This English Subject Centre event was organised by Keith Hughes, at the University of Edinburgh, and was attended by higher education teachers and postgraduates from across Scotland and England.
The event was designed to tie in with the current Scottish Enhancement Theme on the links between
teaching and research and the ways in which these links are experienced by students. Vicky Gunn (University of Glasgow) began the meeting with a lively and informative talk on some of the dominant
issues surrounding the teaching-research nexus. These included discipline-specifi c questions, such as; ‘does the learning
environment do justice to the discipline?’ and ‘how does/might the learning environment effect the student experience?’ The
possibility of inviting undergraduate students to research seminars (at which they might, for example, do a poster display)
was mentioned as just one innovative way of getting students involved in ‘research-type’ activities from year 1. Carla Sassi (University of Verona) focused on the personal meaning to her of ‘borders’. Carla talked about the ways in which her sense of
her own personal ‘borderline’ identity had become closely involved in her research and teaching of Scottish Literature over
the years, and how we ‘invest ourselves’ in our teaching. (Carla Sassi is interviewed in this issue.) Aileen Christianson
(University of Edinburgh) gave a cogent account of the two-way street that is teaching-research. First, Aileen explained how
her teaching, and interaction with students, had helped/forced her to create space for research; for example, the paucity of
secondary materials on Scottish women writers led her to create such materials. The ensuing discussions with participants
introduced ideas relating to Creative Writing, archival work by students and assessment practices.
A longer report and session details can be viewed on this website
