Celebrating recent Diversity Mark successes at the EDI Awards – June 2024.
Photo (l-r): Jo Cowan, Rachel Gefferie, Katherine Olo Wa Pango, Barbara Adewumi, Ola Ozoemena, Georgina Randsley De Moura, Kyra De Koninck, Dibra Thapa Magar, Adelaide Berko, Jan Moriarty.
On 5th June 2024, colleagues attending the University of Kent’s EDI Awards were able to celebrate the outcome of the recent Diversity Mark Awarding panel (convened on 28th May 2024), with three more modules being recognised as meeting the criteria for the institutional Diversity Mark Award.
Diversity Mark is a flagship programme, managed by the Student Success team, focusing on a more inclusive and ‘culturally sensitive’ curriculum. Collaboration between students (Diversity Mark Officers), staff (module convenors) and the Library Liaison team is at the heart of Diversity Mark. Diversity Mark Officers are offered the opportunity of becoming co-producers of knowledge. Their lived experiences allow them to centre the Student Voice, and effectively advocate for more inclusive and culturally sensitive modules that better reflect the needs of Kent’s diverse student body. Through their recommendations they positively influence convenors’ pedagogical practice.
At the event, Georgina Randsley de Moura, Interim Vice-Chancellor, spoke of the great work being undertaken by the Diversity Mark team, and asked those present to celebrate the achievements of the three module convenors and student Diversity Mark Officers who had supported the convenors on their journey. The awardees were as follows:
- Dr Triona Fitton and Diversity Mark Officer Ola Ozoemena for their work on module SOCI5014 ‘Education in a Global World’ (Division of LSSJ). Triona was highly commended for her conscious efforts in being culturally sensitive while applying diverse resources to enhance the learning experience of her students.
- Dr Nikhaela Wicks and Diversity Mark Lead, Rachel Gefferie, for their work on module SOCI4110 ‘Developing the Criminological Imagination’ (Division of LSSJ). Nikhaela was highly commended for her commitment to introducing her students to diverse representations, positive portrayals, and for encouraging them to challenge power in the process of obtaining knowledge.
- Dr Kyra De Coninck and Diversity Mark Officer Dibra Thapa Magar, for their work on module SPOR3530 ‘Sports and Remedial Massage’ (Division of Natural Sciences). Kyra was highly commended for her contribution to achieving a safe learning space for all her students, and for offering a diverse range of opportunities to utilise their lived experiences and become co-producers of the module.
Commenting on the experience, Dr Triona Fitton stated: ‘The Diversity Mark process has been excellent for alerting me to aspects of diversity on my module and in my teaching that ought to be foregrounded more. It was a very valuable experience to work with a student DMO, as their insights are the ones that really matter here!”
Dr Nikhaela Wicks added: ‘The Diversity Mark process really encouraged me to reflect on the perspective that I was teaching from. In many ways, we tend to teach in similar ways to how and what we were taught. This process allowed me space to amend my module to make it more critical, diverse, inclusive and reflexive’.
Dr Kyra De Coninck spoke about the student collaboration aspect: ‘The evaluation by Dibra Thapa Magar, a student and trained Diversity Mark officer, was so detailed and insightful. Being able to evaluate the module content through the eyes of a student trained in diverse and inclusive teaching assessment was invaluable. It made me re-examine my teaching approaches from a fresh perspective and through the eyes of a student.’
Rachel Gefferie, newly-appointed Diversity Mark Lead concluded: ‘Diversity Mark is key to enhancing inclusivity, identity and academic performance at the University of Kent. It ensures that Student Voice is heard, demonstrates that a diverse curriculum matters, is proactive towards narrowing the awarding gap, and contributes towards the University’s Access and Participation Plan.’
Module convenors can find out more about the Diversity Mark process here and are warmly encouraged to register their interest in Diversity Mark by contacting Rachel Gefferie, Diversity Mark Lead r.h.doorson@kent.ac.uk or Student Success studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk
Student Success would like to thank the EDI Team for giving Diversity Mark a platform at the EDI Awards.