Dr Karen Gravett
Biography
I am a Lecturer in the Department of Higher Education where my work focuses on learning and teaching in higher education. In particular, my research explores staff and student learner identities, the role of literacies in learning, educational transitions, and the impact of discourses and narratives in higher education. I also explore how theoretically informed approaches (posthumanism; poststructuralism) can help us to understand how we learn.
I joined the Department of Higher Education in 2017 and I have worked in higher education since 2004, at the University of Surrey and Royal Holloway University of London.
Affiliations and memberships
Research
Research interests
My research focuses on learning and teaching in higher education. I am particularly interested in how individuals learn and change and in higher education discourses. I am also interested in how theoretically informed approaches (posthumanism; poststructuralism) can help us to explore learning, teaching and assessment in higher education.
Research projects
A collaboration with Queen Mary’s University of London.
Funded by: Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)
This project explores how we might begin to conceptualise how students unlearn as they transition into and through higher education.
My teaching
I am Module Leader for the second module on the Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching. I teach on the Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching and on the MA in Higher Education.
My publications
Publications
Journal articles
Gravett, K. (2020). Feedback literacies as sociomaterial practice. Critical Studies in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2020.1747099.
Gravett, K., Kinchin, I. M. and Winstone, N. E. (2020). Frailty in transition: Troubling the norms, boundaries and limitations of transition theory and practice. Higher Education Research and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1721442
Gravett, K. and Kinchin, I. M. (2020). Referencing and empowerment: exploring barriers to agency in the higher education student experience.Teaching in Higher Education 25 (1), 84-97 https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1541883
Gravett, K. and Kinchin, I. M. (2020) The role of referencing within students’ identity development. Journal of Further and Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1766665
Heron, M., Gravett, K. and Yakovchuk, N. (2020). Publishing and flourishing: Writing for desire in higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1773770
Kinchin, I. M. and Gravett, K. (2020). Concept mapping in the age of Deleuze: Fresh perspectives and new challenges. Education Sciences, 10(3), 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10030082
Winstone, N. E., Balloo, K., Gravett, K., Jacobs, D., and Keen, H. (2020). Who stands to benefit? Wellbeing, belonging, and challenges to equity in engagement in extra-curricular activities. Active Learning in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787420908209
Gravett, K. (2019).Troubling transitions and celebrating becomings: from pathway to rhizome. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1691162
Gravett, K. and Winstone, N.E. (2019). Storying students’ becomings into and through higher education. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1695112
Gravett, K. (2019). Story completion: Storying as a method of meaning-making and discursive discovery. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919893155
Gravett, K., Kinchin, I. M., Winstone, N. E., Balloo, K., Heron, M., Hosein, A., Lygo-Baker, S., and Medland, E. (2019). The development of academics’ feedback literacy: Experiences of learning from critical feedback via scholarly peer review. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1686749 .
Gravett, K., Kinchin, I. M. and Winstone, N. E. (2019). ‘More than customers': Conceptions of students as partners held by students, staff, and institutional leaders. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1623769
Gravett, K. and Winstone, N. E. (2019) 'Feedback interpreters': the role of learning development professionals in facilitating university students’ engagement with feedback. Teaching in Higher Education 24 (6), 723-738 https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1498076.
Gravett, K. and Gill, C. (2010) ‘Using online video to promote database searching skills: the creation of a virtual tutorial for Health and Social Care students’. Journal of Information Literacy 4(1), 66-71.
Books
Kinchin, I. M. & Gravett, K. (due 2021) Dominant discourses in higher education: Critical perspectives, cartographies and practice. London: Bloomsbury.
Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I.M. (Eds.) (2020) Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships. Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan.
Book chapters
Ollis, L., and Gravett, K. (2020). 'The emerging landscape of student-staff partnerships in higher education' in Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I. M. (eds.). Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships. Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan.
Yakovchuk, N., Gravett, K. and Kinchin, I. M. (2020). 'Introduction: Context and scope' in Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I. M. (eds.). Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships. Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan.
Kinchin, I. M., Gravett, K. and Yakovchuk, N. (2020). 'The future of student-staff partnerships' in Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I. M. (eds.). Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships. Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan.
Gravett, K. (2019). 'Making learning happen: Students’ development of academic and information literacies' in Engaging Student Voices in Higher Education: Diverse Perspectives and Expectations in Partnership, 297-313. Lygo-Baker, S., Kinchin, I. M. and Winstone, N. E. (eds.) London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gravett, K., Medland, E. and Winstone,N.E. (2019).'Engaging Students as Co-designers in Educational Innovation' in Engaging Student Voices in Higher Education: Diverse Perspectives and Expectations in Partnership, 175-190. Lygo-Baker, S., Kinchin, I. and Winstone, N. (eds.) London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gravett, K. (2011). ‘Providing guidance, training and support for readers using e-books’ in Price, K. and Havergal, V. (eds.) E-books in libraries: a practical guide. London: Facet.
Recent conference presentations:
Gravett, K (2019) Troubling transitions into and through higher education: creative and critical approaches. Paper presented at the SRHE Research Conference, 11th - 13th December, Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales, UK.
Gravett, K. (2019). Researching transitions into and through higher education: exploring students’ learning, unlearning and becoming. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, 3rd - 6th September, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Gravett, K. (2019). Learning from rejection: Academics’ experiences of peer reviewer feedback and the development of feedback literacy. Paper presented at the Assessment in Higher Education Conference, 26th - 27th June, Manchester, UK.
Gravett, K., Kinchin, I. M. and Winstone, N. E. (2019) 'More than customers': Conceptions of students as partners within a neoliberal landscape. Paper presented at the Students in Changing Higher education Landscapes Conference, 14th June, University of Surrey, UK.
Gravett, K. (2019) Learning from rejection: Academics’ experiences of peer reviewer feedback and the development of scholarly writing literacies. Paper presented at the Ethnographies of academic writing: research and pedagogy conference, 16th - 17th May, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
Gravett, K and Winstone, N. E. (2019) Exploring students’ unlearning development, during transitions into and through higher education. Paper presented at the ALDinHE Conference, 16th - 17th April, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Gravett, K and Kinchin, I. M. (2018) Referencing and inclusion: exploring barriers to agency in the higher education student experience. Paper presented at the SRHE Research Conference, 5th - 7th December, Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales, UK.
Gravett, K and Winstone, N. E. (2018) "Feedback interpreters”: the role of Learning Development professionals in facilitating university students’ engagement with feedback. Paper presented at the Assessment in Higher Education Annual Conference, 28th June, Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester, UK.
Gravett, K. and Kinchin, I. M. (2018) Referencing and empowerment: exploring barriers to agency in the higher education staff/student experience. Paper presented at the Advance HE Annual Conference, 3rd - 5th July, Conference Aston, Birmingham, UK.