Jane Sjoberg SFHEA

Jane Sjoberg

EAP Teaching Fellow

Contact details

Email
j.e.sjoberg@bham.ac.uk
Address
Birmingham International Academy
Priorsfield
Edgbaston Park Road
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE). At the BIA, I teach on a range of insessional Academic English and Study Skills programmes. I work closely with departments and have a key role in the development of teaching and learning resources designed to help international students whose habitual language is not English to succeed in all five colleges and at all levels from Undergraduate to Postgraduate (Taught and by Research). I have a keen interest in staff development, working for several years as a coordinator on the BIA’s CPD team. I also provide staff development sessions for departments wishing to explore their own practice and share strategies to enhance the international student experience. 

Qualifications

Academic

MA TESOL (University of Manchester)

BA Hons in Modern Languages (University of Catania, Italy)

BA Hons in Italian and German (University of Exeter)

Teaching

RSA CELTA

PGCE with QTS (Sheffield Hallam University)

QTLS - ESOL (IFL/SET)

TEFLQ

Biography

From 1988 to 2006 I worked in a wide range of educational and professional environments in Sicily (Italy). This included teacher training projects for the Ministry of Education and ESP courses (e.g. English for Surveyors, Business English and English for Quality Management in Education). I did a great deal of voluntary work in this time and was project coordinator for a non-profit organisation (LILA) working with people affected by HIV/AIDs and substance abuse. From 2003 to 2006, I worked as an undergraduate English tutor at the University of Catania's Faculty of Languages and designed and delivered courses and assessments for postgraduates in Medicine and the Sciences at the University of Catania’s Graduate School. Since relocating to the UK in 2006, I have taught both in Further and Higher Education contexts, including some challenging but rewarding work with refugees and asylum seekers. I contribute regularly to internal and external teacher training events and publications. In addition to my university work, I also work as a language exam item writer, designing general, EAP and ESOL assessments for language proficiency tests at different levels for a number of boards.

Teaching

I have developed courses and taught on a variety of English Modules (including Foundation and Pre-Masters) and departmental insessional English programmes such as

  • Academic Communication Skills for Biosciences (UG)
  • Academic English & Communicating in Science (iDTP Pre-PhD)
  • Academic English Enhancement Programme (for 3+1 PGTs)
  • Academic English for BSc Accounting & Finance
  • Academic English for MSc & BSc Computer Science
  • Academic English for MSc Economics
  • Academic English for MA Education & PGCE
  • Academic English for MSc Environmental Sciences
  • Academic English for MSc Investments & Financial Technology
  • Academic English for MA LCAHM
  • Academic English for BSc & MSc Mechanical Engineering
  • Academic English for PGRs
  • Academic Success for MSc Management
  • Academic Success for MSc Social Policy
Although I teach across all college disciplines, I have a special focus on Engineering and Science pathways, in particular Computer Science.

Other activities

I have a special interest in curriculum development and materials writing across BIA programmes. I have written numerous in-house teaching and learning materials for the BIA, including presessional course materials and the materials for the Advanced Academic Skills and Pre-Masters modules for the Foundation Programme. I have been instrumental in the creation of high quality online teaching and learning resources, including the 15-Week Online Presessional English Course, the Pre-Arrival Academic English Course and a webinar series to support students who may need to interrupt their studies for short periods. My current focus is on the development of materials to support insessional English programmes, including departmental courses, staff development sessions and core BIA courses such as the Academic English Enhancement Programme (for 3+1 PGTs).

I contribute regularly at internal and external conferences in EAP and teacher training and development, with a particular focus on learning and technology.

Selected Conference Papers & Workshops

External

May 2023: Critical Thinking in STEMM Subjects (BALEAP SIG)

June 2021: Listening SIG, BALEAP: Listening in STEM – Engineering & Computer Science

November 2017: Laying the Foundations - Intercultural Exploration as a Bridge to Academic Skills. BALEAP PIM University of Nottingham

July 2017: Engaging Foundation Learners with a Student-led Magazine, Inform, University of Reading

May 2017: ESAP for Foundation Science & Engineering. Ruhr University, Bochum

April 2017: A Student Magazine project: A Key for Many Doors. BALEAP Conference, University of Bristol (Joint Presentation with Sean Gardner)

February 2017: BALEAP Webinar Foundation Teaching: Rising to the Challenge at the BIA

April 2015: Getting them on board – effective ways to use online discussions. BALEAP Conference, University of Leicester

January 2015: Using online discussions in Canvas effectively. LLAS E-Learning Symposium, University of Southampton

November 2013: Peer review – making it work. BALEAP PIM, Oxford-Brookes University (Plenary Speaker)

July 2011: All Aboard! Being smart without a Smartboard. NATECLA National Conference, University of Warwick

November 2009: Smarten up! Use of the IWB in language teaching NATECLA Teacher Development Conference, Walsall

March 2003: Effective team teaching in secondary schools – practical suggestions. British Council National Conference, Acireale, Italy

Internal

July 2017: Continuing Presessional Development – the Role of CPD. Share & Celebrate, BIA

July 2014: Using discussion boards in Canvas. Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Birmingham

January 2014: Using Mailvu videomail to promote student interaction, E-Learning Practitioners’ Forum, University of Birmingham

June 2013: Moving beyond PowerPoint - An experience of the BFA Foundation English Module Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Birmingham (Joint presentation with Hayley Maxwell)

Publications

Teaching & Learning Publications

Sjoberg J. (2024). GenAI in Academic English for International Students at the BIA. [Online]. Available at: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/digitaleducation/GAICASESTUDIES/SitePages/Jane-Sjoberg(1).aspx [Accessed 16 October 2024].

Sjoberg, J. (2020). Start NOW – Perfect LATER – Moving into Digital Teaching and Learning, [Blog] HEFi Big Conversation, University of Birmingham. Available at https://blog.bham.ac.uk/bigconversation/2020/03/30/start-now-perfect-later-moving-into-digital-teaching-and-learning-by-jane-sjoberg/  [Accessed 28/07/20]

Sjoberg, J. (2017). Engaging Foundation Learners with a Student-led Magazine – the Experience of the BIA, University of Birmingham.  Inform (A Journal For International Foundation Programme Professionals): Issue 17, 20-22, Available at   https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/inform/InForm_Issue17.pdf  [Accessed 28/07/20]

Sjoberg,J. (2018). Review of Paltridge, B. & Starfield, S. (2016) Getting Published in Academic Journals – Navigating the Publication Process  [Online] Available at https://www.baleap.org/resources/book-reviews/paltridge-starfield-2016-getting-published [Accessed 28/07/20]

Sjoberg, J. (2013). Talking Teaching. Spotlight in the Classroom, 9: 5.

Maxwell, H., Mottura, A., Nickalls, R., Sjoberg, J. & Nightingale, K. (2014). Developing E- and Blended Learning Approaches for International Students. Education in Practice, 1(1): 12-15.

McPake, N. and Sjoberg, J. (joint authors) (2012). Developing resources for community cohesion: a report on a small-scale InstituteforLearning-funded action research project, Language Issues, 23(1): 66-78.

Sjoberg, J. (2006). Outside the classroom - Join the club! Part 3, English Teaching Professional, 46, Sept 2006: 53-55.

Sjoberg, J. (2006). Outside the classroom - Join the club! Part 2, English Teaching Professional, 45, July 2006: 49-51.

Sjoberg, J. (2006).  Outside the classroom - Join the club! Part 1, English Teaching Professional, 44, May 2006: 49-51.

Sjoberg, J. (2004). Teaching in Tandem, English Teaching Professional, 32, May 2004: 13-14 (Also published as ‘Impress your students with a class double act’, The Guardian Weekly, 171(1), June 25-July 1, 2004:4)

Sjoberg, J. (2004). The Checking Homework Challenge [Online]. Winning entry of ‘The OnestopEnglish Methodology Challenge’, November 2004.

Non-teaching Publications

Nigro L.,  Larocca L.,  Celesia M., Montineri A., Sjoberg J., Caltabiano E., Fatuzzo F. & The Unit Operators Group. (2006). Prevalence of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Colombian and Dominican Female Sex Workers Living in Catania, Eastern Sicily. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 8(4): 319-323.