JPPP5: Call for Abstracts

Evolving Experiences in Postgraduate Teaching: Navigating Changing Landscapes, Practices, and Technologies

JPPP Issue 5: Warwick PGR Teacher Conference Special Issue

The Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community (WPTC) are pleased to announce the Call for Abstracts for Issue 5 of the Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice (JPPP). Following the success of the WPTC’s first conference earlier this summer, ‘Evolving Experiences in Postgraduate Teaching: Navigating Changing Landscapes, Practices, and Technologies’, this latest instalment of the journal will serve as a special issue, continuing the themes and discussions of the conference. We invite article submissions for pieces discussing all aspects of the PGR teacher experience in relation to our theme call (please see below for more details).

The pilot issue of the JPPPLink opens in a new window launched in Autumn 2021, and featured articles which reflected primarily on teaching during the pandemic, and the particular challenges (or opportunities) presented when teaching virtually. Since then, the JPPP has covered topics such as PGR teacher identity, innovative teaching methodsLink opens in a new window; pedagogical practices and experiences relating to EDI and minoritised identitiesLink opens in a new window, graduate teaching assistant (GTA) positionality, and the meaningful impacts of PGR teaching on student experience and development.Link opens in a new window

With this upcoming fifth issue, we invite contributors to reflect upon the dynamic landscape of higher-education teaching and learning, exploring the tensions, challenges, and successes relating to the shifting landscape of postgraduate teaching and the evolution of their roles and practices as GTAs.

Hello ,

Thank you for your interest in the JPPP!

The theme for this issue is: Evolving Experiences in Postgraduate Teaching: Navigating Changing Landscapes, Practices, and Technologies

Call for Abstracts

As the landscape of higher education continues to transform, postgraduate teaching stands at the intersection of innovation, adaptation, and tradition. Within this dynamic environment, (GTAs) face challenges such as navigating evolving pedagogical practices, adapting to emerging technologies, and balancing the complexities and pressures of our backgrounds and positionalities whilst maintaining the rigour and depth of higher education teaching and learning.

The experiences and journeys of GTA are seldom “straightforward” and rather involve charting a course across shifting landscapes that evolve from year to year. This complex environment, coupled with the unique position of GTAs as both researcher and educator, often presents challenges and opportunities for success in equal measure, which GTAs must navigate and adapt to. As such, the evolution of GTA roles, practices, and experiences in the face of pedagogical, technological, and personal transformations and developments presents a rich and timely area of exploration.

For its fifth issue, the JPPP invites submissions that consider the following themes:

Positionality and Teacher Identity: Exploring how personal experiences and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) intersect with and shape postgraduate teaching identities.
The Evolution of GTA Teaching: Examining the journey from novice to expert as a GTA and the milestones, challenges, and skills associated with that transition.
Navigating Technological Shifts in Teaching: Addressing the impact of technological advancements, such as the role of artificial intelligence (AI), in higher education teaching and learning, whether as a transformative tool or a challenge to traditional pedagogy.
Cross-Cultural and International Perspectives: Understanding the importance of culturally diverse approaches to and experiences of teaching and learning in higher education.
Balancing Wellbeing and Professional Growth: Reflecting on the relationship between maintaining personal wellbeing while seeking professional and academic success.

If successful, following our anonymous peer review process, authors will be contacted and invited to develop their abstract into a full-length paper. As a transdisciplinary journal, the JPPP celebrates the diverse backgrounds and approaches that our contributors and readership bring to their research and pedagogic practices. As such, we welcome submissions in the following formats:

Research papers (3000-5000 words)
Critical reflections (2000-3000 words)
Review papers (1500-3000 words)

For more information on our accepted contribution formats, please see our submission guidelinesLink opens in a new window.

Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and should convey the key points and themes of your proposed contribution. Further guidance for abstracts can be found in our submission guidelinesLink opens in a new window. Any queries not answered in these guidelines should be sent by email to areesh.fatmee@warwick.ac.uk, usoro.akpan@warwick.ac.uk and pgrteachercommunity@warwick.ac.uk. Please note that any queries concerning this call should be sent to all three email addresses listed.

The call closes ~~Sunday, 10th~~ Monday 18th (now extended) August at 23:59, and abstracts are to be submitted via this formLink opens in a new window. Any abstracts submitted after that time will not be considered. Successful authors will be notified by Wednesday, 20th August, and will be invited to provide an article in their chosen format. Finished articles should be submitted by Sunday, 21st September.