Dr Anna Wilson

Reader in Interdisciplinary Research in Education (School of Education)

Biography

I joined the University of Glasgow as Reader in Interdisiplinary Research in May 2022, after working at various universities in the US, Australia and UK. I've held positions as a physicist, an academic developer, an HCI/social science researcher and an education academic.

I started my academic career as a nuclear strcture physicist, completing a PhD in Nuclear Physics at the University of Liverpool in 1996. If you are interested, I studied superdeformed states in the mass-190 region using the techniques of gamma-ray spectroscopy. After a post-doc position at York and a couple of visiting periods at CNRS-Orsay in France, I took up a position at the Australian National University. It was there that I discovered how much I loved, and was fascinated by, teaching and learning. I took a Graduate Certificate and then a Masters in Higher Education, run through ANU's Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods (CEDAM). This was when I started working with Gerlese Akerlind (a key figure in Phenomenograhic Research) and my excellent colleagues Kate Wilson (no relation), Pam Roberts, Denise Higgins and Susan Howitt. We were all interested in undergraduate students' experiences of research, among other things. As a result of the research we undertook in that area, I also found myself increasingly drawn to working with colleagues, both to understand their experiences of teaching and to help them learn and develop as teachers. I became the Associate and then Deputy Director (Education) of the Research School of Physics and Engineering, and was seconded part time to contribute to CEDAM's programmes. I also spent a year seconded part time to the University of Canberra's Teaching and Learning Centre, where I had the opportunity to contribute to strategic developments around work-based learning and interdisciplinarity as well as research-led education.

After a while I began to feel guilty about playing at being an education researcher when I'd had very little training in the field. After all, we'd never have let someone who had been a teacher march into the accelerator lab and start running experiments - or worse still, tell us how we ought to be running them. So, after a brief period as an academic developer at Oxford University's Learning Institute, I took the plunge, went back to full-time studenthood, and undertook a second PhD in education at the University of Stirling. This was where I discovered Deleuze, ANT, sociomateriality and more.

Since then, I have worked as a post-doc on a Horizon 2020 project (Commonfare.net), leading on the HCI and social research needed to design an ethical reputation system, and as a lecturer in Lifelong Learning at the University of Stirling.

Research interests

Both my research and my teaching focus on how we learn (and how we learn to learn) to approach, understand and deal with complex knowledge, situations and challenges. These include but are not limited to:

sustainability (e.g. waste, plastics, energy, the climate crisis)
technologisation of work and life (e.g. datafication, increasing use of digital technologies to support decision-making, design for ethical systems)
research (e.g. how we learn to "do" research)

"We", in the above, can mean individuals, groups, communities or organisations.

These interests inevitably lead to a need to play with and develop new research methods and methodologies. Just now I'm working a lot with fiction and made-up stories, ways of speaking that allow us to imagine alternative pasts, presents and futures, and that in so doing express some important realities.

Publications

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Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010

Number of items: 35.

2024

Wilson, A. , Hamilton, H., Singh, G. and Lockley, P. (2024) Open is not enough: Designing for a networked data commons. In: Bonderup Dohn, N., Jaldemark, J., Öberg, L.-M., Håkansson Lindqvist, M., Ryberg, T. and de Laat, M. (eds.) Sustainable Networked Learning: Individual, Sociological and Design Perspectives. Series: Research in networked learning. Springer: Cham. ISBN 9783031427183 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-42718-3_4)

Wilson, A. , Robertson, G. and Dickie, J. (2024) Future ordinaries: assembling place-based knowledges and literacies in real and imagined harmscapes. Futures, 159, 103376. (doi: 10.1016/j.futures.2024.103376)

Wilson, A. , Robertson, G. and Uflewska, A. (2024) Waste Stories: Networking Imaginaries. In: Networked Learning Conference 2024, Valetta, Malta, 15-17 May 2024, (Accepted for Publication)

Wilson, A. , Robertson, G., Humphreys, P. and Uflewska, A. (2024) Waste stories: networked imaginations. In: Cutaraj, M., Borg, C., de Laat, M., Dohn, N.B. and Ryberg, T. (eds.) Research in Networked Learning: Proceedings of the Fourteen International Conference on Networked Learning. Series: Research in networked learning. Springer. (Accepted for Publication)

2023

Wilson, A. et al. (2023) Living the life of floods: place-based learning in an Anthropocene harmscape. Geoforum, 147, 103914. (doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103914)

Ross, J. and Wilson, A. (2023) Reconfiguring surveillance futures for higher education using speculative data stories. In: Bonderup Dohn, N., Jaldemark, J., Öberg, L.-M., Håkonsson Lindqvist, M., Ryberg, T. and de Laat, M. (eds.) Sustainable Networked Learning: Individual, Sociological and Design Perspectives. Series: Research in networked learning. Springer: Cham, pp. 19-33. ISBN 9783031427183 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-42718-3_2)

Ncube, S. et al. (2023) Understanding resilience capitals, agency and habitus in household experiences of water scarcity, floods and fire in marginalized settlements in the Cape Flats, South Africa. Social Sciences and Humanities Open, 8, 100710. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100710)

Wilson, A. and Ross, J. (2023) Surveillance imaginaries: learning from participatory speculative fiction. Surveillance and Society, 21(3), pp. 304-316. (doi: 10.24908/ss.v21i3.16025)

Wilson, A. (2023) From Crime and Punishment to Future Archaeologies – reimagining relationships of waste and value. In: Jordan-Baker, C. and Holloway, P. (eds.) Writing Landscape and Setting in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Macmillan. (Accepted for Publication)

Wilson, A. , De Paoli, S. and Rough, D. (2023) What counts as contribution? Micro-practices of enrolment and exclusion in a financial problems support group. First Monday, 28(2), (doi: 10.5210/fm.v28i2.11756)

Howitt, S. M., Wilson, A. N. and Higgins, D. M. (2023) Unlearning, uncovering and becoming: experiencing academic writing as part of undergraduate research. Teaching in Higher Education, (doi: 10.1080/13562517.2022.2145466) (Early Online Publication)

Rough, D., De Paoli, S. and Wilson, A. (2023) Commonshare: a new approach to social reputation for online collaborative communities. Social Science Computer Review, 41(1), pp. 4-26. (doi: 10.1177/08944393211028191)

2022

Beetham, H., Collier, A., Czerniewicz, L., Lamb, B., Li, Y., Ross, J., Scott, A.-M. and Wilson, A. (2022) Surveillance practices, risks and responses in the post pandemic university. Digital Culture and Education, 14(1), pp. 16-37.

2021

Wilson, A. (2021) Learning to see with Deleuze: understanding affective responses in image-viewer research assemblages. Qualitative Research, 21(6), pp. 906-922. (doi: 10.1177/1468794120946979)

Wilson, A. , Howitt, S., Holloway, A., Williams, A.-M. and Higgins, D. (2021) Factors affecting paramedicine students’ learning about evidence‐based practice: a phenomenographic study. BMC Medical Education, 21, 45. (doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02490-5) (PMID:33435971) (PMCID:PMC7802292)

2019

Wilson, A. and De Paoli, S. (2019) On the ethical and political agency of online reputation systems. First Monday, 24(2), (doi: 10.5210/fm.v24i2.9393)

2018

Howitt, S. M. and Wilson, A. N. (2018) Reflecting on the use and abuse of scientific data facilitates students’ ethical and epistemological development. Science Education, 102(3), pp. 571-592. (doi: 10.1002/sce.21333)

Wilson, A. , De Paoli, S., Forbes, P. and Sachy, M. (2018) Creating personas for political and social consciousness in HCI design. Persona Studies, 4(2), pp. 25-46. (doi: 10.21153/psj2018vol4no2art736)

Wilson, A. and Howitt, S. M. (2018) Developing critical being in an undergraduate science course. Studies in Higher Education, 43(7), pp. 1160-1171. (doi: 10.1080/03075079.2016.1232381)

2017

Rajaram, R., Castellani, B. and Wilson, A. (2017) Advancing Shannon entropy for measuring diversity in systems. Complexity, 2017, 8715605. (doi: 10.1155/2017/8715605)

Wilson, A. , Thompson, T. L., Watson, C., Drew, V. and Doyle, S. (2017) Big data and learning analytics: singular or plural? First Monday, 22(4), (doi: 10.5210/fm.v22i4.6872)

Watson, C., Wilson, A. , Drew, V. and Thompson, T. L. (2017) Small data, online learning and assessment practices in higher education: a case study of failure? Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(7), pp. 1030-1045. (doi: 10.1080/02602938.2016.1223834)

Wilson, A. , Watson, C., Thompson, T. L., Drew, V. and Doyle, S. (2017) Learning analytics: challenges and limitations. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(8), pp. 991-1007. (doi: 10.1080/13562517.2017.1332026)

2016

Watson, C., Wilson, A. , Drew, V. and Thompson, T. L. (2016) Criticality and the exercise of politeness in online spaces for professional learning. Internet and Higher Education, 31, pp. 43-51. (doi: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.06.002)

Howitt, S. and Wilson, A. (2016) Scaffolded reflection as a tool for surfacing complex learning in undergraduate research projects. CUResearch Quarterly, 36(4), pp. 33-38.

Wilson, A. , Howitt, S. and Higgins, D. (2016) Assessing the unassessable: making learning visible in undergraduates’ experiences of scientific research. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(6), pp. 901-916. (doi: 10.1080/02602938.2015.1050582)

Wilson, A. , Howitt, S. and Higgins, D. (2016) A fundamental misalignment: intended learning and assessment practices in undergraduate science research projects. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(6), pp. 869-884. (doi: 10.1080/02602938.2015.1048505)

2015

Wilson, A. (2015) Representing Connections: How Visualizations Shape Understandings of Networks. 4th International Visual Methods Conference, Brighton, 16-18 September 2015.

Howitt, S.M. and Wilson, A.N. (2015) Developing, expressing and contesting opinions of science: encouraging the student voice. Higher Education Research and Development, 34(3), pp. 541-553. (doi: 10.1080/07294360.2014.973382)

2014

Howitt, S. M. and Wilson, A. N. (2014) Revisiting “Is the scientific paper a fraud?” : the way textbooks and scientific research articles are being used to teach undergraduate students could convey a misleading image of scientific research. EMBO reports, 15(5), pp. 481-484. (doi: 10.1002/embr.201338302) (PMID:24723688) (PMCID:PMC4210093)

2013

Wilson, A. , Åkerlind, G., Walsh, B., Stevens, B., Turner, B. and Shield, A. (2013) Making ‘professionalism’ meaningful to students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), pp. 1222-1238. (doi: 10.1080/03075079.2013.833035)

Wilson, A. , Howitt, S., Roberts, P., Åkerlind, G. and Wilson, K. (2013) Connecting expectations and experiences of students in a research-immersive degree. Studies in Higher Education, 38(10), pp. 1562-1576. (doi: 10.1080/03075079.2011.633163)

2012

Howitt, S. and Wilson, A. (2012) Is more always better? An Australian experiment with a research-intensive undergraduate degree. CUR Quarterly, 14(1), pp. 28-33.

Wilson, A. , Howitt, S., Wilson, K. and Roberts, P. (2012) Academics' perceptions of the purpose of undergraduate research experiences in a research-intensive degree. Studies in Higher Education, 37(5), pp. 513-526. (doi: 10.1080/03075079.2010.527933)

2010

Howitt, S., Wilson, A. , Wilson, K. and Roberts, P. (2010) ‘Please remember we are not all brilliant’: undergraduates’ experiences of an elite, research‐intensive degree at a research‐intensive university. Higher Education Research and Development, 29(4), pp. 405-420. (doi: 10.1080/07294361003601883)

This list was generated on Fri Apr 19 10:37:37 2024 BST.

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