Reading top teachers receive national accolade

25 June 2009

Two University of Reading members of staff have been awarded National Teaching Fellowship Awards from the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Dr Shirley Williams of the School of Systems Engineering and Clare Furneaux, Lecturer in the Department of Applied Linguistics, were both nominated for the national awards by the University after being awarded University of Reading Teaching Fellowships last year. They were then selected to receive these awards by the HEA from over 200 nominations.

Throughout her career, Dr Shirley Williams has taken a keen interest in new technologies and their use in teaching and learning; from her first involvement in teaching and learning as an undergraduate in the 1970s to her current work on the EU-funded MUVEnation project, which is helping teachers understand how virtual worlds can be used to encourage pupil motivation. Shirley is also supporting colleagues in developing their own projects in the area of technology enhanced learning. She is currently working on the This Is Me project (funded by Eduserv) investigating the personae that staff and students project across the digital world.

Dr Williams said: "Technology can greatly enhance learning, but it can also be distracting. The key to success is not to be seduced by its potential and to remember what you were aiming to enhance."

Clare Furneaux's career has focussed on language and how to help non-native and native speakers of English develop it for study purposes. Her first post at the University of Reading was in the Centre for Applied Language Studies - one of the first UK university departments set up to prepare international students for study at university level. She has subsequently led the award-winning team that established Reading's first wholly distance programme, the MA English Language Teaching by Distance Study in the Department of Applied Linguistics. Her latest project involves producing online writing support for undergraduates.

Clare Furneaux said: "Universities like Reading are an amazing mix of people from different backgrounds. We work together, both staff and students, to provide a rich learning environment for everyone. Language is key in this, of course, and students must learn to use it effectively, in all its forms."

Professor Rob Robson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning at the University of Reading, said: "Both Clare and Shirley exemplify all that is good about teaching at Reading. Both were recipients of University of Reading Teaching Fellowships, having demonstrated individual excellence and contributed to the development of teaching and learning within the University. We nominated them for these prestigious competitive national teaching awards and are delighted that their dedication to teaching throughout their careers has been recognised. We now have three National Teaching Fellows at Reading which demonstrates our excellence in teaching and learning."

Fifty lecturers and learning support staff have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships from the Higher Education Academy.