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Consultancy Services & Portfolio
Portfolio To give you a flavour of the type of services I undertake I’ve included a list of some of my recent activities together with brief client feedback: To see what I’m currently up to, have a look at my Blog. August 2007 - July 2008: Support to GEES Subject Centre and Experiential Learning CETL (University of Plymouth) May 2008: GEES Subject Cente - Gathering Information on Employer Engagement in the Earth Sciences February 2008: HE Academy - Collated and synthesised Subject Centre provision for early career academic staff. December 2007: KSA Partnership - telephone interviews to support an evaluation project. October 2007: Subject Centre for Health Sciences & Practice - reviewed websites and interviewed key staff from health-related CETLs to develop an up-to-date summary of their activities. March 2007: ESCalate: Education Subject Centre – Reviewed and updated the ESCalate entries in the online ‘Supporting New Academic Staff (SNAS)’ database held by the Higher Education Academy. Thanks for your final report. It will be the focus of our next staff meeting and we hope to implement your recommendations soon afterwards. It's been a very helpful exercise for us, so thank you for the work and the clear presentation. Helen King's report was thorough, well constructed and was submitted in full on time. The work not only satisfied but usefully exceeded the brief and was professionally undertaken. This was an excellent piece of work and I would have no hesitation in recommending her as a consultant. (Rachel Segal, Higher Education Academy Senior Advisor) October 2006 (ongoing): Staff & Educational Development Association (SEDA) – Programme Leader for their on-line supported qualification in Supporting Educational Change. Overall the coaching helped me to organise my thoughts and find direction towards the end of a turbulent few years professionally and personally. The individual sessions allowed me to explore career direction for instance, culminating in the application and acceptance onto a Masters degree programme. It was obvious from the sessions that I needed to consolidate and accredit my experiences to form the foundation of a progressive career. which is something I have desired for many years. The sessions provided time to plan ahead and set goals where I would be prone to stumbling forward aimlessly, wasting good energy in the wrong direction. Since the sessions I have often likened Helen to an AA auto route planner! She can provide me with the direction but it has to be me that drives the car! Helen was judgement free and I was able to speak effortlessly about issues I had not previously verbalised. She is a super blistener and thoughtful with relevant and appropriate prompts and feedback.I would not hesitate in contacting Helen again to help me clarify things and aid in the setting of new goals. (TP) July 2007: Higher Education Academy Staff Induction Day
The Professional Development Planning workshop that Helen King ran at our event provided participants with an opportunity for reflection and to explore their professional development needs. Helen’s session encouraged participants to ‘think outside the box’ in terms of professional development opportunities and equipped them with the tools and ideas to take their professional development planning forward. Helen guided participants through the process with an excellent combination of individual and small group tasks. The interactive nature of the session and the occasional use of humour ensured that all participants were fully engaged in the process, which is reflected in the very positive feedback we received from colleagues. (Laila Burton, HE Academy Project Co-ordinator) December 2006: Subject Centre for Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences: ‘From Foothills to Summits’ academic CPD event
Recent PublicationsMcewen L., J. Monk, I. Hay, P. Kneale & H. King (2008) Strength in Diversity: Enhancing Learning in Vocationally-Orientated, Master's Level Courses. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pages 101 - 119 Stokes, A., H. King & J.C. Libarkin (2007) Research in Science Education: Threshold Concepts. Journal of Geoscience Education Vol. 55 No. 5 pp434 -438 King, H. (2006) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge in Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (Editorial). Planet Special Edition, GEES Subject Centre, pp 2-3 http://www.gees.ac.uk/pubs/planet/index.htm#P17 King, H. (2006) Understanding spatial literacy: cognitive and curriculum perspectives. Planet Special Edition, GEES Subject Centre, pp 26-28 http://www.gees.ac.uk/pubs/planet/index.htm#P17 King, H (2006) (Ed.) Enterprise, Skills & Entrepreneurship Resource Pack: Enhancing the Curriculum in Geography, Earth & Environmental Science. GEES Subject Centre http://www.gees.ac.uk/projtheme/entrep/entrepres.htm King, H. (2005) Editorial: Postgraduate Taught Courses in GEES. Planet Special Edition – Issue 14. Pg 2. King, H. & L. Mattin 2005 Managing Programmes of Small-Scale Research & Development Funding: Lessons from HEIs and Subject Centres. Educational Developments Issue 6.1, pp 18-21 King, H. (2004) Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education: What do Academics Do? Educational Developments, Issue 5.4 pp 1-5 A Sample of Recent PresentationsMay 2008 (Keynote Speaker) Exploring Experiential Learning: Theory, Practice and the link with Employability. Experiential Learning in the Natural & Environmental Sciences Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (EL CETL) conference, University of Plymouth. October 2007 (Oral Presentation) Understanding Public Perceptions of Geoscience. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting May 2007 (Workshop with Sian Evans) Projects, Peers and Placements: working with students in the GEES Subject Centre. Student Voices Seminar, Glasgow December 2006 (Workshop) Personal & Professional Development Planning for Academic Staff in Higher Education. GEES Subject Centre conference, Leeds. July 2006 (Presentation) Integrating Graduate Entrepreneurial Skills within the Subject-based Curriculum. Higher Education Research & Development Society of Australasia, Perth. June 2006: planned and delivered GEES Subject Centre two-day interactive conference / workshop on pedagogic research & threshold concepts. November 2005 (Workshop with Sue Burkill) A Team-Based Approach to CPD. SEDA 10th Annual Conference September 2004 (Workshop with John Peters & Phil Gravestock) Developing a Dissemination Strategy. University College Worcester, national workshop for CETL bidders. August 2004 (Presentation). Continuing Professional Development in Geoscience Higher Education in the UK. 32nd International Geological Congress, Florence July 2004 (workshop with Sharon Gedye) Learning & Teaching in the 21st Century: Exploring Student Diversity. LTSN-GEES Annual Conference, Warwickshire June 2004 (Joint workshop with Simon Smith & Steve Maw). Diversity, equality and legislation: managing multi-faith and multi-cultural teaching environments. The Learning & Teaching Conference, Hatfield June 2004 (Discussion). Evaluating the Impact of Small-scale Learning and Teaching Projects. The Learning & Teaching Conference February 2004 (Presentation). Making Connections Between Teaching and Research: Some Practical Examples from the Disciplines. University of Birmingham learning & teaching conference. Recent Successful Bids for FundingJune 2006. “Internationalisation at the Taught Postgraduate (Masters) Level” (£5, 000) HE Academy October 2005 (with PRS Subject Centre) “A joint Subject Centre project to support the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied CETL” (£5, 000) HE Academy October 2005. “Supporting the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)” (£9, 450) HE Academy December 2004. “Employability Skills for Corporate / Social Responsibility” (£10, 000 joint bid with Subject Centre for Philosophical & Religious Studies) HE Academy November 2004. “Analysing the CPD Needs of University of Plymouth Academic Staff” (£8, 000 joint bid with colleagues from EDaLT) University of Plymouth February 2004. “Entrepreneurship Funding”. (£20, 000) DfES (via LTSN Generic Centre)
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Helen is an enthusiastic, industrious and inspiring colleague with a genuine and deep commitment to student learning. … In all areas of her work Helen achieves the highest standards of personal excellence, and scholarship, as evidenced from my own experience and from extensive feedback from staff and students. The educational resources she produces are well-organised and full of ideas for enhancing the learning of both students and staff. Her CPD workshops are widely acknowledged to be models of good practice, carefully designed, attractively delivered and unfailingly sensitive to the diversity of staff and student learning needs.