Summary
Julie is Deputy Director of the Centre for Academic English (CfAE) at Imperial College London. She creates, leads and teaches courses in academic communication for STEMM students and trains and mentors teachers in EAP for STEMM. She directs the Centre's innovative pre-sessional courses and co-leads on assuring the quality of the Centre's provision.
Between 2017 and 2019 Julie led a large-scale project to redesign the curriculum and delivery of the Centre's assessed pre-sessional, putting the clear communication of STEMM concepts and ideas at the core of a curriculum delivered using a blended approach to learning. The pre-sessional uses tailored, Imperial-focused materials and uses a pedagogical approach that directly prepares students for the learning and teaching contexts and experiences they will encounter on their degree programmes. Standard tutorials were replaced with a coaching approach to promote student autonomy and Julie redesigned assessments on the course so that they align closely with students' future academic communication needs, promoting their acquisition of the skills and attributes they need for academic success. The pre-sessional pioneered a blended approach that integrates Microsoft OneNote Class Notebooks and Teams, an approach which is now embedded in the work of the Centre, and which was instrumental in the Centre's rapid pivot to online teaching and learning in spring 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, Julie led the transformation of the on-campus pre-sessional to a sustainable online format.
Drawing on her experience and expertise in course design, Julie co-leads the CfAE's ongoing quality assurance (QA) process with CfAE Director, Dr Julie King. The QA process is being carried out to align CfAE provision more closely with the academic and learning and teaching strategies being implemented at the college. Our goal is to provide targeted, relevant and inclusive provision that is available to all members of the college at the time when they need it.
Julie is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (formerly Higher Education Academy (HEA)) and has been recognised as Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIEE) for 2022-2023 for the fourth consecutive year. She has been external examiner for English, EAP and Pre-sessional modules at London Metropolitan University, University of Sunderland London and University of Sunderland. She is actively engaged in scholarship in EAP and regularly presents or writes on course development and design, digital innovation and promoting student engagement and autonomy.
Background
Julie's academic background is in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, specifically English for Academic Purposes (EAP). She completed a PGCE and later an MA in TESOL at the University of Leicester School of Education, where she developed her deep fascination with the impact of classroom practice on learning processes. In 2002, she gained her PhD in Language and Linguistics from the University of Essex, using qualitative methods to explore course design in EAP. Since taking up post at Imperial in 2001, she has specialised in EAP for STEMM.
Research Interests
Her research and scholarship interests include EAP for STEMM, innovation in EAP course design and assessment, digital course delivery, classroom interaction and developing student autonomy.
Recent Conference Presentations
'Using an integrative e-portfolio as an assessment-for-learning tool for speaking online' Paper presented at British Association of Lecturers in EAP (BALEAP) Conference Exploring Pedagogical Approaches in EAP Teaching, April 2021 [online]
“People are more likely to speak behind the screen”: Exploring the hidden affordances of running a large-scale interactive event online. BALEAP 1st TEL SIG Conference: Technology-enhanced learning and EAP in the post-COVID-19 era with L. Chiu, & R. White, October 2020 [Online]
'How we empower teaching and learning by getting teachers to learn and students to teach' Session for Microsoft Training Academy at the BETT Show 2020 (with L. Chiu), 22-25 Jan 2020.
'From testing to teaching and back again' Paper presented at BALEAP Conference on Innovation, Exploration and Transformation Leeds, April 2019
'English as a tool not just an objective: developing interaction and autonomy on a pre-sessional course' Paper presented at BALEAP Speaking PIM Newcastle, June 2018
Publications
'Responding to the Challenges of Moving an On-Campus Pre-Sessional Course Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic' in Cases in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) During COVID-19 (Kohnke, L., ed.) 2022
"People are more likely to speak behind the screen": Exploring the hidden affordances of running a large-scale interactive event online. Proceedings of the BALEAP 1st TELSIG Conference: Technology-enhanced learning and EAP in the Post-COVID-19 era (with L. Chiu and R. White) 2021
‘Developing Web-based Corpora for EAP in G. M. Blue, (ed.) Developing Academic Literacy Oxford: Peter Lang AG 155-168 (with D. Lefevre) 2010
‘Strategies for Assisting Engineering Students with Their Writing Skills’ Proceedings of an International Conference on Engineering Education, EE 2006, Liverpool July 2006 317-322 (with Andrea Walker and David McPhail)
Abstracts for Language Teaching Cambridge University Press, Jan. 1997 - June 2005
'Assessment in the real world' in G. M. Blue, J. Milton & J. Saville (ed.s) Assessing English for Academic Purposes Oxford: Peter Lang AG 117-129, 2000