Dr Kate Exley

National Teaching Fellow 2008 Dr Kate Exley is Senior Staff Development Officer at the University of Leeds and a Consultant in Higher Education who has provided teaching development sessions at more than 50 universities. She began her academic career in the Genetics Department, University of Nottingham, where she discovered her love and flare for teaching. Kate is best known as a teaching facilitator and she is in great demand as a leader of bespoke teaching and learning events for individual departments and on accredited teaching and learning/academic practice programmes for new academic staff. She has championed the recognition of, and support for, postgraduates who teach at a number of institutions. Her ability to enthuse and tailor her approach to suit a diverse and often specialised audience lies at the heart of her long lasting appeal and national success. A lecturer from Cardiff University captured her talents in the comment: "I've added Kate to my list of lecturers to aspire to." She has achieved an international reputation as series editor and author for the Routledge book series Key Guides for Effective Teaching in Higher Education; books which are recommended reading on numerous postgraduate certificate courses in Teaching and Learning in the UK and overseas. Firmly rejecting the 'one size fits all' approach to educational development, Kate strongly believes in supporting colleagues in finding their own style of teaching that encourages both creativity and individuality. She has a long standing interest in the provision of research degrees and specialises in providing training for new and experienced research supervisors. Kate is particularly innovative in her support and design for online learning. She is the major author of Nottingham University's newly launched study skills site for students in transition to Higher Education. She has conducted and compiled many video interviews with teachers and students that are featured on websites that disseminate teaching practices and support learners. And, as part of a National Teaching Fellowship project, she has authored teaching materials for international staff new to UK Higher Education. She is the external evaluator for the Integrative Learning CETL and has acted in a similar capacity for a number of externally funded teaching and learning development projects.