Dr Nicholas Bowskill

About

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have over 25 years of experience within different universities. I have conducted fieldwork in both the UK and China and worked on national and international research projects to do with technology and learning.

I am a former External Examiner for MSc in Digital Education for Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University in China.

I am interested in group-based theories and practices for learning and teaching particularly as they relate to technology and research. I am currently exploring collaborative learning with AI. I spend most of my time thinking and doing work on how theory and practice can be organised, managed and implemented using technology.

I was a former Kelvin-Smith Scholar at the University of Glasgow. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am the lead tutor for the SEDA online workshop on Introduction to Educational Change and a Senior Lecturer in Education (UDOL) at the University of Derby. I am a reviewer for various published journals including Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Interactive Learning Environments and International Journal of Art and Design Education and Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.

SharedThinking is an independent consultancy.

Teaching responsibilities

I currently lecture in the following courses:

Education MA
Education MA (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
Education Postgraduate Certificate (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
Education MA (Leadership and Management)
Education Postgraduate Certificate (Leadership and Management)

I am an External Examiner for MSc in Digital Education for Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University in China.

Research interests

I am interested in research supervision which I currently do at postgraduate and doctoral level. I am interested in applications of AI for learning and teaching. My interests extend to social and group learning in general but also to technology. I am interested in group-related theory for learning and the use of technology. I created a technique, and then a consultancy practice, called SharedThinking from my PhD which provides practice for reflecting and invoking a sense of belonging in groups. I am also interested in Online Peer Observation as another collaborative learning strategy.

Membership of professional bodies

Interactive Learning Environments and International Journal of Art and Design Education
Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA, UK)

Qualifications

PhD in Education (University of Glasgow)
MSc in IT and Learning, Lancaster University
BA (Comb Hons) English and History, University of Gloucestershire

Recent conferences

Bowskill, N., Fisher, G., & Stephenson, A. (2024) 'Iterationism: Reflective Practice with Generative AI, Blackboard Ultra and Teams', University of Derby Learning and Teaching Conference, Derby, July 2024
Bowskill, N. (2024) 'Iterationism: Collaborative Learning and AI' [Invited Lecture], MKC Training Services at the Royal School of Military Engineering, 8^th March 2024, Chatham, Kent.
Bowskill, N., Shaw, P., Hall, D., Harrogate, M., Eziefuna, E., & Marler, B. (forthcoming) Collaborative Learning and AI, University of Derby Learning and Teaching Conference, Derby, 5^th July 2023.
Vincent, A-S, Norberg, A., & Bowskill, N.(2022) Soft skills training for battery gigafactories 4.0. Thirteenth International Conference on Networked Learning, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden, 17 May 2022
Bowskill, N., Hall, D., Hutchinson, L. & Harrogate, M. (2022) Is Belonging Enough? Nostalgia, Mattering and Belonging as a Framework for Inclusive Online Practice in the Pandemic, Sustainable Development Goals: Taking Action or Ticking Boxes? Queens University, Belfast, April 13 2022
Bowskill, N., Harrogate, M., Hall, D. & Hutchinson, L. (2021) Student Podcasting for Global Teacher Education During a Pandemic, Higher Education for the Common Good: Learning from COVID-19. The University of Hull, 13 July 2021
Bowskill, N., Hall, D., Hutchinson, L. & Harrogate, M. (2021) 'Tutoring Large Globally Distributed Online Groups in a Pandemic', EuroSoTL Connect Online Conference. Manchester Metropolitan University, 17 June 2021
Bowskill, N. & Norberg, A. (2021) 'When Pedagogical Time Stopped: A Temporal View of the Pandemic', TEPE 2021 Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21 May 2021
Norberg, A. & Bowskill, N. (2021) 'Teacher and ICT: Time and Time Again', TEPE 2021 Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21 May 2021
Bowskill, N., Hutchinson, L., Harrogate, M. & Hall, D. (2020) 'The Post-Autonomy Era of Education', 2020 Global SmartEducation Conference, Beijing, China, 22 August 2020
Bowskill, N., Gration, M., Higson, R., Akhtar, S., Coley, M., Armellini, J. & Westwood, J. (2020) Designed Approach: Constructivism and Online Group Learning, Festival of Learning Conference. University of Derby (online), 14 July 2020

Experience in industry

In my previous life before working as an academic, I worked as an export manager covering all of Africa, the Middle East and Northern Europe. During that time I travelled extensively throughout these countries and beyond including America and Australia.

International experience

I worked on the e-China Project with Lancaster University, the University of Sheffield and Open University. Carried out fieldwork interviewing online tutors in China. Tutored online in a teaching team consisting of tutors from the UK and China as the lead tutor.