Natasha Semmens

Natasha Semmens, Academic Fellow, CILASS
PhD (Sheffield), PCHE (Sheffield), MA Socio-Legal Studies (Sheffield), LLB(hons) (Kingston University)

Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 6789

email : n.c.semmens@sheffield.ac.uk

About me…

I am a lecturer in the School of Law. My academic interests include the fear of crime, white collar crime, research methods and policing (more info).

I have been involved in CILASS activities for about three years now. First, as the Law School´s Project Leader for Phase 1 (with Dr Mark Taylor) and then as the School´s CILASS Champion. This year I have been closely involved in the development of our Phase 4 programme which includes the development of two new innovative modules, a research-led teaching away day and a series of IBL master-classes.

I am also a Senate Fellow (my Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was awarded in 2006).

About current IBL projects…

Understanding Law 1

This is a foundational module in law for our large first year cohort (c. 450 students) and we rely heavily on IBL approaches to teach the skills of legal inquiry. To accompany our lecture and seminar programme, we have an electronic workbook which guides students through the foundational materials using a series of research exercises and problem based activities. To support the workbook, we have a student-tutor scheme which gives a team of 20-30 second and third year students the opportunity to teach their first year peers in specially designed colloquia.

White Collar Crime

This is a third year optional module for students in the School of Law. We place a heavy emphasis on integrating the research process into the student learning experience in this module and students play an active role in shaping the syllabus according to their interests and experiences. Students work collaboratively in Case Study workshops which are held in the CILASS Collabatory in Bartolomé House.

Student Research Projects

I am currently working on a number of research projects with South Yorkshire Police and have been able to involve my students in my academic research. This semester I am supervising three students who are conducting empirical research with Police teams in Sheffield and Barnsley for dissertation projects. This is an exciting opportunity for the students to learn about policing in a practical way and a great way of involving practitioners in our curriculum!

About my work as CILASS Fellow…

I started work as a Fellow in February 2008 so I am currently in the early stages of developing my research plan. I am very interested in exploring some of the challenges faced by staff and student when IBL is introduced into the curriculum. My own experience has shown that a number of important issues arise when IBL approaches are introduced – students need different kinds of feedback, new skills and, importantly, confidence in their abilities as independent and collaborative learners. Staff, too, need to adapt to new teaching styles and explore new ways of interacting with students – especially in large groups. I am also interested in the concepts of `the Sheffield graduate´ and `professionalism´ and hope to be able to link my research with these themes and my previous work on Personal Development Plans.