Gabriela Zapata: A busy summer

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Did you see Gabriela this summer? If so you might have been at one of the many conferences wherere she was presenting! She was in Glasgow for the 50th International Systemic Functional Congress and Institute and presented Zapata, G. C., Tzirides, A. O., You, Y.-L., Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2025). Enhancing formative feedback with Generative AI: A Systemic Functional Linguistics discourse analysis. If you missed it, good news the part of a Springer peer reviewed book on AI and education and here’s the reference for the pre-print: Zapata, G. C., Tzirides A. O., Cope, B., You, Y.-L., Kalantzis, M., & Searsmith, D. (2025). A systemic functional linguistics discourse analysis of learner-centered, generative AI feedback in higher education. EdArXiv. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/nuhq2_v1  She was in Granada for the Thirty-Second International Conference on Learning and spoke to this paper zirides, A. O., Zapata, G. C., Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., & Searsmith, D. (2025). GenAi-by-Design framework: Human centered AI integration for feedback and learning in higher education. Finally, you might have...
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Congratulations to Peter

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Article by Dr Peter Woods nominated for best long paper prize The International Conference of the Learning Sciences is currently taking place in Helsinki and we are delighted to hear that Dr Peter Wood's paper: Exclusionary and Emancipatory Learning Praxes of Gender Nonconforming Noise Musicians is nominated for the best long paper prize. Abstract Building on the recent growth of explicitly queer approaches to learning sciences scholarship, this paper explores the learning praxes of gender nonconforming noise musicians. The community of practice (CoP) surrounding noise music, a caustic subgenre of experimental music, provides a fruitful site of research because of its history of tensions related to marginalized gender identities. Through this study, I address the following research questions: What exclusionary practices do gender nonconforming musicians recognize in noise music scenes? And how do gender nonconforming noise musicians challenge those issues to produce a safer and more just informal learning environment? In analyzing interviews with 36 globally dispersed musicians, I discuss a series of exclusionary and liberatory learning praxes...
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Shaaron Ainsworth to Lead EWC’s Professionally Speaking 2024 event

By Johnny Comment Closed
There is still time to register to hear Shaaron give the EWC annual keynote address on Wednesday. She will be "unlocking the mysteries of learning" at 4pm online and you can register here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/education-workforce-council/professionally-speaking-2024-unlocking-the-mysteries-of-learning/e-kdamqz The EWC are the independent, professional regulator for the education workforce in Wales, covering teachers and learning support staff in school and further education settings, youth/youth support workers, and work-based learning practitioners....
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Peter Woods: New publications on educational practices of experimental music scenes

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Furthering his research into the educational practices of experimental music scenes, LSRI member Peter Woods recently had two new papers published that examine this informal learning context through a critical lens. In The Pedagogy of Gear Touchers, Woods argues that aspiring musicians in do-it-yourself (DIY) music venues use the lack of an audience/artist barrier to talk about music technology with performers. However, these conversations amplify the overtly masculine framing of technology in society at large and further marginalize women, trans, and non-binary participants in these scenes. Woods therefore raises questions about the kinds of informal pedagogies that surround technology outside of schools (i.e., the constructionist approach to learning found in maker spaces). You can find the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231190498 And in Conceptualizing Anti-Racist Pedagogies Within Experimental Music's Community of Practice, Woods presents new findings drawn from an experimental music venue's recent DEI initiative focused on addressing issues of white supremacy within their organization. In exploring how the board of this venue conceptualized their efforts, Woods argues that community organizers in all contexts can look to...
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The Educational Implications of Representing Covid-19

The Educational Implications of Representing Covid-19

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Gharib, M., and Turner, C. (2020). A Comic Just for Kids: How to Stay Safe from the Coronavirus [Online Image]. NPR. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/16/934679210/just-for-kids-how-to-stay-safe-from-the-coronavirus (Accessed May 14, 2021). Andrew Manches and I did what many of you did too last year. We spent a lot of time looking at pictures, videos, models, gestures and animations of Covid-19. But then we decided to put this to good use and analyse the implications of how we represent Covid-19 (and other viruses) to children and young people. The resulting paper is published in Frontiers in Education and available open access at Frontiers | Learning About Viruses: Representing Covid-19 | Education (frontiersin.org) (best read the pdf version as the figures are clearer). Please share with your educator friends if you think they will find it helpful....
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SRHE Prize Success for Dr Charlie Davis

By Shaaron Comment Closed
We are delighted to share the news that Charlie (@charliejjdavis) has been awarded a prize by the Society for Research in Higher Education to research his project titled "Working-class academics talking: a participatory critical storytelling project with Russell Group academics". Charlie will be working with participants to develop stories about their routes into academia which will be then shared in podcasts. This study seeks to contribute to discussions about how to meet challenges that impede access to higher educations for academics and students identifying as working-class....
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New Paper: Recognising and Limiting Teleological Explanations

By Johnny Comment Closed
Children’s use of teleological explanations can pose problems in science education. But can children be taught to recognise teleological explanations? And does recognition of such explanations mean that children will no longer endorse incorrect teleological statements? In a recently published paper, LSRI members, Johnny Halls, Shaaron Ainsworth and Mary Oliver report two studies that attempted to answer these questions. You can read about these results of these studies here.   Halls, J.G., Ainsworth, S.E. & Oliver, M.C. (2021) Using dialogic interventions to decrease children’s use of inappropriate teleological explanations, International Journal of Science Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2021.1936271...
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