Sally Smith
Sally Smith

Prof Sally Smith PFHEA FBCS

Head of Graduate Apprenticeships and Skills Development and Professor

 0131 455 2742

  S.Smith@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Professor Sally Smith MA MSc DBA PFHEA

Sally is Head of Graduate Apprenticeships and Skills Development at Edinburgh Napier. She has an MA (Hons) in Mathematics from Aberdeen University, Scotland, an MSc in Computer Science from City University, London and a DBA from Edinburgh Napier University. Sally is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has previously worked in the telecommunications and aerospace industries in the UK and Europe.

She is the Director of the Centre for Higher Education Research at Edinburgh Napier University and Project Director of e-Placement Scotland, creating paid placements for computing students across Scotland.

Sally leads the Data Education in Universities workstream of the Data Skills Gateway of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Region City Deal.

Sally’s research focus is on the impact of work placements and graduate apprenticeships, especially on under-represented groups.

Previously, Sally was Dean of Computing 2008-2020. Between 2011 and 2018 she was on the committee of the UK Council of Professors and Heads of Computing, serving as Chair between 2014 and 2016.

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

News

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • SQA Advisory Council
  • Sally Smith has been appointed to the Shadbolt Review Group

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy
  • Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy
  • Conference Chair Horizons in STEM Higher Education
  • UK STEM Conference June 2016: A new conference for teaching and learning research in STEM subjects.

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External at Birmingham City University

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Connect Tech 100
  • Fellow of the British Computer Society
  • Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Sally Smith and Bill Buchanan in Tech 100 for Scotland

 

Media Activity

  • Graduate Apprenticeships - doubling of places
  • Edinburgh Napier University – Bridging the digital skills gap
  • Edinburgh Napier gets major funding to teach digital skills
  • Scottish Business News Network
  • Times Higher Article
  • The code for future success is investing in our graduates
  • Edinburgh Napier takes over as parent organisation to GGS

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Principal Fellowship of Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the British Computer Society

 

Filter by

Date


85 results

Taking education for granted: the role of placement in computing science

Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., Smith, C., Taylor-Smith, E., & Gemma, W. (2017, June)
Taking education for granted: the role of placement in computing science. Presented at Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland
The importance of placements and internships was highlighted in the 2016 Shadbolt Review of Computer Science Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability – indeed the secon...

Factors Influencing the Students’ Use of Learning Management Systems: A Case Study of King Abdulaziz University

Conference Proceeding
Binyamin, S., Rutter, M. J., & Smith, S. (2017)
Factors Influencing the Students’ Use of Learning Management Systems: A Case Study of King Abdulaziz University. In L. O. Campbell, & R. Hartshorne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on e-Learning (ICEL 2017) (289-297
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been one of the most popular models in explaining the acceptance of technologies and employed empirically in various studies. This st...

Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures

Journal Article
Berg, T., Bowen, T., Smith, C., & Smith, S. (2017)
Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(7), 1339-1354. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1325855
The gradual commodification of higher education in the context of an increased focus on graduate employability attributes together with evolving labour markets is creating cha...

The students' acceptance of learning management systems in Saudi Arabia: A case study of King Abdulaziz University

Conference Proceeding
Binyamin, S., Rutter, M., & Smith, S. (2017)
The students' acceptance of learning management systems in Saudi Arabia: A case study of King Abdulaziz University. In INTED2017 Proceedings (9324-9333). https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2017.2205
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has become one of the most widely-used models in understanding user acceptance of technologies and has been employed in many empirical st...

An implementation of the extended technology acceptance model for understanding students' perceptions of learning management systems: a study within tertiary institutions in Saudia Arabia

Presentation / Conference
Rutter, M. J., Alshehri, A. & Smith, S. (2017, March)
An implementation of the extended technology acceptance model for understanding students' perceptions of learning management systems: a study within tertiary institutions in Saudia Arabia. Poster presented at 11th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia
The rapid evolution of e-learning around the world is inspiring many educational and business institutions to adopt it. E-learning is motivated by compelling advantages such a...

In search of graduate employability: An exploration of student identity

Journal Article
Smith, S., Smith, C., Taylor-Smith, E., & Fotheringham, J. (2017)
In search of graduate employability: An exploration of student identity. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 18(1), 15-24
Universities are adopting institution-wide projects to increase student work placements and work-related learning across all subject disciplines. However, there are large vari...

Supporting student transitions to placement and work: developing a new self-identity

Journal Article
Webster, G., Smith, S., & Smith, C. (2016)
Supporting student transitions to placement and work: developing a new self-identity. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 11(1),
Moves towards the marketisation of higher education together with concerns over the challenges of graduate employment have led to an increased prioritisation of students under...

An exploration of professional identity in the information technology sector

Thesis
Smith, S. (2016)
An exploration of professional identity in the information technology sector. (Thesis). Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/9731
At present the Information Technology profession appears to be dogged by high profile project failure, high graduate unemployment rates, employers unable to recruit suitable s...

Learning for the Workplace: Exploring professional identity in search of meaningful alternatives to student work placement

Presentation / Conference
Webster, G., Smith, S. & Smith, C. (2016, December)
Learning for the Workplace: Exploring professional identity in search of meaningful alternatives to student work placement. Paper presented at Society for Research into Higher Education 2016, Cardiff, Wales
Moves towards the marketisation of higher education have led to greater priority being placed upon students undertaking relevant work experience while they study. Recognising ...

The utilization of system usability scale in learning management systems: a case study of Jeddah Community College

Conference Proceeding
Binyamin, S., Rutter, M., & Smith, S. (2016)
The utilization of system usability scale in learning management systems: a case study of Jeddah Community College. In ICERI2016 Proceedings. , (5314-5323). https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2016.2290
Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been widely adopted in many higher educational institutions to support teaching and learning activities. The study was conducted with th...

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