Sarah Aynsley

Biography

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Biology from the University of York in 2007, and completed my PhD in immunology in 2011. After researching the role of macrophages in rheumatoid arthritis at The University of Sheffield I joined the medical school at Keele in 2012 and am now a senior lecturer with an education and scholarship focus.
My specialism is immunology and I am particularly interested in innovative approaches to teaching. A self-described ‘accidental educational researcher’ I completed my master’s in education in 2015 and have two strands of educational research currently running in gamification and mixed methods teaching.

Research and scholarship

I have two predominant threads of educational research activity as well as being involved in smaller collaborative projects

Using creative mixed methods approaches to teaching and learning

This research area is in using creative mixed method approaches to deliver teaching. Part of this theme was a longitudinal 4 year action research project enhancing learning in immunology, culminating in producing bespoke video resources to aid learning. With this research strand has come establishment of my speciality in producing bespoke resources which I disseminate through workshops at Keele and nationally.

Gamification of Learning

A long term research project in collaboration with Dr Russell Crawford investigating the use of elements of gaming to enhance engagement with learning, particularly in subjects which students struggle to understand. This research has national and international reach with publications and collaborative projects and 8 separate games supported by peer reviewed pedagogic evaluation.

Teaching

I teach across the first three years of the MBChB Medicine course as well as the MSc Physician’s Associate (PA) studies. My specialism is in the delivery of immunology and immunopathology and I lead the first year unit focusing on infection and immunology. Across the faculty I am the medicine lead for interprofessional education and teach staff workshops on creating bespoke illustrations and animations for teaching. Recently I have been involved in the redesign of the medicine curriculum as well as embedding sustainability teaching across the course.