Dr Jennie Mills
Associate Professor
Biography
Following my doctorate (a broadly interdisciplinary study of representations of female sexuality in early eighteenth-century texts) I taught briefly at the University of Sussex before moving to the Open University. I taught interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities modules and worked as an Educational Adviser, including a secondment to the Open University Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) for Personalised Integrated Learner Support.
In 2010 I joined The Higher Education Academy working initially with the Arts and Humanities cluster and then more broadly to enhance teaching and learning through research, academic development work, strategic enhancement projects, and consultancy.
I joined the Academic Development Centre at Warwick in 2015. I co-lead the Academic and Professional Pathway for Teaching Excellence, convene the Warwick Education Conference, the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence, and am a mentor and assessor on the APP EXP programme. I am an alumni of WIHEA and currently lead the Curriculum Review Learning Circle, and am also a member of the International, Interdisciplinary and Module Evaluation circles.
Interests
I have particular expertise in digital and distance education, and assessment and feedback. I am interested in the role of play in higher education, and am a trained facilitator in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY® methodology.
My research is currently focused upon the role of arts-based methodologies in teaching enhancement and educational research.
Journal articles
2021
Carr, J., Cunningham, C., Mills, J. and Taylor, N. (2021) "It's all fun and games until someone loses an 'I'", The Journal of Play in Adulthood 3(2), p.62-81. doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpa.849
2020
Cunningham, C. and Mills, J. (2020) ‘Caged (Educational) birds: a hybrid metaphorical enquiry’, International Journal for Academic Development https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2020.1753202
Book chapters
Mills, J. and King, E.L., (2019) ‘ESCAPE! Puzzling out learning theories through play.’ in James, A. and Nerantzi, C. (eds) The Power of Play in Higher Education: Creativity in Tertiary Learning, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mills, J. (2009) ‘Rape and the Construction of Female Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century’ in Peakman, J. (ed) Sexual Perversions, 1670-1880, London: Palgrave.
Conference Papers
2019
Gramaglia, L. and Mills, J. ‘Pathways to Fellowship: Recognising practice, impact and leadership in HE teaching and learning’, Learning and Teaching Conference, Monash University, Melbourne, June 2019.
2018
Mills, J., Hattersley, S., Humphreys, J. and Rupp, W. ‘Pathways to Fellowship: Roads less travelled’,, AdvanceHE, Birmingham, July 2018.
Mills, J. ‘Spinning Dancers: a provocation’, 'Humanising learning and teaching – what the Arts and Humanities can do for learning and teaching in an age of metrics’, University of Stirling, June 2018.
2016
Cunningham, C. and Mills, J. ‘Caged (Educational) birds: a hybrid metaphorical enquiry’, Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference, Newport, December 2016.
2015
Carr, J., Cunningham, C., Osborn, J. and Taylor, N., ‘Lacunae of enchantments: unfolding spaces ‘in which it is once more possible to think … and act’, Re-enchanting the Academy, Canterbury, September 2015
Osborn, J. Keynote: 'Flipping the HE classroom into the future’, CNaPPES, Leiria, Portugal, July 2015.
Osborn, J. Keynote: ‘Inspiring teaching: transforming learning’, Survival of the fittest?’ A symposium about Dance, Drama and Music in HE, February 2015.
Osborn, J. and Taylor, N. ‘Lids up or lids down? Technology in the HE classroom', HEA enhancement event, London, January 2015.
2014
Mills, J. Keynote: ‘Learning, teaching and other stories’, LASALLE College of Art, Singapore, September 2014.
Chick, N., Cunningham, C., Loads, D. and Osborn, J. ‘Methodological and epistemological shifts in the scholarship of learning and teaching – making a case for the Arts & Humanities’, ICED, Stockholm, June 2014.
Cunningham, C. and Osborn, J. ‘Challenging world views: what can narratives of learning and teaching tell us about academic development?’ ICED, Stockholm, June 2014.
Carr, J., Osborn, J. and Taylor, N. ‘Researching learning and teaching practice: exchanging narratives to articulate change’, Discourse, Power, and Resistance, Greenwich, April 2014.
2013
Carr, J., Cunningham, C. Osborn, J. and Taylor, N., ‘The role of performance and narration in translating professional standards into practice: four different analytical models’, Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference, Newport, December 2013.
Cunningham, C. and Osborn, J. ‘Kissing the frog: transforming teachers by turning poetry into praxis’, ISSOTL, Raleigh, North Carolina, October 2013.
Cunningham, C. and Osborn, J. ‘‘Imaginary gardens with real toads: using poetry as metaphor in our own practice’, Storyville, Higher Education Academy Arts and Humanities Annual Conference, Brighton, May 2013.
2009
Beard, J. and Osborn, J. “Investigative approaches to student transitions by practitioners’, ISSOTL, Bloomington, Indiana, October 2009.
Blog posts
‘We may be in the gutter’, Lacunae: a generative learning space, 7 April 2020. Available at https://lacunaeblog.com/2020/04/07/we-may-be-in-the-gutter/
‘Love acts: swipe left’, Lacunae: a generative learning space, 13 February 2020. Available at https://lacunaeblog.com/2020/02/13/love-acts-swipe-left/
Creating compassionate spaces in higher education, LSE Higher Education blog, 15 November 2019. Available at https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/highereducation/2019/10/15/creating-compassionate-spaces-in-higher-education/
‘The embeddedness scale’, LSE Higher Education blog, 21 June 2019. Available at https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/highereducation/2019/06/21/the-embeddedness-scale/
