Mark Elliott

For full and up-to-date details please refer toa target=_blank rel=nofollow href=https:orcid.org0000-0003-2560-8760https:orcid.org0000-0003-2560-8760 I am trained in experimental psychology at the University of London, and subsequently in psychophysics at the University of Leipzig, Germany and electrophysiology at the Max-Planck Institute for CognitiveNeuroscience, also in Leipzig

I have authored 124 Publications in peer-reviewed journals and books, including 9 invited book chapters, advanced reviews, and feature articles. There are additionally, 4 edited proceedings volumes and 2 edited special journal issues in addition to 74 articles in indexed proceedings volumes (Hirschs h-index = 26; Egghes g index = 41). Publications are in journals of median (estimated) impact factor 4. This is 3 * the median impact of journals within the discipline of Psychology (2010, median = 1.33). Since 1998 I have delivered 90+ lectures in 15 countries including major universities or scientific meetings in the UK and Ireland, USA, Russia, Japan, India, China, France, Germany, India, Brazil, Turkey, Israel, Switzerland and Italy. These include 70 invited talks at colloquia or major national and international symposia and 10 named keynote lectures. 

I am a psychological scientist engaged in non-STEM and non-health related basic-science research. My research is concerned largely with the invention and testing of methods for examining the dynamics of psychological function. 

My teaching philosophy incorporates ideas outlined in Constructivism and Social Constructivism. Both approaches view learning as an active process through which knowledge is constructed and not passively acquired. Knowledge construction is based upon personal experience and the continual testing of hypotheses concerning the truth, validity or applicability of the knowledge given further knowledge or novel contexts and application. Learning is also a process by which learners are integrated into a knowledge community. Because of this, it is essential for the process of teaching to create a community of inquiry. Using this approach, learning may lever the social context within which it occurs to facilitate a non-exclusive, multidimensional and better contextualised, i.e. a better understanding of the knowledge being studied. The learning environment I provide is one in which students not only learn facts, but also have access to a variety of different modes for learning. This allows students to be both challenged and also to find a means to master learning at a level appropriate to them. As outlined by Lev Vygotsky through his concept of Zone of Proximal Development (e.g. Chaiklin, 2003) students who are not challenged enough lose interest, and those who are challenged at unattainable levels lose self-confidence. Because of this, it is important to provide opportunities for students to learn in the way that suits them and their ability best. It is also important to maintain high standards in terms of pedagogical challenge and learning objectives. This ensures students feel intellectually challenged, while still being able to achieve the required standard with reasonable effort. In this way, they will learn how to invest work and effort that leads them to success and satisfaction. Finding the right balance for individual students is demanding and not always possible. However, use and development of modern teaching and assessment technologies offers a variety of exciting new possibilities. Shifting focus from teaching to active learning facilitates student development of learning skills and allows them the opportunity to take responsibility for learning. In this way they are better equipped to take on the challenge of continuous of lifelong learning. In this process I view the role of professor as someone who provides scaffolding for learning by offering structure and support. Structure is provided by designing the course, providing information and content, and designing assessments that reflect learning outcomes. Support is provided through face-to-face contact during lectures, but most importantly through interaction this may be teacher to student, student to student, both in and out of class, and online. Focussed interaction is also achieved by means of direct feedback at critical junctures in the learning experience, and this is where frequent, formative assessment plays an important role.In the process of teaching and learning scaffolding is also provided through clarity of instruction and information. Students are much more efficient learners when they understand what is expected of them. With this in mind, I make sure to provide clear information about modules that includes learning goals and learning outcomes. It is also essential to provide students with clear instruction, guidelines and marking criteria for assessments. In this way, before engaging with the course, students have clear idea what is expected of them and what knowledge and skills they should expect to have after completing the course. Finally, as a part of active inquiry I strongly believe that teaching and learning should be integrated with research. In this way students not only learn about the final outcomes of research studies, but also gain deeper understanding of the material and experience the process of inquiry.