Alison Dickens, BA MA PGCE

picture of Alison Dickens, BA MA PGCE

Assistant Director

Alison is a modern linguist who has worked in education for 23 years in a range of language teaching, academic development and project management roles. She currently directs the LLAS academic development programme, develops and delivers training in a number of areas including e-learning, language teaching and internationalisation.

Alison can be contacted by
Email: llas@soton.ac.uk | Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 4814 | Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 4815

Biography

Alison did her first degree in Comparative Literature and French (with Spanish and Film Studies) at the University of East Anglia. She is also is a qualified and experienced language teacher with a PGCE from the University of Reading and has an MA in media and language teaching from the University of Brighton. She is currently senior manager of a team of education developers providing training and support to higher education staff in languages, linguistics and area studies disciplines. She has a proven track record of bidding for and delivering a range of externally funded projects at UK and EU level and fostering innovation in the development and delivery of technology enhanced learning. An interest in the international learning experience for both home and international students and in developing community-based initiatives connecting academia with the broader public. Strong interpersonal, team leadership and project management skills.

Expertise

  • Developing resources and workshops for professional development in the areas of language teaching, e-learning and internationalisation
  • Initiating, bidding for and carrying out education-related projects at UK and EU level
  • Creating resources for young learners to inspire an interest in languages
  • Providing leadership for the LLAS Centre (since 2000)
  • Managing teams and projects, developing partnerships with individuals, subject associations and other bodies in the field of languages, linguistics and area studies

Key achievements

Projects

  • Shaping the Future of Languages in higher education (HEFCE-funded UCML) Project 2011
  • Community Café (JISC) 2010/11
  • HumBox (JISC/HEA funding) Open Education Resources Repository 2009/10
  • Language Network for Quality Assurance (EU funded) 2007/10
  • Language Café (EU-funded) 2006/08
  • Opening the Door to Language Learning (EU-funded project) 2002/05
  • LLAS Materials Bank (LTSN funded) Project 2002

Resources

  • Why study languages – resources for KS3/4 learners (with LLAS team)
  • Reactivate your language learning (website and short course for adult learners)
  • Language Unlimited – why study linguistics materials
  • The Community Café workshop pack (with Kate Borthwick)
  • The Language Café resource pack
  • Supporting international students in UK Higher Education: a course for staff (with Dave Burnapp (main author) and Kate Borthwick)
  • Why study languages calendar (with LLAS staff)
  • Opening the Door to language learning: bringing language learning to the wider community (with ODLL project team)
  • The LOC tool for teachers (with Julie Watson, Kate Borthwick and Graham Gilchrist)

Papers/articles

  • Borthwick, K., Corradini, E., Dickens, A. [eds.] (2015) ‘10 Year of the LLAS elearning Symposium: case studies in good practice’, Dublin: researchpublishing.net http://research-publishing.net/publications/10-years-of-the-llas-elearning-symposium-case-studies-in-good-practice/
  • Corradini, Erika, Borthwick, Kate and Dickens, Alison (2010) Information and communication technologies in foreign language learning. Southampton, GB, Centre for Languages Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton
  • Hyland F; Trahar S; Anderson J; Dickens A (2008) ‘A Changing World: the internationalisation experiences of staff and students (home and international) in UK higher education’. Bristol: ESCALATE
  • Watson, Julie, Dickens, Alison and Gilchrist, Graham (2008) The LOC tool: creating a learning object authoring tool for teachers. In, Proceedings of Ed-Media 2008: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications. Ed-Media 2008: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications Chesapeake, USA, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 6pp.

 

 

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