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Dear colleagues
A brief note to remind you of the up-coming fifth seminar in
the 2009/10 QMUL Educational Research Seminar Series, hosted by Educational and
Staff Development.
This seminar is presented by Dr Chris Trevitt, Coordinator,
Developing Academic Practice programme at the Oxford Learning Institute,
University of Oxford and is entitled Research
supervision at Oxford: tales from the development experience coalface
and takes place on Monday 26th April at 3pm.
This seminar reviews the experiences of the last 5 years devising and
running workshops and related support directed at enhancing research
supervision at Oxford. A pragmatic account is taken initially, outlining the
demographics of participants and their setting, the approach adopted, reactions
tendered during evaluations and, importantly, the changing nature of demand and
the key adjustments that have been made along the way. This account is then
reviewed using the framework posited by Räsänen (2009)* and developed for the
purpose of appraising 'development work' as practical activity. This framework
is connected explicitly to the practice-theoretical literature, and centres
around four basic stances or issues: how to do it; what to accomplish in, and
achieve by, doing it; why these means and goals are valuable, or at least
justifiable; and who to become by doing it. Participants are invited to
consider the questions about development for research supervision raised by
this exercise, and discuss the merits (or otherwise) of considering academic
development work as ‘practical activity’.
Note that this account is
that of an outsider: someone who is still getting acquainted not just with the
myriad idiosyncrasies of
* Räsänen, K. (2009) Understanding academic work as practical activity -
and preparing (business-school) academics for praxis? International Journal for
Academic Development 14:3, 185-195.
Chris Trevitt
Dr Chris Trevitt became the
Coordinator, Developing Academic Practice programme, at the
Prior to this appointment, Chris was
a Visiting University Lecturer, on secondment with the Institute between June,
2006, and May, 2007. With some 10 years experience in educational development
at the Australian National University, Canberra, he completed his graduate
studies higher education in 1995, and has a PhD and a research and academic
teaching background in the environmental sciences. He has enduring interests in
practice-based and work-based continuing professional learning, both in the
professions and in academia; action learning as a means for fostering
reflective professional practice; and, harnessing information technologies to
support such activities.
The seminar takes place on Monday 26th April and,
as with all the seminars, takes place at 3pm in Room 602 on the sixth floor of
the G. O. Jones Building (formerly known as the Physics Building) on the Mile
End campus of the College.
As spaces are limited, I would be grateful if you could
email me to let me know if you wish to come along to this seminar.
The remaining seminars for this year are:
24th May
Professor Stephanie Marshall, Director
of Programmes, The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education Leadership in Learning and Teaching
28th June
Dr Matthew Williamson, Education
Adviser, QMUL, and Dr Giles Martin,
Learning and Teaching Development Adviser, QMUL Transitions to Higher Education: reflections on a three-year study
Apologies for the slightly late notice of this event and all
the best
Matthew
Dr Matthew J. Williamson
Education Adviser
Educational and Staff Development
Queen Mary, University of London
E1 4NS
Tel: 020 7882 2813