Q&A with Nicole Brown
Nicole Brown is an Associate Professor in Education and Academic Head of Learning and Teaching in the Department of Culture, Communication and Media.
What attracted you to take up your position at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE)?
I have been at the IOE since 2008. I had been a secondary school teacher with responsibility for teacher education as a school-based subject mentor before taking a career break. Once my son was a little older, I looked for ways of using my experience in the classroom to support others in becoming teachers or improving their classroom practices.
This was what attracted me to work at the IOE, but also what attracted me to the Higher Education Academy (HEA) fellowship scheme. I still consider myself as a learner and teaching practitioner and the HEA fellowship scheme allows me to focus on my reflective practice and on improving my own practices.
What's the most important thing you've learned from your students about the subject you teach?
Every time I enter a lecture hall and seminar room or when I am in a staff-student consultative meeting, I am overwhelmed with the enthusiasm our students bring to their time at the IOE and to their studies; and it is this enthusiasm that inspires me to improve my teaching practice and to connect my research with the teaching contents.
But the most important thing I have learnt from our students over the years is that education, the subject I teach, is as much about its content as it is about the relationships we build and the learning experience we create and have together.
What is the focus of your research and what benefits do you hope your discoveries and insights will bring?
My research work is best summarised as "making accessible": it is about the subject, field or content of the research, but it is also about how research is carried out. So, I am interested in making learning and teaching more accessible, or in making different subject contents more accessible. For example, I developed creative ways for reflective practice in order to make the process of reflection in action and reflection on action more accessible for student teachers who may be new to reflecting on their own practices.
Where research is concerned, I focus on ways to collect data with participants in a way that makes the research process accessible, that allows for forms of expression and communication that go beyond the word. Equally, I explore creative methods and representations in order to disseminate my research. I experiment with fictionalised accounts and poetry, with collages and paintings and I exhibited a 3D installation from my research in an art gallery.
What do you most enjoy about your position and why?
As an Associate Professor in Education I am able to contribute to the education and development of experienced and future teachers, and promote values like social justice and equality. My role as Academic Head of Learning and Teaching enables me to work alongside colleagues in developing best educational practices for our students. As a UCL Arena assessor and mentor for HEA fellowships I often support members of staff through the portfolio writing process.
It is that mix of learning from and with staff and students that I find particularly rewarding. I enjoy collaborating with others on practice-based enquiries and research projects that help shape teaching practices and create better learning experiences for all.
How has the UCL Arena programme helped you to teach differently?
UCL Arena sessions but also the HEA fellowship programme helped me better understand my strengths, but also challenge my existing practices and support my professional development. Where I used to engage in more informal practice-based enquiries and action research, UCL Arena and HEA portfolios led to me take a more formal approach to research-based education and to a connected curriculum. I now regularly undertake participatory research, which I disseminate in academic journals and at conferences, most often in collaboration with students.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
Most people know that I am a keen reader, that I am always involved in book-swaps, and that my favourite author is Jodi Picoult. But what hardly anyone knows is that I enjoy travelling to the locations of where books are set. Most recently, my family and I wandered the off-beaten tracks of Venice following the steps of Commissario Brunetti from Donna Leon's crime series. We found the Questura and the nearby café where Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello regularly hide out to avoid Vice-Questore Patta.
What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?
After all of these years, what makes me still most proud is when I have been able to support others in achieving their goals and dreams.
There is nothing more rewarding than being able to congratulate a member of staff on their HEA fellowships, after having mentored them through the process or sharing in the joy with colleagues and students when they receive the news that their proposed articles have been accepted for conference presentations or publication.
What other subject outside of your area of specialism interests you?
Outside my immediate area of specialism, I am interested in the connections and boundaries between science, arts and research. I particularly enjoy visiting the Wellcome museum, where the exhibitions are working on that cusp of science, arts and research.
