WELCOME TO THE RESEARCH AT SEF FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER |
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| Introduction by Mark Hadfield
In these changing times, research in education and universities’ role in supporting practitioner research are having to adapt. Increasingly, we at CeDARE want to provide a place and a space for holding and disseminating cutting edge research and accounts of new practices. In this newsletter you will mainly see materials and outputs from research carried out here at the university, but we want this to change. We intend to showcase research being produced in the schools, colleges and settings across the West Midlands. If you have something that we can help share with others then please visit our website to find out more. We also want to extend an invite to our forthcoming research conference. Traditionally this has focused on staff and students at SEF but we would welcome submissions for presentations from local practitioners. Find out more in the news item below. Prof Mark Hadfield Director of Research |
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WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE? (Click items to jump down page) |
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LATEST NEWS & EVENTS |
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CeDARE to host Higher Education Academy workshop on March 13th 2012  This FREE event entitled "What the ‘Digital Natives’ taught us about learning in a virtual world" disseminates a research project investigating undergraduate Media students' responses to virtual enquiry-based learning in order to identify the 'conditions of possibility' required in a very specific context for virtual world learning. Get full details and book your place. Forthcoming Annual Research Conference 2012. Would you like to be involved?  The
School
Research Conference is an annual event at which SEF colleages share
their research. The keynote lecture, this year being
delivered by Prof Deb McGregor, is open to the publicand is entitled
"From Withensea to Wolverhampton and beyond : A reflective journey
toward conceptualising and understanding learning".
Find out more about the School Research
Conference.This year we also welcome submissions for presentations from local practitioners. Find out more about submitting your practitioner research for the conference. Developing Pedagogy Research Cluster undergoes a facelift  Dr
Julian McDougall, the new coordinator of the established Developing
Pedagogy research cluster, has implemented a new structure based around
four Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These groups foster research
into cross-sector contexts and practices. The four SIGs are 'Designing
for Learning', 'Media and Digital Literacies', 'STEM research' and
'Reflective Practice'. SIGs provide communities of practice for
Professional Doctorate students to develop their work and extend the
support networks available to them. Find out more about the Developing Pedagogy Research Cluster Excellence in Mathematics  Diane Cochrane reports back from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) Regional Meetings on 25th November 2011. The meeting was aimed at pulling together members of the Mathematics Teaching Network within the West Midlands. The agenda for the day included opportunities to engage in discussions with colleagues from a variety of areas, including a number who were previously involved with the National Strategies. Read the full story with links to resources. New MA distance learning module - Research Methods  Module leader Andy Cramp, along with colleagues including Learning Information Services, are delivering the new Research Methods module, which is now available as a distance learning module via the University’s VLE, WOLF. The module prepares students for the final part of the MA: the dissertation. Andy explains: “The module cuts out any travel to the campus, but we still value engagement between tutors and students. We do this via 'learning discussions' which are open to all participants so we share our understandings of research methods and build a virtual community”. Online tutors work with students in this environment and encourage debate amongst students to develop understandings and support assignment work. Assignments are also received by e-submission via the VLE too. The module is organised via learning episodes which can be accessed when the participant feels ready. Learning episodes consist of video, web links, annotated reading and activities shared in learning discussions. The first run of the module with 25 students has been a success but we still run face-to-face iterations for those who prefer to learn that way. For further information contact A.Cramp@wlv.ac.uk. |
Eleven delegates, nine countries, one challenge!  The
Learning Technologies Unit hosted a Transversal Study Visit in
December. This included 11 head teachers, inspectors and
advisers
from France, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, Guadeloupe, Ireland,
and Norway. The delegates attended a course designed by the
University entitled “Effective use of ICT to Develop Numeracy Skills in
Compulsory Education.” Read the full story here.The School for Education Futures will be hosting further study visits and we are always looking for new schools who are willing to host visits in partnership with us. If you would like to express an interest, please contact DianaBannister@wlv.ac.uk. Revalidation of Professional Doctorate CeDARE are currently working on the revalidation of the Professional Doctorate in Education, which provides a taught structure for doctoral research for educational practitioners. New aspects of the revalidated programme include a digital portfolio element, a range of exit awards allowing for more flexible options for completion, and closer alignment of the course with CeDARE's research clusters. Naomi Eisenstadt comes to the university on 8th February Naomi Eisenstadt will be coming to the university to talk about her work and current research interests. In 1999 Naomi became the first Director of Sure Start. After this she became the Secretary of State’s Chief Adviser on Children’s Services and then Director of the Social Exclusion Task Force. Currently, she is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and has just published a new book ‘Providing a Sure Start’ that examines the ‘rediscovery’ of family policy. Social documentary making as a pedagogic tool Julian McDougall is continuing to work on the EU project 'Social documentary making as a pedagogic tool', which covers nine countries. For the UK research, Julian is working with three schools in the West Midlands who are implementing ethnographic social documentary-making on the theme of European identity. Participating students will see their films screened at the Lisbon Film Festival in October. MERJ - Media Education Research Journal Julian McDougall, recently appointed Reader in CeDARE, is the founding co-editor of MERJ, Media Education Research Journal and Julie Hughes has joined the editorial board. Feedback from Rasch Model: statistical research training These statistical research training days took place in December at the University of Manchester. David Cooper and Saun Starr report on their attendance at these workshops. The two days were an introductory course about what a Rasch model tells us and how to use the WINSTEPS Rasch analysis software. Rasch analysis and modelling can sometimes appear to be very complex and daunting and the course was certainly very challenging and thought-provoking at times. This model has the potential to support not only staff research interests, but also the analysis of SEF student characteristics and general feedback to develop further reflection on our practice. David and Sean would like to give an short session for the Developing Pedagogy Cluster about Rasch analysis and Rasch modelling during spring/summer 2012. If you would like more information, please contact David Cooper (d.cooper@wlv.ac.uk) & Sean Starr (S.Starr@wlv.ac.uk). |
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PROJECT UPDATES |
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Teaching that Matters: Showcasing innovative teaching and learning in modern universities  Project
lead: Mark HadfieldLink: View project details online The project team have completed the report 'Teaching that Matters' for Million+, the university think-tank. The report and its accompanying booklet of case studies showcase innovative teaching, learning, and assessment from modern universities, as well as featuring success stories of influential graduates and video interviews with lecturers, students and leaders from four modern universities. The report is being launched by Million+ on 10 February 2012 at the University of Greenwich. The team would like to thank all of the universities that contributed to the research. Visit to Birzeit University, Palestine  Project
lead: Karl RoyleSEF colleagues Karl Royle, Julie Hughes, Liz Coleyshaw, Professor John Traxler (The Learning Lab) and Neha Tejala from partner institution Stanford University report a very positive trip to Birzeit University, Ramallah in January. The team achieved the objectives of the trip which were to: establish a three-way partnership for ongoing collaboration between Stanford, University of Wolverhampton and Birzeit; develop a joint masters programme in the transformation of education through engagement with technology that leads to student exchange; develop colleagues’ capacity to deliver courses using digital technology; and promote knowledge exchange through collaborative action research. Read the full story online. Listening to children’s perspectives: improving the quality of provision in early years' settings  Project
lead: Michael JoplingLink: View project details online This research is part of the wider longitudinal study of the role and impact of EYPS upon outcomes for children, commissioned by CWDC, and sets out to ascertain how Early Years’ Professionals (EYP) use and respond to children’s perspectives (CP) to inform their practice and improve the quality of their provision. The overall aims of the study are to provide reliable insights into three key areas: the issues EYPs face in listening, articulating and responding to CP; how EYPs react to the tensions and barriers inherent in responding to children’s voice; the disparities between children’s and EYPs perspectives on the nature of the provision and how these are responded to. The methodology is designed to provide opportunities for the EYPs to be active participants in the process. They are encouraged to observe the researchers work with the children. The children take the researcher on a tour of their nursery and take photographs of their favourite spaces and activities. The photographs are then used as a catalyst for discussion with the children. EYPs are then encouraged to reflect upon this process and their own engagement with CP activities. We are currently completing nursery visits and findings will be reported in due course. |
More Funded Research projects from CeDARE The CeDARE website is full of great projects and report downloads. View all funded research projects. New on UPRG.co.uk The Urban Projects Research Group website contains the video and voice work of Mark Hadfield and Kaye Haw.
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LATEST PUBLICATIONS |
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Supporting international students in higher education: A comparative UK-US examination.  This paper by Brendan Bartram and Mayumi Terano is published in The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences, Vol 4 (2). The paper offers a critical examination of the ways in which international students are supported by the variety of systems commonly in place at universities in the UK and USA. Find out more online Latest Articles
Latest Conference Papers
We would like to apologise to Sarah Powell & Vanessa Dye for failing to acknowledge their contribution to ‘Developing Reflective Practice: A Guide for Beginning Teachers’ in the last newsletter. Congratulations again to all of the authors on a fantastic publication! |
Latest content from our research strands Some of the latest content in this area:
Articles in Express & Star by Prof Kit Field
Latest Department for Education Publications
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ONLINE RESOURCES |
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Latest Online Resources  These
resources
are available for staff and research students only. A
login is required to access. The latest resources added
include:
Latest calls for papers and abstracts The staff login area contains an opportunities noticeboard for staff featuring calls for papers, forthcoming conferences and much more. Here are some of the latest opportunities:
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Forthcoming conferences 15-16 Feb 2012: 2nd BECERA Conference ‘Evidencing Practice through Professional Inquiry’ Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham. 21 Feb 2012: Reviewing the Maths Curriculum: National Curriculum Seminar Series, London. 23 Feb 2012: Motivating Learning. 29 Feb 2012: Reviewing the English Curriculum: National Curriculum Seminar Series, London 5-7 March 2012: INTED 2012, 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain. 8-9 Mar 2012: International Conference New Perspective for Science Education, Florence, Italy. 11-13 Mar 2012: IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2012, Berlin, Germany. 13 Mar 2012: Reviewing the Science Curriculum: National Curriculum Seminar Series, Central London. 29 Mar-1 April 2012: NSTA 2012 Indianapolis National Conference on Science Education. For full details of these conferences and more, and to download the forms you to attend, visit the staff area (login required). |
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This mailing is sent out by CeDARE, based within the School for Education Futures at the University of Wolverhampton. Contact us at: CeDARE University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus Gorway Road, Walsall, WS1 3BD Telephone: 01902 32 3242 Email: cedare@wlv.ac.uk While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied here, please let us know if you notice any errors or omissions and we will correct them in the next newsletter. Please contact Lizcoleyshaw@wlv.ac.uk. |
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