Kent Law School’s dedicated Skills Hub team has been formally commended for the value of its work supporting students in the annual University Teaching Prizes.
Along with a commendation, the team has been awarded £500 in recognition of its role in providing legal skills support to students by the selection panel for Kent’s Barbara Morris Prize. The annual Barbara Morris prize recognises outstanding work in the area of learning support.
Selection panel chair Dr Janice Malcolm said: ‘The selection panel was impressed by the Kent Law School (KLS) Skills Hub, which is clearly a useful resource for students and is appreciated by KLS staff.’
The team is comprised of Skills Hub directors, Dr Kirsty Horsey (Senior Lecturer) and Ben Watson (Law Librarian), with core staff members Callum Borg, Katia Neofytou and Oliver Hartland. The core staff (pictured above) are all Kent graduates who now teach KLS students themselves. The team provide practical guidance and tailored support to law students, delivered both online (through a ‘virtual skills hub’) and in-person from an office based in Eliot College.
A new initiative for 2014-15, the KLS Skills Hub forms part of a broader framework of support, that complements and works collaboratively with other support facilities in the School, including the law advisers, academic advisors, module convenors, student mentors, academic peer mentors, Westlaw and LexisLibrary representatives, the Value programme and revision conference co-ordinator, and the School’s Employability Officer. The Skills Hub has an active presence on social media with a Facebook page and Twitter account.
The Skills Hub also facilitates links to other initiatives including those run by the University’s Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (UELT) and Student Learning Advisory Service (SLAS) and other law-specific workshops such as ‘law masterclasses’ and legal database and research training workshops.
Head of Kent Law School Professor Didi Herman said: ‘The KLS Skills Hub demonstrates how the Law School has invested in new resources for students. The Hub is to the best of my knowledge a unique initiative that provides our students with intensive support when they need it most. It has been a huge success.’
Skills Hub director Dr Horsey said: ‘It’s certainly gratifying to see how the Skills Hub, an idea that was embryonic only a year ago, has achieved so much in so little time thanks to such a dedicated and hard-working team.’
The team’s achievement will be noted at a dedicated lunchtime teaching awards ceremony, presided over by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow, on 7 October.