Announcing the winner of the CoLRiC Innovative Practice Award 2024

A significant benefit of the Council for Learning Resources in Colleges (CoLRiC) membership is the eligibility to nominate a team or individual for our national awards. Every year we issue a call for nominations that demonstrate the creativity, quality and organisational impact of service provision on the teaching, learning and student experience. It provides an opportunity to take stock, reflect on and evaluate your contributions to college life.  All nominations were reviewed, scored and shortlisted by a judging panel comprising an external library and information services expert and members of CoLRiC’s Executive Committee.

CoLRiC is delighted to announce that the winner of its Innovative Practice Award for 2024 is Leicester College Library for its Gameracy Programme in support of literacy and reading, numeracy and digital skills. Gameracy is a game-based programme for disengaged students that takes the stress out of learning. Leicester College Library’s implementation of tabletop games has boosted wellbeing and encouraged key social skills such as teamwork and strategising.

There was a unanimous response from the judging panel to the strength and compelling nature of the nomination in all seven of the criteria.

• Innovative service development or exceptional enhancements to existing services
• Partnerships with academic staff and student support services           
• Student engagement and inclusivity    
• Sensitivity to the needs of a diverse student community           
• Impact and value through assessments, surveys, quantitative and qualitative feedback         
• Sustainability: the clarification of project aims, objectives, outcomes, resources and staffing              
• The potential impact on the wider FE library and learning resources community.         

The judging panel observed:

‘An excellent, well-considered submission with clear objectives, methods and outcomes. Very impressive!’

‘This shows a clear path to help other institutions implement similar projects.’

‘Engaging students is a great library challenge. This initiative is perfectly designed to address this issue. The diverse range of games ensures that there is something for everyone, making it especially impressive.’

‘I love the fact that library staff join in with the participants, rather than leaving them to it, as this is really important in building important relationships.’

‘There is clear collaboration with other staff, which raises the profile of the library with colleagues as well as students.’

Shabir Ismail, Acting Principal/CEO commented: ‘Leicester College is immensely proud of winning this award for our Library team-led Gameracy programme. This is only possible through our dedicated Library team and their creativity, passion, willingness, and tireless efforts in developing and implementing this ground breaking programme. This initiative embodies our commitment to inclusive, engaging education that meets the wide-ranging needs of our diverse students. Through board and table games, we’ve created a unique pathway to improve literacy, numeracy and social skills and help create a love for learning.’

Lucy Sears, Library Supervisor and Gameracy Co-ordinator writes: ‘I’m delighted and proud that Leicester College Library’s Gameracy programme is this year’s recipient of CoLRiC’s Innovative Practice Award. When I pitched it back in 2019, we started with only one tabletop game and three students. The programme has grown exponentially and been refined over the years and now forms an integral part of our curriculum, demonstrating how important learning through play is at any and all ages. It also demonstrates how game-based learning can be used to form better relationships between libraries, students and curriculum. The award is a testament to the hard work (and play!) of my Gameracy team, to the students who participated, the staff who supported it, and the unwavering support and encouragement of our Library Manager. I sincerely hope that Gameracy will inspire other FE colleges to take the plunge and use game-based learning to engage with their students.’

Lisa McDonald, Library Manager adds: ‘The Library Department at Leicester College is pleased to be awarded CoLRiC’s Innovative Practice Award for 2024. This achievement is solely down to the hard work, perseverance and dedication of the Gameracy team, especially Lucy Sears, whose unwavering faith and commitment to their idea has seen the tabletop programme embedded into curriculum teaching with measurable and beneficial results for students.’

Special thanks go to Emma Duffield for being the external judge for this award, and to CoLRiC’s valued sponsor IS Oxford Ltd. Emma is Sales Manager at IS Oxford and a Library and Information Management Consultant.