About

Hello. I am an ESRC-funded PhD student in the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. My research and teaching interests are concerned with learning spaces, digital cultures and multimodality. You can contact me at  j.i.lamb@sms.ed.ac.uk and follow me on Twitter at @james858499.

This is a summary of my Doctoral Research:

Space, Sociomateriality, Sound. Exploring the Learning Spaces of Higher Education 
This ESRC-funded thesis is concerned with the ways that the pedagogic and societal shift to the digital is affecting the learning spaces of higher education. My research takes place in the setting of undergraduate courses in American History and Architectural Design, and against the backdrop of a growing critical interest in the nature of university learning spaces. Across two semesters I observed students and tutors as they participated in activities across and beyond the campus. I documented their learning practices and environments through audio recordings, photographs and field notes. This was supported by interviews and course documentation. An important part of this broadly ethnographic and qualitative approach was the use of sonic material and methods as I asked how sound, in conjunction with digital resources, was implicated in the negotiation and power dynamics of learning spaces. My research is supported by theoretical work in sociomateriality, alongside speculative methods and the concept of the methods assemblage. I am aiming to complete my thesis during the first half of 2019.

My other areas of current research include the learning spaces of online distance students, multimodal assessment, walking ethnography and sound within social research. ​I am a co-author of the Manifesto for Teaching Online.

I have taught on the Education and Digital Cultures, Assessment, Learning and Digital Education  and Introduction to Digital Environments for Learning courses within the MSc in Digital Education at Edinburgh University. I was a teaching assistant on the recent edX Social Research Methods MOOC. Before all of this I coordinated and taught an academic skills course for students entering higher education. Details of other recent workshops and seminars can be found in my publications page.

Other bits and pieces
​I also look after the Elektronisches Lernen Muzik and Composition: Conversations about Content and Form projects.