Sally Smith
Sally Smith

Prof Sally Smith PFHEA FBCS

Head of Graduate Apprenticeships and Skills Development and Professor

Biography

Professor Sally Smith MA MSc DBA PFHEA

Sally is Head of Graduate Apprenticeships and Skills Development at Edinburgh Napier. She has an MA (Hons) in Mathematics from Aberdeen University, Scotland, an MSc in Computer Science from City University, London and a DBA from Edinburgh Napier University. Sally is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has previously worked in the telecommunications and aerospace industries in the UK and Europe.

She is the Director of the Centre for Higher Education Research at Edinburgh Napier University and Project Director of e-Placement Scotland, creating paid placements for computing students across Scotland.

Sally leads the Data Education in Universities workstream of the Data Skills Gateway of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Region City Deal.

Sally’s research focus is on the impact of work placements and graduate apprenticeships, especially on under-represented groups.

Previously, Sally was Dean of Computing 2008-2020. Between 2011 and 2018 she was on the committee of the UK Council of Professors and Heads of Computing, serving as Chair between 2014 and 2016.

Research Areas

News

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • SQA Advisory Council
  • Sally Smith has been appointed to the Shadbolt Review Group

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy
  • Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy
  • Conference Chair Horizons in STEM Higher Education
  • UK STEM Conference June 2016: A new conference for teaching and learning research in STEM subjects.

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External at Birmingham City University

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Connect Tech 100
  • Fellow of the British Computer Society
  • Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Sally Smith and Bill Buchanan in Tech 100 for Scotland

 

Media Activity

  • Graduate Apprenticeships - doubling of places
  • Edinburgh Napier gets major funding to teach digital skills
  • Edinburgh Napier University – Bridging the digital skills gap
  • Scottish Business News Network
  • The code for future success is investing in our graduates
  • Times Higher Article
  • Edinburgh Napier takes over as parent organisation to GGS

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Principal Fellowship of Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the British Computer Society

 

Date


88 results

Apprentices' longitudinal perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships

Presentation / Conference
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Fabian, K. (2022, September)
Apprentices' longitudinal perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships. Paper presented at Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities, OLKC 2022, Trollhättan, Sweden
Purpose: In degree apprenticeships, the tripartite collaboration between the apprentice, the employer, and the university is key to success. As the apprentices are at the cent...

Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning

Presentation / Conference
Fabian, K., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Meharg, D. (2022, September)
Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning. Paper presented at Association for Learning Technology Annual Conference, Manchester
Moore’s (1993) transactional distance theory recognises that communications and psychological distance between learner and teacher are affected by course structure, dialogue b...

Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech

Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Barnett, C., Smith, S., Barr, M., & Shankland, C. (2022)
Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech. In UKICER '22: Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555016
The gender imbalance in the tech industry [21], mirrored in computing education [13], is problematic in terms of providing appropriate products and services for the whole popu...

An exploration of academic identity through the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal Article
Smith, S., Plum, K., Taylor-Smith, E., & Fabian, K. (2022)
An exploration of academic identity through the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(9), 1290-1303. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2022.2072194
The COVID-19 global pandemic precipitated migration to online learning and teaching for students and universities. This study explored the change in self-identification in an ...

Identifying factors influencing study skills engagement and participation for online learners in higher education during Covid-19

Journal Article
Fabian, K., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Meharg, D. (2022)
Identifying factors influencing study skills engagement and participation for online learners in higher education during Covid-19. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(6), 1915-1936. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13221
The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted education across the world as campuses closed to restrict the spread of the virus. UK universities swiftly migrated to online delivery. The exp...

How are we positioning degree apprenticeships? Analysis of adverts

Conference Proceeding
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., & Smith, S. (2021)
How are we positioning degree apprenticeships? Analysis of adverts. In SRHE International Conference on Research into Higher Education
Degree apprentices are recruited by employers, rather than universities, reflecting their status as paid employees, first and foremost. This study analysed job adverts for IT ...

Computing students' attitudes to environmental sustainability education

Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., Egan, C., & Plum, K. (2021, June)
Computing students' attitudes to environmental sustainability education. Paper presented at Horizons in STEM Higher Education, Online
Students have voiced concerns that their university courses do not equip them with sufficient information to understand the challenges of environmental sustainability. Althoug...

A multi-institutional exploration of the social mobility potential of degree apprenticeships

Journal Article
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Fabian, K., Zarb, M., Paterson, J., Barr, M., & Berg, T. (2021)
A multi-institutional exploration of the social mobility potential of degree apprenticeships. Journal of Education and Work, 34(4), 488-503. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2021.1946494
This mixed-method study at six universities asked degree apprentices about their trajectories into the apprenticeship, to better understand the social mobility potential of ap...

Earn as you learn: Widening participation through apprenticeships as debt-free degrees

Presentation / Conference
Meharg, D., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Khristin, F. (2021, March)
Earn as you learn: Widening participation through apprenticeships as debt-free degrees. Presented at Advance HE Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2021, Online
Apprenticeship Degrees provide opportunities to study for a degree without incurring debt. Collaborations between employers and HEIs enable new or established employees to ear...

An exploration of degree apprentice perspectives: A Q methodology study

Journal Article
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., Meharg, D., & Varey, A. (2022)
An exploration of degree apprentice perspectives: A Q methodology study. Studies in Higher Education, 47(7), 1397-1409. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1897094
Degree apprenticeships have recently been introduced in the UK, representing a significant shift in approaches to degree-level study: from traditional models of higher educati...

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