CSFS Education Blog – We are stronger together…..
Carrying out learning and teaching research in the forensic sciences
Dr Helen Tidy, Teesside University
To quote a phrase Leisa Nichols-Drew is often heard to say: “We are stronger together” and this is absolutely true where forensic learning and teaching research is involved. I have been privileged to have recently worked with an amazing group of women, who teach within the forensic sciences, on a research project which looked at the use of memes for reflective retention of class content.
The project came about all by chance – I put myself out there and shared some work on using memes I was experimenting with in one of the #RemoteForensicCSI sessions (which are brilliant by the way – see here for all their videos). This was not an easy thing for me to do; like many academics, my confidence in my own ability to develop teaching practices or worthwhile research practice is not well developed. It was worth the inner conversations as pushing myself forward resulted in suddenly having a whole load of research partners (Dr Carrie Mullen, Dr Leisa Nichols-Drew, Dr Rachel Bolton-King, Dr Ruth Croxton, Dr Felicity Carlysle-Davies, Kimberlee Moran and Dr Joanne Irving-Walton) and a project that spanned 6 Universities (3 in England, 2 in Scotland and 1 in the US).
And what research partners they were! Each person brought something different to the team and everyone brought enthusiasm. The project was meme-based so there was also a big fun element – the enjoyment of getting a random email from one of the team with a link to what memes had been made that day has been a highlight of my teaching year. We had the benefit of it being a learning and teaching project which meant it didn’t need to be funded. It involved us incorporating memes for reflective purposes into our everyday teaching then surveying the students at the end of the module. One of the strengths of many learning and teaching projects is that they can co-exist within our teaching roles with ease. This helps massively with finding time and space to do them – it can sometimes just be as simple as a tweak to your lesson plan to accommodate the research.
What also struck me about this project was the speed that it was completed. Having carried out a research project into the use of Sketchnoting previously I felt I had a good benchmark for how long these types of projects take to go from the classroom to publication – in that case around 32 months. With the framework of working as a team, this project was completed, presented (at the Advance HE conference, July 2023) and published within 15 months. If you fancy reading our paper on how memes can enhance student learning you can find it via the DOI or the QR code below:
Ultimately this project has made me think about what other opportunities we are missing by working in our university silos. We all feel the pressure of preserving our student numbers and not giving the “enemy” any of our teaching secrets which might benefit their courses, but this is often counterproductive. By working in these silos, we are not being effective in how we work, how we develop good teaching or how we push forward learning and teaching practices. We need to work across universities with people inside and outside of our own discipline to push ourselves that little bit further. By collaborating with such amazing women on the meme project, I not only gained new friends but learnt new things that benefit my own students in how I teach them. Felicity Carlysle-Davies sums this up well in her own reflective meme:
If you would like to explore how we can strengthen the learning and teaching in forensic sciences, drop me an email (H.Tidy@tees.ac.uk) – you can even add a meme in!
Also, if you would like to attend the next completely free #RemoteForensicCSI online event and open discussion session, please contact Rachel Bolton-King and she will add you to the e-distribution list (rachel.bolton-king@ntu.ac.uk).
You never know, you could be part of our or others next collaborative L&T project!
Dr Helen Tidy is an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching at Teesside University. She teaches forensic science at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and loves exploring learning and teaching practices – the more quirky the better!
Please note the contents of this blog represent the views of the author and not the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. If you would like to write your own Learning, Teaching or Training blog, please contact Dr Helen Tidy (H.Tidy@tees.ac.uk).
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