Nicola Galloway; Ruby Rennie; Sihan Zhou
The University of Edinburgh
Jon Karlsen
Nosebleed Interactive 1
Learning Lunch: Knowledge
Transfer Partnership (KTP)
‘Making, building and developing
external partnerships’
Thursday 16th March, 2017

Overview
1. About us
2. Getting started with external work: Project
planning
3.Benefits
4. What’s next for the partnership?
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1. About us
UoE
• MSc TESOL (Chinese)
• Curriculum
• Global Englishes/
Multilingualism –
paradigm shift
• Stakeholders’
attitudes towards
English and English
language teaching
• Materials
Evaluation/Design
• Digital Education
Company
•Nosebleed Interactive
•independent computer
game developer based in
Newcastle
•internally created games
& games for customers
on diverse platforms
(Sony Playstation).
• games for
entertainment > social
and commercial projects
( Stroke patients).
•Jon – experience in
China
The project
• Developing a digital
game-based learning
platform for teaching
English to young
learners in China.
3

Growing literature and entire books
on globalisation of English
(Galloway and Rose, 2015;
Galloway, 2017; Rose and Galloway,
2017)
Theory/practice divide
Materials a main barrier
-important role in the language
learning process.
-core of a programme
“For many teachers the course book
is the curriculum” (Macalister,
2016, p. 41).
British Council (2012) - 98 million
primary school students in China, but
a lack of qualified English teachers -
more than 50% of parents buy
materials outside the schools’
requirements
• enormous commercial potential
•Online - creative, innovative
thinking
• games to engage an audience
• Learning, motivation and context
all linked
• Accessible by design
Why China?
Why materials?
4

Has “error warning
symbols”.
Notes that, “You
cannot say ‘discuss
about something’”.
Has a section called
“Don’t say it” which
outlines 130 common
mistakes
.
5

Digital game-based learning
• Not new – 2001 publication by
Prensky
• But often companies not using
research
• Moving from behaviourist-based
learning theory to
communication
• Informing creators and users
about issues in technology
6

Nosebleed employees
7

Nosebleed Interactive
The company
perspective:
• Benefits
• Challenges with
working with
universities
8

GETTING STARTED WITH EXTERNAL
WORK: PROJECT PLANNING
Part Two.
9

Initial Meeting
• Company presentation
• Academic presentation
• Application planning with the help of ERI.
Anna Gibbons was very helpful
10

Process
Meeting
• Initial intro via ERI
• Initial meeting to
discuss plans
• Meeting with Line
managers to
discuss workload
Application
• Devise 18 month
workplan to help
plan Associate’s
workload and
academic input.
• Company and
academic staff to
input
• Shared vision?
• Associate roles –
can help with job
ad
Recruitment
• Visa implications –
start date later
than expected
• Revised workplan
schedule
• University policy on
applications and
interviews
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LMC
•Held every ……
•Financial forecasting
Project
Meeting
•Held every month
•Agenda sent by Associate
•To advise on changed
planned company outputs
on workplan
Supervisory Meeting
•Every 2 weeks at the
company
•Planned
publications/conference
presentations to focus
academic reading
12
Consider working with someone to split the
academic workload

Who is involved?
Company
Academic staff
Associate
13
KTP
LMC
meetings
Project
meetings
Developing
product
Academic
meetings

BENEFITS
Part Three.
14

MSc TESOL
• Majority of cohort from China – better
understanding of context and needs of students.
• Lead to curriculum design and enhance courses
-research-informed, context-specific teaching
materials.
• help position The MSc TESOL at The University
of Edinburgh as a leader in international
education.
15

Dissemination
•GELT - theory to practice
•Books (2015, 2016, 2017)
•Conferences
•REF - 5 planned journal articles – Associate
as 1st author on 1st.
•Contribution to the field – e.g. ELT, Online
Learning and Global Englishes
• e.g. the project may challenge standard
language norms in current learning materials.
16

MSc Dissertation projects
• MHSE initiative to advertise research projects to
students
• Project advertised to all MSc TESOL and MSc Language
Teaching students
• 13 signed up
• Opportunity to contribute to selected areas of the
academic work
• satisfaction of knowing that their dissertation research
is part of a real-life project that will make a difference
to learning for many young Chinese learners.
• Opportunity to publish
17

Promotion
• Research – experience leading a bid.
• Fits with MHSE’s Internationalisation Statement
• Evidence that research has demonstrable impact beyond the
academy ( Global Englishes focus provides a unique
multilingual focus)
• Promotes public engagement with research – KTP is
designed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge, technology
and skills to which the company has no access
• Leadership & management – hiring and managing the
Associate & project management.
• Responds to the College’s Research and Knowledge
Exchange Action Plan (2.4.3) which called for more KTPs
• Raises profile of University in the public domain
18

Income
•Generate income for the School
•Generate income for research
•Attract further income
19

Company benefits
•create new jobs - gaming programmer, website developer, graphic designer, story
board artist, and fiction writers.
•Once the platform is developed it will require maintenance and upgrading, as well
as data analysis on users and the progress the users are making through the
platform.
•social benefit to young learners of English in China, particularly to those who are
underserved by current academic resources.
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WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE
PARTNERSHIP?
Part Four
21

The future
Finish project
Consider
funding
Product to
market
Expansion
• More games
• Age range
• children in migrant and refugee situations where there is little or no educational
infrastructure.
• Other languages
ERASMUS Staff mobility scheme
• KTP used as basis for application to visit Chinese universities
Publications
• Continue with publications
22

Questions?
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Thank you
Nicola.Galloway@ed.ac.uk
Ruby.Rennie@ed.ac.uk
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