Dr Ben Martill. After being provided with an overview on the various teaching approaches, and the specific ‘to do list’ necessary for making simulation games a successful, assessment-based modular feature, the panel participants – representing key Member States and EU politicians – then negotiated short, medium and long-term demands from each other, with predictably engaging results.
‘A key goal of CEFEUS is to support a cutting-edge research and teaching environment on key European issues’, said CEFEUS Director, Dr Amelia Hadfield, ‘our students always enjoy the European simulation games that we use, and it was particularly satisfying to be able to show our CCCU colleagues how both collaborative teaching, and simulation-based tools can improve understanding of even the most difficult political issues.’ CEFEUS gratefully acknowledges both its team teaching award, as well as this year’s crop of Golden Apple nominations, all of which help confirm its ability to promote clear insights on challenging European issues.