Mini research projects
In order to support Write Now’s research programme, some CETL funds were set aside to support annually a limited number of mini research projects which encouraged pedagogic understandings of student writing, assessment and feedback, and which would benefit both students and staff at partner institutions and other collaborating HEIs. One of the key aspects of the research programme was to raise awareness of the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of pedagogic practices in relation to supporting student writing.
The Scheme was aimed primarily at staff in the main Write Now institutions, London Metropolitan and Liverpool Hope Universities. However, applications were welcomed from staff at other UK HEIs as long as a collaborating staff member at eitherLondon Metropolitan, Liverpool Hope or Aston University was identified and included in the project bid.
The following information on these projects is available below:
(PDFs of presentations/project reports available to date can be accessed by clicking on the project titles shown in maroon):
- Supporting Writing for Assessment Purposes (SWAP) symposium presentations and attendance list
- SWAP mini research projects funded by the following London Met centres: Write Now, Centre for Academic and Professional Development and LearnHigher.
- Mini research projects funded by Write Now
Supporting Writing for Assessment Purposes (SWAP) symposium presentations and attendance list
A SWAP symposium was held on Monday 17 January 2011 to enable SWAP project leaders to share the outcomes of their research with the London Met community. A list of the presentations is shown below (PowerPoints of the presentations can be accessed by clicking on the project titles shown in maroon - to be added by mid Feb). A delegate list is available here.
| Presentation | Presenters | |
|---|---|---|
| Use of Mobile Phones for Studying & Notemaking by students on an HEO module | Debbie Holley | |
| Summary and Paraphrase Skills Builder | Etain Casey | |
| Re-purposing of a Reflective Practice learning object | Ken Fisher and Dafna Hardbattle | |
| Read to Succeed: Supporting first year undergraduate students to make smooth transitions to university and apply their reading to practical and current contexts | Denise Adams and Sarah Hosken | |
| A Handbook for creating a story-telling space on virtual 3D environments (Second Life) | Alan Hudson and Maureen Kendal | |
| 160 Reflections (using “tweets” for reflection during practice) | Anne Morris | |
| A teaching resource to guide Biological laboratory report and scientific publishing writing | Sheelagh Heugh | |
| Writing in the Disciplines Epack | Marie Turner and Susan Davenport | |
| Writing in Public: exploring the use of Web 2.0 in developing students’ academic writing | Steve Curtis |
SWAP mini research projects funded by London Met Centres
| SWAP project title |
Project team (London Met staff) |
| Read to succeed: Supporting first year undergraduate students to make smooth transitions to university and apply their reading to practical and current contexts | Sarah Cousins, Cecile Tschirhart, Denise Adams |
| Use of mobile phones for studying and notemaking by students on an HEO module | Claire Bradley, Debbie Holley |
| Re-purposing of a reflective practice learning object | Dafna Hardbattle, Ken Fisher |
| Writing in the disciplines Epack | David Clubb, Chris O’Reilly, Susan Davenport, Richard Payne, Marie Turner |
| Writing in public: exploring the use of Web 2.0 in developing students’ academic writing | Steven Curtis |
| Trialling and evaluation of Epacks on writing development, among OLP, IFP and ELS tutors and students | Claire Bradshaw, Susannah McKee, Jim Pettiward, Steve Wasserman |
| Investigation of the potential of a concept mapping tool (MindGenius) for improving the planning and production of student dissertations/projects | Kevin Brunton |
| Summary and paraphrase skills builder | Etain Casey, Joanna Cooke |
| Developing professional and academic language skills for refugee teachers | Andrew Clarke |
| Digital reading pack and interactive tasks | Jenny Harding |
| Improving scientific communication – development of a resource to enhance students’ scientific writing | Sheelagh Heugh, George Worthington |
| Writing for Reflection and Analysis of Practice in relation to Theory (WRAPIT) – writing tasks for Masters level assessment on PGCE courses | Lee Jerome, Alayne Oztruk, Patrick Eve, Erdal Dogan |
| A Handbook for creating a story-telling space on virtual 3D environments (Second Life) | Maureen Kendal, Alan HudsonMaureen Kendal, Alan Hudson |
| 160 Reflections (using “tweets” for reflection during practice) | Anne Morris, Celine Llewellyn-Jones |
| A teaching resource to guide biological laboratory report and scientific publishing writing | Chris Palmer, Sheelagh Heugh |
| Narrative diagrams for design | Chi Roberts |
Mini research projects funded by Write Now
| Mini research project title | Project leader | Institution | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student writers and referencing: mimics or managers | Colin Neville | University of Bradford | ||
| Investigating student and tutor experiences of the implementation of Turnitin at Edge Hill University |
Claire Penketh and Chris Beaumont | University of Edge Hill | ||
| Write-in-the-mix | Etain Casey | London Met University | ||
| Dissertation writing on BA in European Language Studies | Marion Colledge | London Met University | ||
| Do computing students think that reflective writing practice improves their programming skills? | Dafna Hardbattle | London Met University | ||
| Feeding forwards as well as back: Developing a program to help students apply the feedback learnt in one year to the next year’s assignments | Cathal O’Siochru | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Does reflective writing in the PDP improve science and engineering students’ learning? | Peter Chalk and Dafna Hardbattle | London Met university | ||
| Writing from experience: facilitating the process of giving academic value to experience through APEL | Helen Pokorny | London Met University | ||
| Change in culture of writing for new BA English Language Studies students at London Metropolitan University | Marion Colledge | London Met University | ||
| Improving computing students’ writing for assessment | Robina Hetherington | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Understanding student transitions between ‘everyday’ and academic’ writing | Peter Hodgkinson | London Met University | ||
| Developing student communication and personal and academic competence | Rosie Sage and Stasia Cwenar | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Developing an on-line course in academic writing for A-Level and undergraduate students | Alma Whitfield | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| The use of Wikis as collaborative learning tools for writing | Chris Beaumont | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Enhancing feedback practice to develop self-directed learning skills in first year undergraduates | Chris Beaumont | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Developing reflective writing in Music (or practical disciplines) | David Walters | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Beginning to write as an academic in Computing | Alma Whitfield | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Developing a sense of purpose in writing | Christine Bold | Liverpool Hope University | ||
| Online peer review for PhD students | Paula Bernaschina | London Met University | ||
