Postgraduate Publishing studies at Edinburgh Napier University. INDUSTRY APPROVED Publishing degrees (accredited by the Professional Publishers Association and Creative Skillset). MSc Publishing was the first Publishing programme in the UK to be accredited by the Professional Publishers Association (PPA). It is now accredited by Creative Skillset (only one of two courses to hold this award). MSc Magazine Publishing is the only course of its kind in Scotland and is the only publishing course in the UK to be accredited by the PPA. The PPA is the lead body for best practice in training, development and people management for the magazine and business media industry.
Until the 28th of January, Academic Book Week 2017 is celebrating the “diversity, innovation and influence of academic books”.
The week-long celebration has sparked discussions about the future of academic publishing, the question of open access and the possibilities of digital in scholarly publishing. As students, Academic Book Week is also causing us to reflect on our experience with academia, as well as on the value of academic libraries and resources. The latter have not only been crucial to our academic learning and achievements, but have also introduced us to groundbreaking theories and new ways of thinking.
When scouring through articles relating to Academic Book Week, one stood out as particularly informative to us future publishers. In a recent article, Christina Kamposiori from Research Libraries UK presented the views of five university librarians on the future of the academic book. We have identified a key point which we believe is relevant to those considering a career in academic publishing – including us!
“The lines between author, publisher, bookseller and librarian may become blurred as we explore the potential for new and innovative partnerships.”
Librarians are about to become a lot more involved in the publishing process, participating in the design of academic resources and creation of content.
The digital revolution is presenting users with new ways of accessing academic content (eg. online journals, videos, and even social media). In order to provide these users with a wider array of formats, new forms of collaboration between all the actors of the academic publishing chain are likely to take place. The forging of closer partnerships may be further fostered by the increase in the number of university presses. Meanwhile, librarians have a valuable role in supporting authors during their research and providing advice. Such communication and collaboration is key in tackling the challenges academic publishing may face and in ensuring the sector stays innovative and relevant to tomorrow’s users.
Academic Book Week has brought to our attention the current issues and debates surrounding the academic book. As MSc Publishing students, we are looking forward to becoming actively involved in these discussions.
Make sure to read more on this issue here (Christina Kamposiori, “Five Librarians Discuss the Future of the Academic Book”British Academy Review)
Find out about Academic Book Week by clicking here
Head here to find out more about Merchiston Publishing’s latest publication, Innovations in Learning and Teaching
To celebrate Academic Book Week 2017, we have partnered with Blackwell’s Bookshop to blog, tweet and generally make a noise about academic publishing from Edinburgh, Scotland!
Blackwell’s Bookshop on South Bridge is the oldest bookshop in Edinburgh and currently has over 250,000 titles in stock ranging from Scottish Fiction to Medical.
Blackwell’s is already an ally of ours. Jaki (Academic Manager) and Ann (Events & Connect Manager) are frequently on campus, not just selling course books, but actively working with the MSc Publishing programme team to enhance the skills of our Publishing postgrads, and show them what it really means to Publish. A. Book. That. Will. Sell!
So, all this week we will be shouting about the great academic books published and sold here in Scotland including, of course, our own recent publication: Innovations in Learning and Teaching, edited by Christine Penman and Dr Monika Foster, and now on sale in – you guessed it – Blackwell’s, Edinburgh!
Innovations in Learning and Teaching
Edited by Christine Penman and Dr Monika Foster
A pedagogic research publication showing new teaching approaches in higher education. This collection of chapters gives voice to academics from different disciplines across Edinburgh Napier University who have all embarked on a quest to question, challenge, and rethink existing practices. With a focus on student experience, this book tests alternative methods, the recombination of parameters, and the re-organisation of learning environments and curriculum design.
ISBN: 978-0-9576882-8-5
£9.99
Now available from Blackwell’s Bookshop, Edinburgh, or via our online shop
We’d like to introduce you to our senior editors: Christine Penman and Monika Foster.
Christine Penman
Christine Penman: Senior Lecturer, Languages Subject Group Leader.
To learn more about Christine Penman, see her staff profile at Edinburgh Napier University’s webpage.
Dr Monika Foster
Dr Monika Foster: Associate Professor and Principal Fellow of Higher Education Academy. To learn more about Dr Monika Foster, see her staff profile at Edinburgh Napier University’s webpage.
Monika Foster, Julia Fotheringham, Avril Gray, Kathryn James, Isla Kapasi, Iain Macdonald, Kirsten MacLeod, Myrna MacLeod, Jennifer Murray, Laurence Patterson, Christine Penman, Stephen Robertson, Sarah Sholl, Mabel Victoria, Keith Walker, Brian Webster-Henderson, Richard Whitecross, Rachel Younger
Meet our Publications team:
MSc Publishing students working in our Publishing Lab.
Follow Innovations in Learning and Teaching on Twitter and like us on Facebook
To find out more about the publication of Innovations in Learning and Teaching– or any of our publications – email the Publishing Programme Leader: a.gray@napier.ac.uk
This week has seen the launch of the Innovations in Learning and Teaching book and eBook.
The sell-out event was introduced by our Vice-Principal, Professor Alistair Sambell and included a “Voices Behind the Book” panel discussion, a “Blind Date with a Book” in support of Book Aid International, sales of The Glorious Thing in aid of PoppyScotland, a Student Awards Ceremony, and of course lots of food and wine!
We have already been receiving high praise of both the publication and the launch event itself, which was professionally organised and managed by a group of our current students. Meet the team…
Here are some photos of the event for those of you not able to make it (all images copyright Edinburgh Napier University).
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Thanks to everyone who attended, and we hope to see even more of you at our next event!
Blog post #2 for the Innovations in Learning and Teaching Book Launch
The newest project for Edinburgh Napier University MSc Publishing students is to plan, manage, promote, and implement an event that celebrates and launches Merchiston Publishing’s newest book. We want to share our work and our EVENT with you!
Kellie, Sarah, Alistair, Hannah & Billy
To bring you up to speed, Edinburgh Napier University presented the Teaching Fellows Conference of 2016 #TFConf16, in January this year. The most recent conference, and those of prior years, sends academic staff, students and institutions a strong message. That if you’re involved in teaching or learning then you must also “question, challenge and rethink existing practices” (foreword).
ENU prides itself on engagement with its staff and this makes the conference invaluable by giving them a chance to meet, discuss ideas, and present their work. All that work is incredibly important because it means that teachers and lecturers are offering the best possible learning environment to their students, and no more so than at Edinburgh Napier University.
This brilliant book not just a chance to more fully understand the principles that guide leading academic practitioners but is also a symbol of commitment from Edinburgh’s community shaping and awarding winning university in order to encourage peer review and to continue to evaluate itself. It is also a celebration of the hard work and talents of staff and students alike.
The conference became the touch paper for this fantastic project. This project is what allows us, the most recent intake of Publishing students at ENU, to be part of the Innovations Team and to develop what we learn as pupils and to bring it to a wider audience.
We’ll be talking more about the contributors and editors of the book, as well as our event preparation, in the days running up to the launch but for now, let’s introduce the current MSc Publishing team and the tasks they’re responsible for…
Sarah
Communications Team
Natalie, Claire, and Sarah are the Communications Team – if you’ve had an email about Innovations in Learning and Teaching, it was probably from us! We are in charge of making sure everybody is up to speed with what’s going on with the project, as well as sending out those all-important invitations. It’s a role that requires patience, friendliness, and consummate professionalism.
Highlights of the course so far have been acquiring practical experience with a live project, developing our problem – solving skills, and getting to talk to experienced people in the industry.
Alistair
Social Media Team
The Social Media Team, made up of Connor, Alistair, and Catherine (your honoured blog poster), are responsible for all content going out on social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We manage the event pages on Facebook and Eventbrite as well as doing other tasks like blog posting on our associated Publishing by Degrees websites. We also support all our lovely classmates in the other teams, including other promotional copy like press releases, email templates and photo editing.
This role has meant that all three of us have immersed ourselves in the world of digital communications and learnt how that affects modern marketing in the publishing sector. It also means that we get to engage on a really personal level with everyone interested in the book and our endeavours. The course’s Creative Toolkit class – using Adobe Creative Suite and learning about book design and production – is brilliant fun and the skills we’re learning are invaluable.
Kellie
Project Research Team
Kellie, Catriona and Merrily have been busy gathering additional information for the rest of the team to utilise. For the most part, this has involved collating information about the editors and contributors of the volume, researching who might be interested in attending the event, and looking at how we can expand the reach of the book itself.
We are most proud of our beautiful project spreadsheet that incorporates invitees, press, bloggers and other organisations. The aim of this document is to provide an efficient and unified system for the communications and events teams to use in getting the word out about the book and the launch, and in administrating the event itself.
Hannah
Design Team
The project’s design team comprises Hannah, Ellen, and Billy. Fascinated by colourful, memorable and effective graphic design, we are responsible for creating and managing all promotional materials and merchandise for the launch of Innovations in Learning and Teaching. We have also undertaken product photography to capture the quality of the physical product for further content to be used by the social media team.
We are enjoying the challenge of the project and the MSc Publishing course in creating striking content and applying our creativity whilst expanding our skill-set.
Events Logistics Team
The Events Team are proud to be managing the logistics and layout of the Innovations in Learning and Teaching book launch. Our team is made up of Amy, April, and Joanna. However, we have also been collaborating closely with members of other teams to make sure our event is smooth sailing. Since booking the venue, Amy and Joanna have been leading hospitality for the event arranging everything from budgets to cheeseboards and wine. Meanwhile, April and Merrily, from the Marketing & Research team, have been programming and organising the event activities.
We are incredibly passionate about this project and cannot wait to see everyone on the night!
Helen & Ann
Project Management Team
We are Helen, Jackie and Ann, the project managers for the Innovations in Learning and Teaching Launch. We have a fantastic project team, making our roles as project managers less about overseeing the flow of the project and more about making sure our fellow team members have what they need to succeed. We have picked up roles dealing with the financial aspects of the launch as well as handling the audio/visual details for the project.
We have really enjoyed being able to learn and utilise these new-found skills in working with this event as well as the MSc Publishing course as a whole, and look forward to seeing how they’ll benefit us in the future.
Now that you’ve met the team, hang fire for the next update on the ins and outs of what we’ve been up to for the past 12 weeks in order to make this great event happen. We knew instantly that we wanted to honour the efforts of those involving in the writing, editing, production, and publishing of Merchiston Publishing’s Innovations in Teaching and Learning and we look forward to bringing you our event.
If you would like to attend the Innovations in Teaching and Learning book launch then you can access tickets here. The event will be on 30th November, Room B32, Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh. Tickets are free but limited so hurry! Everyone is welcome.
(Photography courtesy of Hannah Killoh & Ellen Desmond)
Christine Penman: Senior Lecturer, Languages Subject Group Leader
Co-editor Christine Penman has dedicated much of her career to language and multi-modal communication teaching and research. Her theoretical and applied interests are in cultural and cross-cultural aspects of consumption with a particular focus on advertising. As a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, her research on pedagogical initiatives places an emphasis on the internationalisation of the curriculum. Her research outputs span these two areas of research interests in the form of national and international publications and conference presentations.
To learn more about Christine Penman, see her staff profile at Edinburgh Napier University’s webpage.
Dr Monika Foster
Dr Monika Foster: Associate Professor and Director of Learning and Teaching
Associate Professor and Principal Fellow of Higher Education Academy, co-editor Dr Monika Foster has a long history of experience in pedagogical design and research outputs, placing her well in her position as co-editor of Innovations in Learning and Teaching.
Monika’s research interests lie in the linguistic, academic and cultural challenges faced by international students in cross-border education. Her recent research includes a scoping study of international student transitions as part of the QAA Enhancement Theme Transitions, a cross-university qualitative research study on exploring staff perceptions of internationalisation of the curriculum and a Santander funded research project on the motivations of South American students to study in the UK. She has published edited collections and pedagogic books nationally and internationally.
To learn more about Monika Foster, see her staff profile at Edinburgh Napier University’s webpage.
I’m Laura, a 24-year-old Italian human with a penchant for languages and staring intensely at pizza.
During my undergraduate studies in Modern Languages and Cultures for Business (a peculiar mix of languages, literature, linguistics, and law), I landed a stable position in legal translations and social services, which gave me the opportunity to work on publishing projects and to start dipping my toes into the processes of editing and formatting.
After taking a fascinating minor in art, literature, and how cultural heritage can shape and integrate urban landscape, I went on to write my thesis on Bloomsday celebrations, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and its various Italian editions. This resulted in me embarking in the fabulous world of publishing, where I hope to eventually become a Rights Department wizard and InDesign user extraordinaire.
Within the MSc Publishing programme, I work on my InDesign skills by being in the production team for Innovations in Learning and Teaching, and acting as a digital designer and contributor for Publishers Inc, while handling the rights department for both projects.
When I’m not hyping over GREP functions or being very picky about the best verb to use in a contract, I can be found looming around inside art galleries, hiking, or planning my next travelling adventure.
By Marcus Hansson under CC by 2.0
