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Queen Mary Academy

Dr Jayne Dennis

Reader in Biomedical Education, Director of Scholarship, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences.

Describe some of the scholarship projects you have been a part of throughout your career. 

I’m interested in metacognition which is colloquially known as “thinking about thinking” - it’s the ability to be aware of one’s thoughts, to know that there are different approaches to cognitive endeavours, and to regulate oneself when being cognitive.  The effect of metacognitive ability on students’ academic achievement is similar to the effect of socio-economic status, so I’m interested in what we can do in our teaching practice to help develop students’ metacognition. 

After joining QMUL as a Lecturer, I studied part-time for an MA in Education Psychology at UCL’s Institute of Education.  My MA research project kick-started my metacognition research and gave rise to a paper in the journal ‘Higher Education’.  This explored the gap between the numerous published articles on metacognition in HE and the general lack of awareness about metacognition among academics.  Since then I’ve run several smaller studies, many of which have involved undergraduate students as researchers as part of their final year research project.  These have explored specific teaching practices (such as peer assessment and academic referencing) or students’ opinions of teaching practices. 

I’m currently the Director of Scholarship in my School.  In this role I mentor colleagues on Teaching and Scholarship contracts and I facilitate a community of practice which enables colleagues to develop their scholarship projects. 

How has the work contributed to your career progression?

My scholarship has grown with my career progression, from conducting my own research to enabling others to engage in scholarship; from presenting my work within my School to contributing to international conferences and being invited to speak at other institutions; from publishing my own work to peer reviewing others’ work for conference presentation and publication.  Scholarship has been a key component of both promotion applications, first to Senior Lecturer and then to Reader, alongside my work in delivering and leading education. 

How would you describe the impact of your scholarship?

Multifaceted.  Several projects have given us novel insights into what works for our students, which helps us improve how we teach and how students learn.  Some projects have contributed to students’ degrees and given them skills for their future careers in medicine or teaching.  Mentoring T&S academics in my School has enabled some people to take their first steps into scholarship and has created a forum for others to showcase their work.  Peer review helps defend the rigor of research in our academic community.    

What advice would you give to academics about the importance of scholarship to academic careers? 

Scholarship gives us freedom to explore the question of what contributes to a great educational experience for our students. If you don’t know where to start with scholarship, then start by paying attention to the aspects of education that you most frequently talk about - irrespective of whether you talk positively or negativelyThis will be the foundation of your scholarship passionFrom there, apply the skills that brought you into academia – explore the topic, find out what other scholars are saying, and scope out what your unique contribution could be.  Engaging with scholarship is not only about improving your own career, but about improving teaching, learning and the student experience. 

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