Dr Erik Blair

Profile

Dr Erik Blair is an educationalist – working with clinicians to enhance their teaching practice, through formal study and through research. He has taught in universities in the UK and overseas. His main areas of teaching interest relate to classroom practice with a focus on engagement, student voice, and the practicalities of teaching.

As a generalist, Erik is able to bring his pedagogic insight to support the development of colleagues’ clinical expertise. He has worked with a range of colleagues across a number of health professions. Erik seeks to make learning engaging and thoughtful. His teaching is underpinned by good educational practice as espoused in the literature as well as through his own reflective practice. Erik’s teaching philosophy is broadly constructivist, in that he feels learners should be given the tools and drive with which to develop their skills and knowledge.

Teaching

Clinical Education (Degree Apprenticeship) PGCert

PGCert in Medical Education

MA in Medical Education 

iBSc Medical Education

Research

Research Interests:

Dr Blair’s research is mainly qualitative and focuses on educational practice – examining what it is to teach and learn, and what it is to develop within specific learning environments. 

Publications

Books

Blair, E. (2020) Independent Thinking on Teaching in Higher Education, Crown House Publishing: UK

Blair, E., Watson, D. & Raturi, S. (Eds.) (2020) Graduate Research Supervision in the Developing World: Policies, Pedagogies, and Practices, Routledge: Oxon UK

Watson, D. & Blair, E. (2018) Re-imagining Graduate Supervision in Developing Contexts, Routledge: New York

Book chapters

Blair, E. & Guan, S. (2021) ‘Exploring the landscape of postgraduate supervision in the UK‘ in Huet, I., Pessoa, T. & Sol, F. (Eds) Excellence in teaching and learning in higher education, Coimbra University Press.

Blair, E. & Watson, D. (2020) ‘Understanding policies intended to guide graduate research supervision: Institutional remit versus personal supervisory practice’ in Blair, E., Watson, D. & Raturi, S. (Eds.) Graduate research supervision in the developing world: Policies, pedagogies and practices, Routledge: Oxon, UK.

Watson, D. & Blair, E. (2020) ‘Adjusting supervisory practices to suit student needs’ in Blair, E., Watson, D. & Raturi, S. (Eds.) Graduate research supervision in the developing world: Policies, pedagogies and practices, Routledge: Oxon, UK.

Blair, E. & Briggs, G. (2019) ‘Collaboration at a Distance: Exploring History, Communication, Trust, and Socialization’, in Simmons, N. (Ed.) Critical Collaboration Communities: Academic Writing Partnerships, Groups, and Retreats, Boston, USA: Brill

Blair, E. (2018) ‘Contextualizing the new teaching environment’, in Hosein, A., Rao, N., Yeh, C. S-H. and Kinchin, I.M. (Eds.) Academics’ Teaching Journeys: Personal Narratives of International Transitions, London: Bloomsbury

Peer reviewed articles in academic journals

 E Blair, E. & H van der Sluis, H. (2022) Music performance anxiety and higher education teaching: A systematic literature review, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice 19 (3), 05

Guan, S. & Blair, E. (2021) Adult higher education as both an ‘opportunity’ and a ‘trap’: student perceptions on credentialism in China, Studies in Continuing Education, DOI: 10.1080/0158037X.2020.1867092

Guan, S. & Blair, E. (2021) Chinese Adult Higher Education as a heterotopia, Higher Education, 8(3), 471-489

Maharaj, C., Blair, E. & Burns, M. (2021) Reviewing the effect of student mentoring on academic performance of ‘at risk’ students pursuing an undergraduate engineering programme, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (20) doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi20.605.

 Blair, E. & Briggs, G. (2019) A tribe hidden in plain sight: The ambiguous role of the instructor in a Caribbean university, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 41(3), 292-30

Adams, R. & Blair, E. (2019) Impact of time management behaviors on undergraduate engineering students’ performance, SAGE Open, 9(1), 1-11

Blair, E. (2019) What is a lecturer?, New Vistas, 5(1), 38-42

Blair, E. (2018) Rebundling higher educational research, teaching and service, Confero, 6(1), ISSN 2001-4562

Maharaj, C., Blair, E. & Chin Yuen Kee, S. (2018) The motivation to study: An analysis of undergraduate engineering students at a Caribbean university, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 42(1), 24-35

Blair, E., Maharaj, C. & Primus, S. (2016) Performance and perception in the flipped classroom, Education and Information Technologies, 21(6), 1465-1482

Briggs, G. & Blair, E. (2016) Everyday personal laptop usage in secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago, Education and Information Technologies, 21(3), 545-558

Blair, E. (2015) A reflexive exploration of two qualitative data coding techniques, Journal of Methods and Measurement in Social Sciences, 6(1), 14-29

Blair, E. & Deacon, A. (2015) A holistic approach to fieldwork using balanced reflective practice, Reflective Practice, 16(3), 418-434

Richardson, A. & Blair, E. (2015) Understanding practical engagement: Perspectives of undergraduate civil engineering students who actively engage with laboratory practicals, The Caribbean Teaching Scholar, 5(1), 47-59

Blair, E. (2014) Academic development through the contextualization of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Reflections drawn from the recent history of Trinidad and Tobago, International Journal for Academic Development, 19(4), 330-340