Clare Dowdall | School of Education

Dr Clare Dowdall

Lecturer in Education

C.Dowdall2@exeter.ac.uk

4888

+44 (0)1392 724888

North Cloisters NC128

North Cloisters, University of Exeter, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK

Overview

I joined the University of Exeter’s Graduate School/ School of Education as Lecturer in Education (Language and Literacy) in 2020. I am currently programme lead for the MA Education Online Programme, and most of my teaching is within this Programme. I also supervise doctoral candidates on the MPhil/ PhD and EdD Programmes. Prior to working in the School of Education, I was employed as a Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education at University of Plymouth. I have extensive experience of teaching, supervising and examining across the full range of educational programmes, including PhD, EdD, MA, and PGCE.

My current research focuses on children’s writing and text production in a variety of school-based and informal contexts. I completed my PhD in children's text production in online social networking sites in 2012, and have been working in the area of literacies and literacy pedagogies ever since. In March 2022 I was awarded a British Academy/ Leverhulme SR grant to investigate teaching narrative writing with digital resources and apps.

I have an active interest in all aspects of literacy education and policy. I am a long-standing member of the United Kingdom Literacy Association. I currently sit on their Executive Council, with responsibility for convening the UKLA Research Sub-Committee. From 2015-2018 I co-edited the UKLA’s journal Literacy.

I graduated from Exeter University with a BA(Ed) in English and Drama in 1997. I worked in Devon, as a teacher and literacy subject leader, and then completed an MA(Ed) in Language and Literacy with University of Plymouth. For this, I researched children’s text production in out of school contexts. In 2010 I was the recipient of the UKLA/Wiley Blackwell Research in Literacy Award for my paper: Impressions, improvisations and compositions: reframing children's text production in the digital age, Literacy, 43(2) pp 91-99.

Qualifications

BA(Ed)(Hons) Primary English with Education and Drama (QTS), University of Exeter - Dissertation Special Award

MA(Ed) Language and Literacy, University of Plymouth

PhD, University of Plymouth

Research group links

Centre for Research in Writing

Research

Research interests

My current research focuses on children’s writing and text production in a variety of school-based and informal contexts. In March 2022 I was awarded a British Academy/ Leverhulme SR grant to investigate teaching narrative writing with digital resources and apps. In 2016 I was awarded a small research award from the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) to investigate teacher knowledge about writing.

From 2017 to 2020 I co-convened the UKLA Digital Literacies in Education SIG. As part of this work, I co-convened the UKLA Digital Literacies in Education Task Group with Professor Cathy Burnett, Sheffield Hallam University. This group was funded by UKLA to develop research-informed resources for teachers to promote critical and creative engagement with digital literacies.

Publications

Books

Myhill D, Watson A, Newman R, Dowdall C (2022). Understanding Literacy and Disadvantage., SAGE. Abstract.

Dowdall C, Burnett C (eds)(2021). Digital Literacies in Education: Teaching, Learning and Assessment in 21st Century Classrooms. Leicester, United Kingdom Literacy Association.

Journal articles

McClay J, Dowdall C (2019). Editorial. Literacy, 53(1), 1-2.

Dowdall C (2018). Ben and his army scenes: a consideration of one child’s out-of-school text production. English in Education, 40(3), 39-54.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2018). Editorial. Literacy, 52(1), 1-2.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2018). Editorial. Literacy, 52(3), 115-116.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2017). Editorial. Literacy, 51(1), 1-2.

Dowdall C, McClay J (2017). Editorial. Literacy, 51(3), 121-122.

Reedy D, Dowdall C, McClay J (2017). Editorial. Literacy, 51(2), 53-55.

Reedy D, Dowdall C, McClay J (2016). Call for papers for a Special Themed Issue of Literacy: Assessment, Accountability and Policy – April 2017. Literacy, 50(2), 112-112.

Reedy D, Dowdall C, McClay J (2016). Call for papers for a Special Themed Issue of Literacy: Assessment, Accountability and Policy – April 2017. Literacy, 50(1), 52-52.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2016). Editorial. Literacy, 50(3), 113-115.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2016). Editorial. Literacy, 50(2), 53-54.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2015). Editorial. Literacy, 49(2), 57-59.

McClay J, Dowdall C (2015). Editorial. Literacy, 49(3), 113-114.

Dowdall C (2015). Working with multimodality: rethinking literacy in a digital age. JOURNAL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY, 15(2), 281-284. Author URL.

Dowdall C (2009). Impressions, improvisations and compositions: reframing children's text production in social network sites. Literacy, 43(2), 91-99. Abstract.

Dowdall C (2009). Reading, writing and thinking: the postformal basics. ENGLISH IN AUSTRALIA, 44(1), 73-75. Author URL.

Dowdall C (2006). Dissonance between the digitally created words of school and home. Literacy, 40(3), 153-163. Abstract.

Chapters

Dowdall C (2020). Teaching writing in digital times: Stories from the early years. In Chen H, Myhill D, Lewis H (Eds.) Developing Writers Across the Primary and Secondary Years, Oxon: Routledge, 78-93.

Dowdall C (2019). Young children's writing in the 21st century: the challenge of moving from paper to screen. In Erstad O, Flewitt R, Kummerling-Meibauer B, Pires Pereira IS (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Digital Literacies in Early Childhood, Oxon: Routledge, 257-269.

Dowdall C (2016). Children's Writing in the Twenty-First Century: Mastery, Crafting and Control. In Parry B, Burnett C, Merchant G (Eds.) Literacy, Media, Technology: Past, Present and Future, London: Bloomsbury, 163-182. Abstract.

Carrington V, Dowdall C (2016). Vernacular creativity in urban textual landscapes. In Jones RH (Ed) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Creativity, Oxon: Routledge, 415-430.

Carrington V, Dowdall C (2013). This is a job for Hazmat Guy! Global Media Cultures and Children's Everyday Lives. In Hall K, Cremin T, Comber B, Moll LC (Eds.) International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning, and Culture, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 96-107.

Dowdall C (2009). Masters and critics: children as producers of online digital texts. In Carrington V, Robinson M (Eds.) Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices, London: Sage, 43-61.

Dowdall C (2009). The Texts of Me and the Texts of Us: Improvisation and polished performance in Social Networking Sites. In Willett R, Robinson M, Marsh J (Eds.) Play, Creativity and Digital Cultures, Oxon: Routledge, 73-91.

Teaching

MA Education Online experience and responsibilities

Programme Leader (September 2023)

Deputy Programme Leader (from September 2022)

Module leader and tutor - Dissertation Module (EFPM013)

Module leader and tutor - Language and Literacy 'Reading Rights' Module (EFPM009)

Module leader and tutor - Language and Literacy 'Writing Matters' Module (EFPM012)

Modules

2023/24

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