Debbie Holley, BU Professor of Learning Innovation

Showcase projects

Debbie is the Professor of Learning Innovation and  Head of the Centre of Excellence in Learning (CEL) at Bournemouth University (BU). Previously a Reader in Education & Technology at Anglia Ruskin University,  she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport; a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a National Teaching Fellow. By seeking digital solutions to enable learning at a place and time of the learners’ choice, her digital scholarship draws on a sustained body of pedagogic research. Her research exploring how learners interact with their technology has made a significant difference to education, nursing and social work students, when working away from their University base in practice and on professional placements.An experienced biographic narrative researcher, Debbie captures the lived experiences of students, influencing and engaging students and the academic teams supporting them.

The Calmer Classroom

This project was in partnership with Maylandsea Primary School to share best practice and ideas that can help to create a ‘Calmer Classrooms’. Seen through the eyes of ‘Owl Class’, a class of ten and eleven year old pupils, the children invite us into their classroom for the day, where we filmed scenarios designed and created by the children. All the class were invited to participate in the project, and the School, parents, teachers and children all gave consent for the filming.

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A day in the life

This project aims to offer information to those interested in becoming a primary or secondary school trainee teacher. Our project aims to bridge the gap from application to entry by offering a series of on-line activities and providing information to applicants.  The two schools below show different examples of working with children. Maylandsea Primary School share with us how they developed writing throughout their school with ‘The BIG Write’ initiative. Cornelius Vermudyen, named after the Dutch engineer who drained the Fens, is an exemplar of how teaching can be transformative through changing the attitudes and designing engaging study spaces for secondary school students.

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The 3D health and safety warehouse

The increasing use of 3D and other ‘Virtual Worlds’ for educational and business use is a highly contested area. Although there are a number of refereed papers on the theoretical constructs and underpinnings of Second Life – www.secondlife.com – there is little formal research reported as yet into the learning experiences of student and lecturer interactions within these worlds. CILT awards seedcorn funding each year to support research into different aspects of the logistics sector. The panel were pleased to get a proposal suggesting the exploration of an aspect of warehousing in the immersive world of ‘Second Life’, especially as this could enable CILT students from all over the world to engage with each other ‘in world’ as well as undertaking individual health and safety tasks to develop their awareness of this crucial aspect of the business.

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The INCOTERMS Challenge

This project was an early example of applying ‘gamification’ to a ‘wicked educational problem’ where students were struggling to grasp the concepts of complex trade terms and conditions. The project and paper explores issues raised during the development and implementation of a new multimedia learning experience, outlining the context to the research and focussing on the changing roles for teachers and learners in the light of evolving new technologies. There paper available is here: Emerald Insight

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The ‘Quickstart Project’

Narratives of difficulty, isolation and compromise are reported by widening participation students as they find their way in the ‘new cold climate’ of Higher Education (Sinfield, Holley & Burns 2004) It is by grappling with these issues and applying principles design based learning to the curriculum design that enables innovation and technology to meet the needs of needs of widening access students. In this case, the solution needed to blend the formal classroom with 24/7 access at a time and place of the students own choosing.

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The student debt project

This project was scripted with the students, drawing their own experiences of work, study and living complex lives. Find out more about them and their issues by working through their stories

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Working together to widen participation

This collaborative project with the BU Student Union (SUBU) showcases a myriad of student voices, and the voices of partners seeking to support them as they transition into a new, and often strange world of higher education.

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The Centre of Excellence in Learning Assessment and Feedback Toolkit

Higher Education Academy challenged the academy to transform students experience of assessment in University leading to a focus on more formative, authentic and engaging assessment tasks that meet the needs of learners in the 21C. This open access toolkit provides resources for staff to understand more about the evidence base for changing assessment and feedback practices; and draws together from across the sector tools and strategies to align assessment and feedback practices. Here at BU, we have completely changed our assessment and feedback policy, in partnership with our Student’s Union, and look forward to working with our staff and students as we further develop the implementation.

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