Allison A

Biography

Leading a small but effective Learning Development team can be both very rewarding and sometimes frustrating. Due to being a small team we have to be innovative and creative in collaborating with programmes, and meeting the needs of the students. The frustration creeps in when we are unable to extend our reach across the whole university, so that all students may benefit. Our approach is always to get embedded within programmes as much as possible, so that we can get a greater understanding of the expectations being placed on students, and provide more developmental models for addressing academic skills.  As Learning Developers we do not have the answers, if indeed there is one, but we generally know what questions to ask so that students can recognise their own areas for development and ways forward. 

Research Interest

Currently undertaking a professional doctorate in education (EdD), looking at critical thinking across four different disciplines (Medicine, Education, Law and Criminology, and Environmental Science), and how any different understandings impact on the disciplinary knowledge practices and teaching-learning interactions. Drawing on a theoretical framework made up of Bernstein's pedagogic device, and Bourdieu's theories of field, capital and habitus.