Learning Innovation Applied Research Group

One of our very first projects with virtual worlds was the PREVIEW project, which ran from 2008-2009 and involved the creation of problem-based learning scenarios for Second Life. A further project (PREVIEW-Psych) was then developed by the University of Derby and the University of Aston, and funded by the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network with JISC.

The following resources are outputs from the PREVIEW-Psych project:
Best Practices in Virtual World Teaching: A Guide to Problem-based Learning in Second Life
News from Derby University (June 2011)
JISC Case Study 5: Moving into Virtual Worlds

Things have been busy in Learning Innovation recently! Maggi Savin-Baden, Katherine Wimpenny and Gemma Tombs have just returned from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in San Francisco, where Maggi and Katherine presented:

Savin-Baden and Major - Rethinking field work genres in qualitative research: a review and synthesis of the literature.

Wimpenny and Savin-Baden - Using theatre and performance for promoting health and well being amongst the 50+ community: an arts-based evaluation.

Gemma and Maggi have also had a paper accepted for the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, which will be coming out later on this year:

Savin-Baden, M., Tombs, G., Burden, D and Wood, C. (2013) (forthcoming) It’s almost like talking to a person: student disclosure to pedagogical agents in sensitive settings. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning.

And finally, Routledge are working with Maggi and Claire Howell Major to develop an app for their book Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. You can find an introduction to the book by Claire available here.

Learning Innovation’s Katherine Wimpenny and Maggi Savin-Baden (along with Clare Cook of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust) have just completed a qualitative research synthesis examining the effectiveness of occupational therapy in mental health. This is the first international study of its kind to give profile to the range of qualitative research evidence being amassed, authored by occupational therapists, working within mental health. The synthesis provides a bank of evidence to inform practice, education and policy about what makes interventions successful based upon clients’ and carers’ perspectives.

You can find the final report here.

Two new preprints just available from Maggi Savin-Baden.

Hanney, R. and Savin-Baden, M. (2012) The problem of projects: understanding the theoretical underpinnings of project-led PBL. London Review of Education (forthcoming March 2013).

Savin-Baden, M. (2013) Spaces in-between us: understanding spatial practice in Second Life. London Review of Education.

Maggi Savin-Baden and Gemma Tombs have been working on the JISC-funded New Connections Project, in which General Post Office archives provided by BT archives are being used to develop problem-based learning scenarios. Gemma talks here about the experience of developing scenarios on the topic of race and racism in healthcare.

Continue Reading »