Mrs Tracy Atkinson

Teaching Fellow

Strathclyde Institute of Education

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Personal statement

Tracy Atkinson is a Teaching Fellow in Digital Education and Digital Literacies Lead within The Strathclyde Institute of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Strathclyde. Her interests lie in technology-enhanced learning across Primary, Secondary and Higher education, spanning both theory and practice. She researches the development and implementation of effective digital pedagogies, the use of digital tools to enhance teaching and learning, and the impact of research and innovation on present and future practice. Leadership and Strategic Roles Tracy leads the Institute of Education's Gen:AI in Teaching, Learning and Assessment working group, exploring the potential of generative AI tools to enhance learning, teaching and assessment whilst maintaining integrity, ethics and criticality. She serves as Module Leader for both "Digital Cultures: Empowering Scotland's Young People Online" and "Science and Technologies in the Primary School". As Digital Literacies Lead for both BA Primary Education and PGDE programmes, she has developed a progressive four-year Digital Learning Map that integrates digital skills and reflective digital engagement throughout every stage of study. Research and Professional Development Tracy is a member of the Digital Education and STEM subtheme groups within the Curriculum and Pedagogy research theme, with particular involvement in the Instructional Technology and Digital Education (ITDE) subtheme. She takes a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)-informed approach, staying current with research to ensure her teaching aligns with the latest thinking on digital pedagogy, computational thinking, and AI literacy. Building on her role as co-author of The National Framework for Digital Literacies in Initial Teacher Education, Tracy has initiated contact with Scottish Government and SCDE to propose a framework update to include contemporary digital literacies such as AI Literacy, Data Literacy, and Digital

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Professional Activities

Digital Safeguarding CLPL
Consultant
26/1/2026
Curriculum Improvement Cycle: Pilot Review of Computing Science
Consultant
13/11/2025
Digital Technologies in ITE - Digital Development Day
Organiser
1/4/2025
JISC (External organisation)
Member
20/3/2025
Scottish Council of Deans of Education (External organisation)
Member
30/11/2024
Strathclyde Institute Of Education (Organisational unit)
Advisor
20/9/2024

More professional activities

Projects

SIoE Habits of Mind Strategic Plan working group
Atkinson, Tracy (Co-investigator)
The aim of Habits of Mind (HoM) approach is to have a single shared approach to critical thinking. We understand critical thinking in its broadest sense, meaning:
Openness to new information and different experiences
Curiosity about the world and a desire to find out more
Creativity in imagining new ways of thinking, new solutions and new modes of expression
Responsibility for your own intellectual development and growth
Self-reflection in considering your own positionality and developing greater self-awareness.
The aim is to provide learning opportunities that foster these 5 themes as dispositions. In doing so it is hoped that
our expectations are made explicit and consistent,
students experience their course as intellectually and personally challenging and stimulating,
and, crucially, that students come to understand that they have responsibility for their own learning and we are there to help.
01-Jan-2025
Educational Institute of Scotland: Safeguarding the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Young People
Robb, Catriona (Academic) Francis-McNeil, Gillian (Academic) Atkinson, Tracy (Academic)
10-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2025
Faculty-wide Innovative Assessment Project
Atkinson, Tracy (Co-investigator)
The project focused on innovative assessment practices, particularly how AI is addressed in ethical and fair ways. An initial audit of existing assessments was conducted across departments, gathering information on assessment design, use of AI, impact, and support needs. Successful examples were shared at the end of the project.
15-Jan-2025 - 20-Jan-2025
National Framework for Digital Literacies in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
Atkinson, Tracy (Co-investigator)
Initial Teacher Education (ITE) institutes across Scotland play a central and formative role in the early career development of prospective teachers. It is in Initial Teacher Education where student teachers begin to “form habits of the mind, habits of the heart, and habits of the hand” (Shulman 2005, p. 59). This formative experience requires that the initial teacher education experience be one that is informed and influenced by integral partnerships between ITE providers, Scottish Government, the General Teaching Council of Scotland, local authorities and schools across the country. To this end, the National Framework for Digital Literacies in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) aims to detail how staff and students in ITE can support the Scottish Government’s aims and aspirations to:

1. Develop the necessary skills, behaviours and dispositions of prospective teachers to become effective practitioners with digital tools and spaces;
2. Address the digital literacies expectations of the Standards for Provisional Registration as maintained by the GTCS;
3. Ensure that digital literacies are embedded in the foundation skillsets of early career teachers as they begin teaching.
12-Jan-2018 - 20-Jan-2027

More projects

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Contact

Mrs Tracy Atkinson
Teaching Fellow
Strathclyde Institute of Education

Email: tracy.atkinson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8126