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 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.

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 SEDA online workshop on Introduction to Educational Change and 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 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 (University of Glasgow)
MSc in IT and Learning, Lancaster University
BA (Comb Hons) English and History, University of Gloucestershire

Recent conferences

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. University of Hull, 13/07/21
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, 17/06/21
Bowskill, N. & Norberg, A. (2021) 'When Pedagogical Time Stopped: A Temporal View of the Pandemic', TEPE 2021 Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21/5/21
Norberg, A. & Bowskill, N. (2021) 'Teacher and ICT: Time and Time Again', TEPE 2021 Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21/05/21
Bowskill, N., Hutchinson, L., Harrogate, M. & Hall, D. (2020) 'The Post-Autonomy Era of Education', 2020 Global SmartEducation Conference, Beijing, China, 22/08/20
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), 14/07/2020

International experience

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

Recent publications

Bowskill, N. (in press) Student-Generated Induction: A Belonging-Based Practice, in Rossi, V. (ed), Inclusive Learning Design in Higher Education: A Practical Guide to Creating Equitable Learning Experiences, Routledge
Bowskill, N., Harrogate, M., Hutchinson, L. & Hall, D. (in press) When Online Student Numbers Double During a Pandemic. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
Bowskill, N. (2021) Student-Generated Induction in a Lecture Theatre, in Hrastinski, S. (ed), Designing Courses with Digital Technologies: Evidence and Examples by and for Higher Education Instructors, Routledge
Kotera, Y., Cockerill, V., Green, P., Hutchinson, L., Shaw, P. & Bowskill, N. (2019) Towards another kind of borderlessness: online students with disabilities. Distance Education, 40(2), 170-186
Bowskill, N. (2017) SharedThinking: A Social Identity Approach to Critical Thinking. Journal of Pedagogical Development, 7(2), 37-46
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. (2013) A Social Identity Approach To Learning With Classroom Technologies. PhD Doctoral Thesis. University of Glasgow
Bowskill, N., Lally, V., Draper, S., Cutts, Q. & Brindley, S. (2010) Transforming Reflective Practices with Shared Thinking. On Reflection (20)
Bowskill, N. & McConnell, D. (2009) Collaborative Reflection in Globally Distributed Inter-Cultural Course Teams: Sino-UK eLearning Programme, in Berg, G. (ed), Cases on Online Tutoring, Mentoring, and Educational Services: Practices and Applications. Hershey, PA: IGI Global
Bowskill, N., Luke, R. & McCarty, S. (2006) Global Virtual Organizations for Online Educator Empowerment, in Weiss, J., Nolan, J., Hunsinger, J. & Trifonas, P. (eds), The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 789-819
Bowskill, N. & Foster, J. (2005) Networked Staff Development: A Case Study, in Fallows, S. & Bhanot, R. (eds), Quality issues in ICT-based higher education. London: Routledge, 135-147