Dyslexia and Academic Confidence

Overview and reflections

I finally made it to one of the compulsory Research Training Module lectures on Monday 15th December (2014).
The presenter is clearly an expert on preparing research material for publication and although he didn’t say as much explicitly, it became apparent that he is a ‘principal’ in a journal project in his own field (Computer Sciences) as all of the examples of journal articles he presented were from his own pen and published in his own journal – which makes them none the less, perfectly valid of course!

Key factors that we were told were the drivers for researchers to publish are:

• because researchers have a duty to discover new knowledge and share it;
• because publishing research creates an official record of the work carried out;
• because a personal track-record is also created which can be collectively presented in an academic CV.

These, and subsequent points that were presented have caused me to reflect thus:

• the presenter’s main ‘take’ on publishing research appeared to be that of ‘enhancing (academic) prestige. This is clearly an important consideration for early career researchers who plan to develop their research capabilities and extend knowledge in their discipline as their principal career focus. Perhaps to some extent this accounts for recent evidence, anecdotal to be fair, suggesting that for many of the top UK research universities (aka Russell Group (RG)), teaching undergraduates gets in the way of their (the universities’) research aspirations, not the least because higher education has been commodified and the dissemination of knowledge at undergraduate level at least, has become one of the ‘products’ of a university’s business model. Hence it might follow that attracting high level research funding for RG unis and others that are heavily involved in research is perhaps a more lucrative source of business income than HEFCE and student fees funding sources. Thence may we expect a re-establishment in the divisive nature of higher education provision with those institutions with less ‘kudos’ for research providing a greater bulk of undergraduate teaching and the ‘cream’ focusing on just the most academically gifted and innovative because these are they who are most likely to further research aspirations and hence attract funding? In the light of the relatively recent push towards ‘widening participation’ in HE, which by its very nature has (rightly?) opened the doors of undergraduate learning to many with less conventional prior-learning achievements, ostensibly as part of a social justice agenda that implores that the acquisition of knowledge and learning should be equitable across the whole community, it is hard to imagine that tensions will not develop across the complete HE sector – in my view.
• In the light of the above, this researcher is very motivated that this project will contribute to the research kudos of my supporting university which I note, is rated 85th overall (out of 128 institutions) in the REF (Research Excellence Framework ) 2014 comparison tables published yesterday (18th December 2014). Middlesex wasn’t listed in the subsection for research in Education and appeared at 57th in the subsection for Psychology.
• All of this causes me to reflect thus: ‘What are is the expectation of the University’ for me and this project? Not a point for public debate in this study blog but a question I must raise with my Director of Research and supervisors perhaps?

Hierarchy of publications:

I had not fully understood the concept of ‘hierarchy of publications’ that the seminar presenter has now made clear and it appears to be ordered thus (least -> most important):

• Workshops – attending one as a contributor and hence following this up with a paper summarizing the contribution made, if collected into summary ‘proceedings’ paper. Apparently his counts as being ‘published’. Perhaps there is scope for setting up a ‘Workshop’ some time in 2015 at Middlesex University that has ‘academic confidence’ as the focus? Would this attract interest from researchers or learning developers across the HE sector? If so, then I would be interested in getting the ball rolling for planning this – I have experience in the project management of conferences
• Conferences –  So my submission to the British Dyslexia Association International Conference in 2011 at Harrogate for inclusion in the series of ‘poster presentations’ that was accepted counts as a publication. I had not realized this. I prepared a huge vertical poster and a substantial pile of ‘flyers’ outlining the project which met with considerable interest from conference delegates. At that time, this research project was still located at the University of Southampton. It will be important to try to find a web resource or some other listing to establish conferences that are in the circuit according to the interest of this project, possibly to prepare a submission paper about my research project for consideration for inclusion?
• Journals – It goes without saying that this is the ‘gold standard’ for getting research published but I had not realized the significance of the ‘Impact Factor’ of publications. Our presenter referred us to the JOURNAL CITATIONS REPORT published by Thomson-Reuters so I should check this out.
• Other stuff – edited books and books: for later perhaps.

Types of content

Our presenter outlined the various types of content that are worthy of submission to a peer-reviewed journal. Particularly what interested me here is the possibility of preparing a survey or review of the current ‘state of play’ in my research as advice given was that these are often well-regarded by journal editorial review panels, assuming they are comprehensive and well-written. I am considering doing this on the core topic of ‘academic (behavioural) confidence as, together with the presentation that I am preparing for my next supervision meeting, perhaps these pieces together might form the major part of the submission for Registration later next Spring?

Final reflection

So I repeat that it would be helpful to have knowledge of the university’s expectations, both of me as a researcher and also how this project might contribute to the wider research credibility of Middlesex. I am minded that there is a mutuality of benefit here and that I have a responsibility to ensure that I ‘pull my weight’!