26 May 2021
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Publication, Research, Teaching
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Dr Christopher Wiley has published an article on the relationship between teaching and research in contemporary higher education, drawing autoethnographically on his experiences of delivering an undergraduate module on Adele (specifically her 25 album, pictured) and popular music.
Dr Wiley’s full-length article, ‘Exploring the integration of teaching and research in the contemporary classroom: An autoethnographic enquiry into designing an undergraduate music module on Adele’s 25 album’, appeared in the top-quartile journal Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, published online on 26 May 2021 (and subsequently in print on 1 February 2022).
Previous versions of this article had been presented as papers at high-profile international conferences in the UK and Canada.
Further information on Dr Wiley’s article, including the abstract and full text, is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14740222211013759
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Exploring the integration of teaching and research in the contemporary classroom: An autoethnographic enquiry into designing an undergraduate music module on Adele’s 25 album’. Arts & Humanities in Higher Education: An international journal of theory, research, and practice, Vol. 21, No. 1 (February 2022), pp. 74–93. doi: 10.1177/14740222211013759.
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s journal article is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65483928/Exploring_the_integration_of_teaching_and_research_in_the_contemporary_classroom_An_autoethnographic_inquiry_into_designing_an_undergraduate_music_module_on_Adeles_25_album
8 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research, Teaching
Adele, Adele Adkins, autoethnography, Canada, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, course design, curriculum design, Don Wright Faculty of Music, education, educational research, Higher Education, learning and teaching, London, module, Music, musicology, Ontario, popular music, popular music education, popular music studies, presentation, progressive methods, research, Surrey, symposium, teaching, teaching innovation, teaching practice, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Western University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley addressed the inaugural ‘Progressive Methods in Popular Music Education’ Symposium at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, on Friday 8 June 2018, presenting remotely via video-conference link from his office at the University of Surrey.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘From Research-led Teaching to Teaching-led Research: Keeping Curricula Contemporary in Higher Education Popular Music’, discussed the relationship between teaching and research in twenty-first-century UK higher education, with specific reference to his delivery of an undergraduate module on Adele’s 25 album.
A previous version of his presentation had been given at an international conference at the Institute of Musical Research, London (UK) in April 2018, focussing on the use of autoethnography as the principal methodology for the study rather than (as at this conference) on the pedagogy of popular music education and the curriculum design itself.
The two-day Symposium was hosted by the Don Wright Faculty of Music, concurrently with MayDay Group Colloquium 30. Together, the two events attracted a diverse line-up of presenters as well as over 100 registered delegates.
Further information about the ‘Progressive Methods in Popular Music Education’ Symposium is available online: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/symposium-on-progressive-methods.html
The conference programme may be downloaded here: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/images-pdf/mayday-progressive-methods-conference-program-2018.pdf
And presenter abstracts and biographies are available here: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/images-pdf/PM-Abstracts-Fri.pdf

17 April 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research
25, Adele, Adele Adkins, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, course design, curriculum design, education, educational research, Higher Education, Institute of Musical Research, learning and teaching, London, module, Music, musicology, popular music, popular music studies, presentation, research, Surrey, teaching, teaching innovation, teaching practice, undergraduate, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley

Dr Christopher Wiley has organized the two-day international conference, ‘Beyond “Mesearch”: Autoethnography, Self-Reflexivity, and Personal Experience as Academic Research in Music Studies’, held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 16-17 April 2018.
The conference, which was supported by the Institute of Musical Research as well as the University of Surrey, drew strong interest from a large international delegation of around 80 participants from across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia.
It featured three keynote addresses and 20 papers arranged in a series of parallel sessions, together with an innovative group discussion session (which may form a model to be adopted more widely at future conferences in music studies) in which delegates separated into smaller breakout groups led by a senior academic before reporting back to the conference.
Dr Wiley also chaired a number of sessions and facilitated discussions on a range of topics, as well as delivering his paper ‘From Research-led Teaching to Teaching-led Research: An autoethnographic enquiry into keeping curricula contemporary in higher education popular music’, elements of which have previously been presented at academic forums in both music and education studies.
This event followed the success of the multi-disciplinary conference recently co-organized by Dr Wiley, ‘Writing About Contemporary Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities’, held at the University of Surrey from 20-22 October 2017.
Dr Wiley previously co-organized a two-day international conference, ‘Musical Biography: National Ideology, Narrative Technique, and the Nature of Myth’, at the Institute of Musical Research in April 2015.
Further information about the ‘Beyond “Mesearch”’ conference may be found at the website: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-music-media/research/autoethnography-and-self-reflexivity-music-studies
The full programme, including abstracts, is available here: https://christopherwiley.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/imr-beyond-mesearch-conference-programme-16-17-april-2018.pdf
23 May 2016
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Dance, Drama, Drama & Dance, Guardian, Guardian league tables 2017, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, league tables, Music, Music & Sound Recording, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, The Guardian, theatre, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent rankings in The Guardian’s UK University League Tables 2017, published today as part of the Guardian University Guide.
The Guardian league tables rank the University of Surrey No. 1 nationally for Music, No. 2 nationally for Drama & Dance, and No. 4 nationally in the overall league table.
As Director of Learning & Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s learning & teaching and student experience strategies. This has included the initiatives by which its students have been engaged in completion of the National Student Survey, the latest results for which similarly placed the School’s subject areas at No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
The Guardian league tables represent one of the most influential rankings of UK universities, and incorporate multiple metrics from the National Student Survey including student satisfaction with teaching, satisfaction with feedback and assessment, and overall satisfaction with the course.
Further information on the successes of the School of Arts in The Guardian league tables 2017 may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2016/05/23/guardian-league-table-2017-results-music-at-no-1-drama-dance-at-no-2/

12 August 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Creative Music Technology, Dance, Guildford School of Acting, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Music, National Student Survey, National Student Survey 2015, NSS, NSS 2015, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent results in the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS), including a score of 95% for overall satisfaction, with Dance and Music reaching No. 1 and No. 2 in the national subject rankings, respectively.
The School made gains in every one of the survey’s 22 questions, including a score of 99% satisfaction overall in the ‘Teaching on the course’ category. Three programmes – BMus Music, BMus Creative Music Technology, and BA Dance – all scored the maximum 100% for overall satisfaction.
As Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s student experience strategy, including the initiatives by which its students were engaged in completion of the NSS.
The National Student Survey is an independently conducted annual survey of final-year undergraduate students across the UK, and has become a high-profile measure of student satisfaction nationally since its introduction ten years ago.
Further information on the achievements of the School of Arts in the 2015 National Student Survey may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2015/08/12/national-student-survey-2015/
13 August 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media
2013, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, London, Music, National Student Survey, NSS, programme director, student experience, student satisfaction, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, Wiley
City University London’s BMus Music programme has been ranked as top in the UK with 100% student satisfaction in the 2013 National Student Survey (NSS), voted by the students themselves.
Dr Christopher Wiley assumed the position of BMus Programme Director in 2009, following a year when student satisfaction – as determined by the final question of the NSS, ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course‘ – was at just 31%. Under his leadership, student satisfaction has steadily increased to 62% (2009), 68% (2010), and to 81% last year.
Other highlights of the programme’s 2013 survey results included responses to the questions ‘Staff are good at explaining things’ and ‘Staff have made the subject interesting’ (both 100%); ‘Staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’, ‘The course is intellectually stimulating’, and ‘I have been able to contact staff when I needed to’ (all 97%); and six other scores in the 90s.
Launched in 2005, the NSS is an annual national survey of final-year undergraduate students, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and provides the standard measure of student satisfaction used in a number of major league tables. The full results of the 2013 National Student Survey are available from HEFCE’s website.
The University’s statement on its 2013 student satisfaction scores acknowledged Music’s top position in the UK.