Mariam Attia, a good friend and brilliant scholar, is delivering two presentations and a workshop at the University of Cambridge (Donald McIntyre Building, 184 Hills Road) in the coming week, which may be of interest. All the events are part of the Kazakhstan Programme Open Seminar Series (of which more here).

Participation is free, and if you’d like to attend, you can contact ccg27[at]cam.ac[dot]uk to confirm your place. Alternatively, you can attend the seminars virtually, using Adobe Connect and logging on here. If you are unfamiliar with using Adobe Connect, instructions are available in this document.

Here are some more details about the events:

Wednesday 29th April 2015
*1700-1830* *DMB 2S7*
Teacher development in the use of technology:
Insights from fieldwork in Egypt

This presentation sheds light on findings from a doctoral study on the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and their individual technology use within an Arabic language teaching context in Egypt. Specifically, it explores teachers’ beliefs in relation to early learning experience, teacher education, classroom practice, and work context. It further discusses implications for in-service professional development, pre-service teacher education, and institutional initiatives for technology integration. Drawing on field experiences in Egypt, the presentation addresses methodological considerations associated with conducting research within an Egyptian educational context. It emphasises the centrality of researcher creative capacity, responsibility, and integrity to the research process, and offers situated examples of considering the objectives behind certain ethical procedures rather than simply implementing forms. The presentation encourages researchers to discern methodological affordances within their socio-cultural environment, to question established research traditions, and to theorise their research practice.

Thursday 30th April 2015
*1000-1230* *DMB 2S7*
Presentation and workshop on Researching multilingually:
Possibilities and complexities

With increased researcher mobility and wider access to information, academic institutions within the UK are experiencing internationalisation processes reflected – among other things – in the surging numbers of researchers conducing research in more than one language (Robinson-Pant, 2009). This presentation draws on two AHRC projects: Researching Multilingually (November 2011 – December 2012) and Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law, and the State (April 2014 – March 2017). It focuses on 44 reflective pieces by researchers involved with the AHRC-funded network, and attempts to look into a) the development of researcher awareness about the possibilities and complexities of doing research in more than one language, b) the nature of such possibilities and complexities, and c) implications for researcher development. The presentation is followed by a workshop in which specific case studies are analysed and participants’ own experiences of conducting research in more than one language are discussed. The overall objectives of the workshop are to:

• familiarise participants with the opportunities for, and challenges of researching multilingually;
• support the development of their confidence and competence in conducting research in more than one language; and
• build researcher capacity broadly, and more particularly, in producing quality research that observes ethical issues where research involving more than one language is concerned.

Researchers are also encouraged to engage with the website which we continue to develop as a knowledge resource flowing from the AHRC-funded project.

Robinson-Pant, A. (2009) ‘Changing Academies: exploring international PhD students’ perspectives on ‘host’ and ‘home’ universities’, Higher Education Research and Development, 28(4), 417-429.

And a few words about Mariam:
Dr Mariam Attia is Research Associate at Durham University, UK. She is interested in human capacity building for self and mutual development, and her research covers the areas of teacher cognition and technology use, reflective practice, researcher development, and the use of non-judgmental discourse in professional interaction.

Featured Image by Dungodung, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons