Research

Staff research interests

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Clara O'Shea

Associate Lecturer

Education, Community and Society (ECS)

Email: clara.oshea@ed.ac.uk

Tel: +44(0)131 651 6116

Location:

St John's Land

Background

I worked first at the Australian National University - initially in admin roles as I got through my undergraduate degrees (a BA (Hons) in History, a BSc in Psychology). I then worked as part of a project looking at undergraduate learning, where I created and coordinated the University's campus-wide peer mentoring system (SIGN).

After moving to Edinburgh, I worked on a number of projects related to e-learning and curriculum design, some of which tied closely to ideas of work-based learning (e.g. the Scottish CLD Consortium project). During this time I also completed a Masters in Online Education and another in Science and Technology Studies.

I'm now happily ensconced with the Masters of E-Learning programme working with colleagues there on research around online, distance learning. I'm also working towards a PhD drawing together Science and Technology Studies with E-Learning.

You can find me on Twitter at @claraoshea, on Skype at clara_oshea and in Second Life as Klara Otsuka.

Principal interests

My research interests coalesce around ideas of digital culture and education, with specific interests around how we learn within online spaces (touching on community, place, identity, presence, enculturation, self regulation, assessment and feedback).

Current and recent research

My past research has related to curriculum design, vocational education and the transition from further to higher education.

I am currently involved in writing up research on innovative assessment and feedback practices (http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/swop/). This project involved working in partnership with students on the MSc E-Learning programme to explore existing feedback and assessment practices on the programme and identify principles for successful feedback on and assessment of digital writing. As part of this project, my colleagues Jen Ross, Sian Bayne and Hamish Macleod have developed a Manifesto for Teaching Online at http://onlineteachingmanifesto.wordpress.com

I'm also involved in a new project with the same research team looking at the nature of place and space for online distance learners - http://edinspace.weebly.com/ This project also involves working in partnership with students, this time to generate narrative and visual data around the themes of place, home and institution.

Finally, I'm undertaking a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, looking at the construction of mental disorder in online discourse.

Publications

Publications list for Clara O'Shea

Teaching

I teach on the MSc in E-Learning programme. My current courses are

Effective Course Design for E-Learning,
Online Assessment, and
An Introduction to Digital Environments for Learning.

I've also taught on 'Understanding Learning in Online Environments' and 'Language, Culture and Communication in Online Learning'.

To find out more about these courses, visit either the programme schedule or check out the course handbooks.