Dr Gill Kirkup

Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology in the Institute.

In the Institute my  particular research interests are:

• gender and llifelong learning (elearning and distance education),
• students' use of learning technolgies in their domestic and work environments
• the use by home-based staff of technologies for teaching (ie Open University Associate Lecturers)

Qualifications

Cert. Ed. (London, 1971), B Ed. (London, 1972), M Phil (CNAA, 1980) BA (Open University, 1987), Professional Cert. in Management (Open University, 2006), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Ph.D (Open, 2008)

Teaching Interests

I am a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy



In the Open University I have taught gender studies and basic ICT skills at undergraduate level, as well as a number of the courses in the MA in Online and Distance Education. I have also managed this programme. I have been an external examiner for a number of undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in other UK universities.

I was one of the team which produced T160: Science, engineering and technology: a course for women returners. I continue to work with this team because I have a special interest and gender and technology and I was instrumental in embedding an eportfolio into this course. This has provided the basis for a JISC funded proejct into the use of eportfolios in lifeliong learning: eReturn



I supervise research students and at present I supervise one Ed D student.

 

Research Interests

I have a particular interest in the way in which gender and technology intersects, and have most recently been researching this in the use of ICTs for learning and teaching. I am interested in empirical investigations of the differences between men and women in the ways they use and think about computers and other forms of technology, and in developing theories to account for these differences. I am interested in the articulation of 'cyborg' theory (Haraway, 1985) for analysing gender and ICTs, in particular for understanding the changing nature of teaching.

I also carry out institutional research on staff and student use of ICTs. I am interested in the ways in which teaching staff appropriate some technologies into their teaching and find others difficult to appropriate, often not those that their institution has promoted most heavily. I am also interested in the use of personal social software and have been part of group researching blogging, and online social networking amongst women professionals in science, engineering and technology.

I am  intersted in the application of research to practice as well as practice-based research. In my work at the UKRC I am primariy focused on users of research and data - individual users, organisations, and  policy makers;  I look for ways to present data and the outcomes of research that make it accessible and useful for these users.

I welcome the opportunity to research  these issues cross-culturally.

Key publications in these areas are listed on my publications page.

Current Research Projects

I am part of the JISC eReturn project on the use of eportfolios for lifelong learners

I am completing a project on the personal financial costs incurred by part-time teaching staff.

I am one of the team evaluating the Open University's use of a Moodle based ePortfolio.

I am a member of AOIFE : The Association of Institutions for Feminist Education and Research In Europe, and represent the Open University in Athena ( Advanced Thematic Network in European Women's Studies). i aminvolved in a number of small projects with colleagues from other European coutnries in the network. I am a long time memeber of the Fawcett Society

I am on the Programme Commitee for the 2008 conference of the Association for Learning Technology ( ALT)

I have worked as an evaluator for EU eLearning calls.

I regularly referee research proposals for funding bodies, and papers submitted to a variety of journals in my field.

Publications

Blog posts

Other Interests

I would be very pleased to make contact with any international colleagues who are interested in the same research areas, or teaching activities, as I am. I welcome enquiries from potential PhD students and part time Ed D students. I am particularly interested in making cross cultural comparisons: of ICT use and gender and of teaching practices.  

In the gender and technoloy area I am particuarly interestred in ways of bridging the gap between research policy and practice in improving the participation of women in science, technoloogy, and engineering education and employment.

I speak regularly at international meetings. Many of my past presentations are available on the Open University Knowledge Network.