School of Health and Life Sciences Education Group

The School of Health and Life Sciences Education Research Group (SERG)

Group Lead:

Dr Nicola Andrew

n.andrew@gcu.ac.uk

Over view of the focus of the group's research:

The School of Health and Life Sciences Education Research Group (SERG) underpins educational practice with an evidence based approach to teaching and learning that that reflects Glasgow Caledonian University’s Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy (LTAS 2008-2015) priorities (http://www.gcu.ac.uk/quality/strategy/ltas.html). Applied research and scholarly activity focus on exploration and investigation into key areas of practice: ‘To develop and embed innovative and relevant learning and teaching based on sound research and scholarship’ (GCU LTAS 2008-2015). The SERG promotes the dissemination of good academic practice, locally, nationally and internationally and supports the embedding of learning and teaching innovation across the School and beyond. Academic staff engage in scholarly activity to underpin teaching and promote best practice in education design and delivery.  All academic programmes make transparent research/teaching linkages and embed educational research attributes and outputs across the curriculum; from undergraduate education to post-graduate and doctoral studies.

The research themes are:

• Interprofessional Education

  • Professor Keith Stevenson (Interprofessional Education)

  • Keith.Stevenson@gcu.ac.uk

• The Student Experience

  • Dr Nichola McLarnon

  • N.Mclarnon@gcu.ac.uk

• Academic Practice and Blended Learning

  • Dr Nicola Andrew

  • n.andrew@gcu.ac.uk

Steering Group Members: 

• Karen Thomson
  • Associate Dean, Learning, Teaching and Quality
  • School of Health and Life Sciences
  • K.Thomson@gcu.ac.uk
• Professor Keith Stevenson (Interprofessional Education)
  • Keith.Stevenson@gcu.ac.uk  
• Dr Nicola Andrew
  • Senior Lecturer and Learning, Teaching and Quality Lead, Department of Health and Community Sciences   
  • n.andrew@gcu.ac.uk
• Dr Nichola McLarnon
  • Senior Lecturer and Learning Teaching and Quality Lead, Department of Psychology and Allied Health Sciences   
  • N.Mclarnon@gcu.ac.uk
• Dr Nadia Northway
  • Research Fellow and Learning Teaching and Quality Lead, Department of Life Sciences
  • N.Northway@gcu.ac.uk
• Maureen McPake
  • Senior Lecturer and Director, Learning Development Centre
  • School of Health and Life Sciences
  • M.McPake@gcu.ac.uk
• Dr Stephanie McKendry
  • Academic Development Tutor
  • Learning Development Centre
  • Stephanie.McKendry@gcu.ac.uk

Selected Publications:

• Andrew, N., Robb, Y., Ferguson, D., Brown, J., 2011. “Show us you know us’:  using the senses framework to support the professional development of pre- registration nursing students” Nurse Education in Practice 11, 356-359. http://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/health/155/  
• Andrew, N., Ferguson, D., Wilkie, G., Simpson, L. 2009. “Developing professional identity in nursing academics: the role of communities of practice. Nurse Education Today” 29, 607-611. http://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/health/100
• Andrew, N., Ferguson, D. 2008. “Constructing communities for learning in nursing” International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 5(1) art. 24. http://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/health/104
• Andrew, N., Tolson, D., Ferguson, D. 2008. “Building on Wenger: communities of practice in nursing”. Nurse Education Today, 28(2):246-252. http://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/health/105   
• Currie, K., Biggam, J., Palmer, J., Corcoran, T. 2011. “Participants’ engagement with and reactions to the use of on-line action learning sets to support advanced nursing role development.” Nurse Education Today. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2011.03.012
• Currie, K. (2008) “Linking Learning and Confidence in Developing Expert Practice”, International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship: Vol. 5(1), Article 31. Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ijnes/vol5/iss1/art3 http://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/health/99/
• Evans, C., Stevenson, k. 2011. “The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: a qualitative study”, BMC Nursing”, 10(11) doi:10.1186/1472-6955-10-11
• Nunes, P., Williams, SA. Stevenson, k. (2011) “A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training”, International Journal of Medical Education”. 2011; 2 (12) 17.
• McCallum, J., Price, T., Ness, V. 2010 “Exploring nursing students’ decision-making skills whilst in a Second Life clinical simulation laboratory”. Nurse Education Today, in print doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2010.03.010
• McElhinney, E. 2010. “Factors which influence nurse practitioners ability to carry out physical examination skills in the clinical area after a degree level module – an electronic Delphi study”. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19: 3177–3187. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03304.x.

Selected Grants:

• Exploration of the views and success of student recruitment and retention strategies NHS Education for Scotland funded project (£16660). Stevenson, k., Wright, M., Boyd, V., McKendry, S., Hendry. C., Hiller, A.
• Articulation between Further and Higher Education, Greater Glasgow Articulation Partnership (GGAP) funded initiative (£30,000) Andrew, N., Mayne, W., in partnership with representatives from Scotlands Colleges.
• Evaluation of the Scottish Regional Advanced Practice Education Co-ordinator role. NHS Education for Scotland funded project (£20,000). Currie, K. Palmer, J., Cochrane, D., Bennett, J.
• Evaluation of the advanced practice succession planning development pathway. NHS Education for Scotland funded project (£41,268). Currie, K., Palmer, J., Biggam, J., Cochrane, D.

Doctoral Students (academic staff):

• Dora Howes
  •  ‘What does it mean to be a qualified adult nurse working in Scotland in 2010?’
• Maureen McPake
  • “An exploration of the practice education models used in U.K. radiotherapy departments”
• Fiona Kennedy
  • ‘What is successful learning and what factors influence this in the first year of undergraduate health and social care study?’
• Catriona Khamisha
  • ‘The Occupational Therapy undergraduate experience of a mixed method of research project Supervision:  A Constructionist Grounded Theory’
• Lynn Cuthbertson
  • ‘An Interpretative Phenomenological exploration of the perceptions and opinions of radiographers working within advanced practice.’
• Sharon Blumenthal
  • ‘Exploring student confidence and interprofessional education’
• Claire McGuinness
  • ‘A grounded theory of the work of supervising mentors as they support student mentors in practice’
• Theresa Price
  • ‘An exploration of the factors that determine how student nurses learn to make clinical decisions that are integral to the recognition and response to the deterioration of an acutely ill patient’

External partnerships:

• GGAP
• Scotlands Colleges
• NHS Education for Scotland
• Faculdade de Psicolologia e deiencias da Educacao da Universidade do Porto