Professor Patrick Carmichael

I spent an interesting week in the United Arab Emirates at the invitation of Zayed University (Dubai) and the United Arab Emirates University at Al-Ain.

At the UAEU I presented the work of the Ensemble Project in a lecture called ‘Semantic Technologies for the Transformation of Higher Education’, and then at Zayed University I was Keynote Speaker at a seminar organised in association with the journal ‘Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives‘. I spoke about “Threshold Concepts, Troublesome Knowledge and Disciplinary Identities’ to an audience drawn from universities across the Gulf Region (UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait). This was then followed by workshops to launch a network of teachers interested in using action research approaches to research and develop practice in HE in the Gulf Region.

This is the first network of its kind in the region, with network groups focusing on conceptual change and troublesome knowledge (my group); generic skill and attributes; and ‘learning styles’ and student self-assessment. These groups will be supported by an online environment and the intention is to provide peer-support for participants as they carry out small-scale research activities in their home institutions.