In my present role as a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Midwifery and Child Health, I co-ordinate a number of modules across several different programmes. Within these modules, I aim to promote and enhance the student learning experience through the use of effective and innovative practices. Examples of these include the embedment of Moodle (the university’s VLE) and the Children’s Virtual Ward into the modules, two resources that have been designed in such a way that they can be effectively ‘woven’ into the student’s learning experience.
I am also the Academic Advisor for a Flexible and Work Based Learning Programme – The Management of Childhood Diabetes Course which is run in collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Nursing and Midwifery Council Registration
2001 Registered Nurse – Child
2007 Lecturer / Practice Educator
I teach on a number of different modules across several different courses:
Module Co-ordinator and teaching for the following modules:
NUR5068 – Nursing Practice 2 Child
Programme: BSc. (Hons.) in Nursing
EDU6088 – Exploring Common Childhood Conditions
Programme: BA (Hons) Children and Integrated Professional Care
Teaching and Supervision
NUR4022 – Introduction to Nursing Practice and Decision Making
NUR4025 – Nursing Practice 1 – Child
NUR5064 – Nursing in Society
NUR6047 – Nursing Practice 4 – Child
NUR6046 – Academic Practice and Enquiry
I completed a first class dissertation as part of my undergraduate degree. This piece of research examined the inequalities between male and females nurses in their career prospects and subsequent progression within their nursing careers. This study has been published in the Journal of Research in Nursing.
For my Masters research, I investigated the attitudes and perceptions of student nurses who are undertaking a pre-registration nursing course. The results of this study indicated that there are a number of factors that influence an individual’s decision to choose nursing and also that prospective students often don’t realise how much of the course is academic in composition.
Other research areas of interest includes studies about the effective use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s) in Higher Education in order to enhance the student’s learning experience. I have had a number of abstracts accepted at national and international conferences which have addressed this subject area.
2006 - Poster presentation for a national conference in Glasgow - The Paediatric Intensive Care Society Conference. ‘Introduction of blended online learning for post registration critical care nurse education’
2007 – Oral presentation for the 5th World Congress on Pediatric Critical Care in Geneva. ‘The evaluation of 'blended' online learning for paediatric intensive care nurse education’
2007 - Heward, Y. and Harrison, J. (2007) The student experience of Woven Online Learning for Paediatric Intensive Care Nurse Education. Journal of Pediatric Critical Care, Vol. 8, No. 1.
2008 – Oral Presentation for the 2 International Nurse Education Today Conference in Dublin. ‘Putting the ball back into their court: The embedment of a Children’s Virtual Ward in order to give the student back control over their own learning experience’.
2008 – Oral Core Presentation for the Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference in Cambridge. ‘The development of a partnership in order to promote flexible learning in practice: An innovative approach to Diabetes Education’.
2008 - Mullan, BA and Harrison, J. (2008) Male and Female nursing applicant's attitudes and expectations towards their future careers in nursing. Journal of Research in Nursing Vol.13 No. (6) pp. 527–539
2009 - Oral Core Presentation for the Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference in Cambridge. ‘Student Perceptions of Nurse Education: What do they really think it is going to be like?
2009 – Walsh, A. and Harrison, J. (2009) Oral Presentation for the Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference in Cambridge. ‘An evaluation of student nurse perceptions and experiences of e-learning: Informing future health care education.’
2011 - Oral Presentation for the Higher Education Academy E-learning in Health Conference. ‘Smarter Assessment = Smarter Students! Using Assessment for Learning in Children’s Nurse Education.’
2011 - Oral Presentation for the Networking Education in Healthcare Conference in Cambridge. ‘An investigation of the expectations of nursing students regarding their nurse education experience’
I maintain close links with Clinical Practice, for example, I am the Academic Advisor for a Flexible and Work Based Learning Programme – The Management of Childhood Diabetes Course which is run in collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
