Mel Joyner

Mel Joyner

Job title: Associate Professor, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Health, Education and Society
Address: Room 405, Rolle Building, Drake Circus,
Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
Postal address: Room 405, Rolle Building, Drake Circus,
Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
Telephone: +441752585797
Email: M.Joyner@plymouth.ac.uk

Role
I am the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) for the Faculty of Health, Education and Society. In this role, I work with other members of the Faculty Executive Group to support the strategic development of the Faculty's teaching and learning agenda. That broad strategic remit brings together enhancement and innovation activities and quality assurance, including engagement with relevant professional, statutory and regulatory bodies such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health Professions Council, the General Social Care Council, the Training and Development Agency and the General Optical Council. I also chair the University's Academic Regulations Sub-Committee, and am the Academic Coordinator for the Plymouth University Summer School.

Current strategic development strands for the Faculty include

The development of inter-professional learning opportunities which take advantage of the Faculty's diverse professional portfolio including health, social care and education
Internationalisation, focus both on the development of an "offer" that is attractive to international applicants and the internationalisation of the curriculum
Technology enhanced learning, using learning technologies to deliver learning and support for a dispersed student population
The provision of Continuing Professional Development opportunities which are aligned to the workforce development needs of our stakeholders

With a background in political science, I consider myself to be a social science academic, with specialisations in public policy and administration and in quantitative research methods. My current teaching includes contributing to the Undergraduate programmes in Sociology and Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies, for which I teach Media Studies and Interpersonal Violence respectively. I am also the Academic Link Tutor for the BSc (Hons) Social Sciences programme offered at Highlands College in Jersey. My scholarly interests include new media studies, information and digiital literacy, and transformative pedagogy. Working with Debby Cotton, Rosemary George and Laura Lake, my current research focus explores the reasons for differential levels of achievement within Higher Education in terms of ethnicity and gender.

Qualifications & background

BA (Hons.) Political Science and History (Intern), Wilfrid Laurier Univeristy, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 1986.

MA Political Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1990.

Roles on external bodies

Member of
-- The Society for Research into Higher Education
-- The International Solciety for the Scholarhsip of Learning and Teaching
-- The British Association of Canadian Studies

Teaching interests

I currently teach specialist Stage 3 undergraduate modules in the fields of interpersonal violence and new media. I also have expertise in teaching research methods, particularly quantitative data collection and analysis. I am a learning skills specialist, and have a particular interest in the area of information literacy.

Staff serving as external examiners

Social Policy, Anglia Ruskin University

Research interests

My broad research interests include the sociology and governance of virtual spaces and the construction of “literacy” as a governance strategy. My recent work draws upon notions of virtual and technological risk to consider the moral and ethical dimensions to information literacy education practices and their links to cosmopolitan citizenship. I am currently researching discourses of online “hate” and “violence” and the construction of the virtual body within cyberspace. In more general terms, my research and scholarly interests fall within the following areas:

Virtual Cultures and New Media
-- E-learning theories and methods

-- theories of 'virtuality' and embodiment

-- social exclusion and information technology

-- governance and regulatory strategies
-- new media ethics

Information Literacy
-- information literacy, diversity and citizenship

-- plagiarism prevention
-- non-linear writing and argumentation

-- assessment strategies

-- technical skills, reflective learning and ethics

UoP Research group membership

Centre for Culture, Community and Society (CCCS)
Cultural Industries
Social and Public Policy

Other research

Joyner, M. and Waterfield, J. 2007. "Including Mental Health: The Governance of Multidiscipilary Student Support Work", Third Annual Personal Tutoring and Academic Advising Conference: An International Perspective. Higher Education Academy/National Academic Advising Association Joint Conference, University of Edinburgh,.
Joyner, M. 2006. "Encounters with Extremism: Information Literacy and the Management of Risk in the Wired Curriculum", Society for Research into Higher Education Conference, Brighton.
Joyner, M. and Johns, N. 2006. "The Politics and Propaganda of Video Gaming", School of Law and Social Science Seminar Series. University of Plymouth.
Stokes, A; Davis, L.; Joyner, M. and Reid, F. 2004. “A Reasoned Approach to Assessment: A Web-based Resource for Module Leaders”, PLAT 2004, LTSN Psychology, University of Strathclyde.

Stokes, A; Davis, L.; Joyner, M. and Reid, F. 2003. “Assessment Methods and Learning Outcomes”, Promoting Successful Learning and Teaching. University of Plymouth.

Joyner, M. 2002. ‘Social Policy and the Internet’: Web-based Learning Strategies for the Social Sciences. Electronic Supported Learning Best Practice. Learning and Teaching Support Network. University of the West of England.

Joyner, M. 2000. Bullying and the Sociology of 'Risk'. Victimization of Children and Youth: An International Research Conference. University of New Hampshire.

Joyner, M. 1998. Building Gendered Identities in Cyberspace: Web Pages as Reflection of 'Woman', Working at Being Women: Women in the Community Conference, University College, Scarborough.

Joyner, M. 1998. Judicial Review in Social Policy: Regulatory Regimes and the New Research Agenda, Paper presented at the Social Policy Association Annual Conference, University of Lincolnshire and Humberside.

Joyner, M. 1996. Emancipatory Research as Politics; or, the Canadian State, the Shelter Movement and Social Science Discourse in Canadian Public Policy”, Fourth Annual Essex International Social Science Conference on Methodology, University of Essex,

Joyner, M. 1996. Dividing the Difference: Placing the Canadian Domestic Violence Strategy into a Federal Context”, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Brock University,

Publications

Joyner, M and Dixon, J. 2000. Family Abuse: A Cross-National Review, New Global Development: Journal of International and Comparative Social Welfare, 16, 1-3.

Joyner, M. 2000. Conceptual Struggles And Policy Complexities: Family Abuse Research In A Cross-National Context, New Global Development: Journal of International and Comparative Social Welfare, 16, 94-101.

Joyner, M. 2000. Surfing the Crime Net: Cybercrime. Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal, 2:4.

Joyner, M. 2000. Surfing the Crime Net: Probation and the Risk Society. Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal, 2:2, 67-74.

Hyde, M, Dixon, J and Joyner, M. 1999. "Work For Those That Can, Security For Those That Cannot": The United Kingdom's New Social Security Reform Agenda. International Social Security Review, 52, 69-86.

Joyner, M. 1999. Surfing the Crime Net: Teaching Restorative Justice. Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal, 1:4, 49-56.

Joyner, M. 1999. Surfing the Crime Net: Domestic Violence. Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal, 1:2, 51-58.

Reports & invited lectures

Joyner, M. 2006. “Student Disability and the Placement Experience”, Placements Conference. University of Plymouth.

Burkill, S. and Joyner, M. 2006. “Plagiarism; An Assessment Problem?”, University of Plymouth Colleges Conference. University of Plymouth.