Cindy Becker

Email:
l.m.becker@reading.ac.uk
Phone:
+44 (0) 118 378 7002
Job title:
Professor

Responsibilities:

I am the Director of the English Literature and English Language Foundation Year and I teach in the Department of English Literature.

Areas of interest

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have been awarded a University of Reading Teaching Fellowship. I am a holder of an Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award, and I have also been awarded an Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship.

I am an enthusiastic member of several University Communities of Practice/Interest: University Teaching Fellows, Technology Enhanced Learning, Inclusion and Diversity and Student Engagement Champions.

I am a university Blackboard Ultra champion and also a YuJa learning capture champion.

Teaching

I am module convenor of Foundation modules ‘Study for Success’ and ‘Film Narrative’ and at Part 3 I convene the ‘Shakespeare on Film’ module.

Awards and honours

2024: Reading Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award and Excellence in Academic Tutoring Award nominee
2023: Advance HE National Teaching Fellow
2023: Reading Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Awards nominee
2022: Reading Students' Union Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning Award nominee
2021: University nominee for Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship
2017: Reading Students' Union Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning Award nominee
2017: University nominee for Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship
2016: Collaborative Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning, University of Reading
2015: University nominee for Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship
2013: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
2013: THE Teaching Innovator of the Year award university nominee
2010-2015: Reading Students' Union Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning award nominee on three occasions
2009: Reading University Teaching Fellowship
2009: Centre for Career Management Skills Fellowship
2007: Individual award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning Award, University of Reading
2007: Centre for Career Management Skills Fellowship

Selected publications

Editor in Chief of two modules on the SAGE Student Success platform, a global resource designed to support students in their learning journeys
Acing Online Assessment
Write a Brilliant CV
Give Great Presentations
Seven Steps to a Successful Career
Writing Successful Reports and Dissertations
14 Days to Exam Success
Teaching in Higher Education

Recent external conference papers and workshops

2024 Advance HE EnvisionEd group ‘Belonging, Mattering and Becoming: Empowering Education through Connection’, presentation on principled learning spaces
2022 JISC Annual Conference, workshop: Nurturing the tiniest building block of learning communities: hybrid teaching as friend or foe
2021 ALDinHE Annual Conference, paper: Still Learning Together in Lockdown
2020 Foundation Year Network Annual Conference, paper: Inclusive learning in a newly launched Foundation Year
2019 JISC CAN Annual Conference, paper: 'The Evolving Landscape of Staff-Student Partnership'
2018 JISC CAN Annual Conference, paper: 'Why, and how, I let my students take control'
2017 Higher Education Academy Annual Conference, paper: 'The pedagogical benefits of preparing our students for the professional world'
2017 JISC Change Agents Network Annual conference, Exeter, paper: 'How, and why, I let my students take control'
2017 TSEP (Student Engagement Partnership) conference, London, workshop: 'Student engagement in curriculum design'
2016 RAISE (Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement) conference in Loughborough, paper: 'Engaging students in assessment criteria and learning outcomes'
2016 UKAT (United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring) conference, Southampton, paper: 'The strategic and relational differences between a personal tutor and placement mentoring'