Vanessa Parson
Title: Dr
Forename: Vanessa
Surname: Parson
Room No: 321b
Tel No: +44 (191) 515 2616
Fax No: +44 (191) 515 2308
Job Title: Lecturer in Psychology
Team: Psychology
Email Address: vanessa.parson@sunderland.ac.uk
I obtained a BSc in Psychology from University of Wales, Bangor (1998) and a PhD in Neuropsychology from Aston University (2003), under the supervision of Dr Ian Holliday. My PhD focused on attentional processing in parietal and occipital cortices using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and psychophysical methods. Following my degrees I worked as a research fellow at Nottingham University before moving to Birmingham where I worked as a sessional researcher and lecturer at Aston University and Newman University College alongside teaching A level Psychology at St George's School, Edgbaston.
Current Teaching
- Module Leader for PSY130 (Introductory Psychology)
- Cognitive Psychology
- Biological Psychology
Research
My main area of research is directly linked with improving education: focusing on the use of technology to improve the educational experience and enhance learning. This research has two strands: problem-based learning within virtual worlds and the use of podcasting as a learning tool. The research into Second Life has produced a guide for educators on the use of problem-based learning in Second Life (http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf) and a chapter in an international Handbook for Virtual World use in Education (publication 2011). In 2007, while investigating the use of podcasting as an educational tool at Aston University, I was part of the group short-listed for the `Times Higher Award for the Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year'.
My additional research interests include perception and attentional processing, specifically the effect of cross-modality cues on response times and the costs to performance involved in distraction. I am also writing a book based on study skills within Psychology (publication 2012).
External Appointments
No information currently available
Recent Publications
Bignell, S. & Parson, V. (2010). Psychology learning and teaching in virtual worlds: The PREVIEW-Psych project. Conference Talk, PLAT2010 (Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference). Edinburgh Napier University, UK.
Bignell, S., & Parson, V. (2010). Best Practices guide for PBL and Second Life. Higher Education Academy Psychology Network
Parson, V. J., Reddy, P.A., Wood, J., & Senior, C. (2009). Educating an IPod generation: Undergraduate attitudes, experiences and understanding of vodcast and podcast use, Learning, Media and Technology, 34(3), 215-228
Reddy, P.A, Greasley, A, & Parson, V. J., et al (2009). Becoming a Psychology Undergraduate; integrating study skills and integrating students, Psychology of Learning and Teaching, 7(2), 38-41
Bignell, S., Parson, V., Wood, J., Silber, K., Reddy, P. & Senior, C. (2008). Second Life: another world in which to teach and learn. Workshop, PLAT2008 (Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference), University of Bath, UK.
Reddy, P.A., & Parson, V. J., (2007). Student response to a pub quiz style first year psychology assessment, Psychology of Learning and Teaching: Conference Special Report, 6(2), 154-159
Reddy P., Parson V., Wood J., and Senior C. (2007). Podcasting trials in a UK psychology degree. Paper at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference, Sydney, July 2007
Parson, V. J., & Holliday, I. E. (2001). Parietal and Occipital Evoked Magnetic Responses vary with Attentional Load in a Cued Visual Orientation Discrimination Task. Neuroimage, Part 2 Suppl., June, 13(6), S344
Recent Presentations
No information currently available
