Dr Nicholas Bowskill

About

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

I am interested in group-based theories and practices for learning and teaching. I spend most of my time thinking and doing work on how theory and practice can be organised, managed and implemented using technology.

Teaching responsibilities

I currently lecture on 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)

Research interests

My interests relate to social and group learning in general but also with 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 (Glasgow)
MSc in IT and Learning, Lancaster University
BA English and History, University of Gloucestershire

Recent publications

BOWSKILL, N. 2013. Student-Generated Induction: A Social Identity Approach to a Complex World. Higher Education as if the World Mattered. University of Edinburgh.
BOWSKILL, N. & LALLY, V. 2014. A Social Psychological Theory of Belonging Leading to a Student-Generated Approach to Induction. European First Year Experience Network (EFYE) 2014 Conference. Nottingham Trent University, UK.
BOWSKILL, N. 2014. Learning Design for Student-Generated Induction. HEA National Student Induction Workshop. University of Warwick, UK.
BOWSKILL, N. 2014. Student-Generated Induction. Solihull College of HE Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. University of Warwick.
BOWSKILL, N. 2016. What Concerns UK Support Professionals Most Regarding Student Induction? A View from 3 years of Professional Development Workshops for ‘Student-Generated Induction: A Social Identity Approach’. . ALDinHE Bulletin, 11.
BOWSKILL, N. 2017. SharedThinking and Collective Inquiry: A new model for Clickers. 10th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference. University of Glasgow.
BOWSKILL, N. 2017. SharedThinking: A Social Identity Approach to Critical Thinking. Journal of Pedagogical Development, 7, 37-46.
BOWSKILL, N. 2017. SharedThinking: Social Identity and Student Success. UWE Computing Department Annual Conference. Engineers House, Clifton, University of Bristol.
BOWSKILL, N., MAVROMATTI, M. & BROCK, S. 2017. Online Peer Observation in Distributed Course Teams. The Online Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference. Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
BOWSKILL, N., BROCK, S. & MAVROMATTI, M. 2018. Online Peer Observation: Research and Practice. Networked Learning Conference. Zagreb, Croatia.
BOWSKILL, N. & LALLY, V. 2018. A ‘Social Identity Approach’ as a Theory for the Design of Learning with Educational Technology: The Case of Clickers. Networked Learning Conference. Zagreb, Croatia.
BOWSKILL, N. 2019. A Community-Level Approach to Developing Growth Mindset. European First Year Experience Conference Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland.
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 2020. University of Derby (online).