Ms Xanthy Kallis
Xanthy Kallis joined the University of Westminster in February 2005 initially as a Visiting Lecturer. She became a Lecturer in 2008 and a Senior Lecturer in Occupational and Organisational Psychology in 2012. She teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules at Westminster Business School. In addition to her academic work, Xanthy has a substantial interest in personal and professional development and she has obtained training in areas such as executive coaching. She has achieved the status of Chartered Occupational Psychologist in April 2011, and joined the Register of Special Group of Coaching Psychologists in July 2009.
Xanthy is a Career Coaching Psychologist as well as Senior Lecture and in previous employment, Xanthy gained experience in the private sector. She worked in various sectors mainly in training and development before commencing her academic career.
Education
MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology (University of East London, UK), 2001 - 2003
BSc (Hons) in Psychology (The Open University, UK), 1996 - 2000 (Hons)
Qualifications
PGCHE - Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (University of Westminster), (2009)
Senor Fellow Higher Education Academy (May 2016)
HCPC Registered with the Health and Care Professional Council (2012)
Certificate in Personality Assessment - Level B 16PF5 Instrument (University of East London), April 2004
Certificate in Occupational Testing (University of East London) - Level A, March 2003
Qualified in a series of personality tools: Hogan Tools/NEO PI-R Personality Assessment/Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ)/16PF
Professional memberships
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Chartered Occupational Psychologist in the British Psychological Society (BPS)Full Member of the Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP) (2011) (AFBPsS)
Chair of the Psychometrics Forum (2009-2018)
Chair of the Training Practitioners Group (2004-2009)
Xanthy is passionately engaged in continuous Professional Development on an ongoing basis (from 2004 to date). This involved organising, designing and attending professional events such as DOP conferences, Workshops for practitioners, Forum events as well as various workshops based on keeping updated with current developments in specialist areas such as psychometric tools.
Xanthy sat on the Committee for the Division of Occupational Psychologists as chair of the TPSG and was a member of various committees in the DOP.
Other professional experience includes ongoing freelance coaching for individual and career development and enhanced performance.
RESEARCH PROFILE:
2017-ongoing: Lecturer Attitudes and the Effects on Student Perception/Experience. My current research interest is looking at how tutor/lecturer attitudes can influence the students’ perceptions and thus their consequent behaviour in class. The aim of the research is looking at how we can improve tutor attitudes (by raising awareness of those attitudes and mindset that some tutors hold, subconsciously in many cases) and improving student engagement as well as improving group dynamics etc.
Currently research interests are exploring how lecturer attitudes effect the student experience and engagement as they enter a new group of students with preconceived ideas and expectations. I am in the initial stages of researching this theme although my interests in the area stems back to experiences I have had over a number of years that have informed this desire to explore this topic beyond my own experiences. I have evidence that stem from 2007-2019 that demonstrate a key role in personal attitudes, mindset and levels of confidence that effect our effectiveness in the classroom.
2016 Mini research project: ‘Exploring ways of increasing student engagement & satisfaction using e-textbooks’: Researchers: Xanthy Kallis, Kamala Balu and Kevin Heffernan. We presented our findings at the 2016 Learning and Teaching Symposium.
The aim of this research was to explore ‘students’ habits, attitudes and perceptions’ of using electronic books (e-textbooks) compared to traditional text books’. The research investigated the extent to which e-text books support student learning effectively and students’ perception of e-text books versus hard copy text books. The findings of this were interesting, as it really depended on what the students were using text books for. But overall, they wanted the option of both.
2012 Mini research study: Cultural differences that affect teaching methods: An experiential case study with American students’.
My interest in researching cultural differences and the effects it had on my approach to teaching was based on my extended experience with American cohorts of student for an internship programme I was involved in. In fact it was a longitudinal study as this stretched over five years experience, through which I developed an interest in tutor attitudes and how they influence group dynamics and engagment between the tutor and students. As the cohort was 98% American, I was interested in this topic from a cultural perspective too, but through an increase in self-awareness I was able to appreciate the role I played in how the students engaged with me. I also presented this at the Teaching and Learning Symposium of 2012
The aim of the case study was to outline the issues I faced during the first years and the journey of self-discovery (using self-reflective writing) that highlighted how my own attitudes contributed to some of the problems I was having with these particular cohorts of students over years. That increasing my own self awareness was key to understanding how I ‘lead’ the class and how it had a negative impact on how I engaged with the group. Through this longitudinal study I could see what I needed to do in terms of tailoring the teaching methods to better suit students’ expectations as well as covering the pedagogy of the programme. I also discovered my mindset going into the classroom hindered my ability to effectively engage with these cohorts of students and by becoming aware of this mindset and the attitude I was entering the class with, I could start to improve my professional and personal stance which in turn improved my relationship and engagement with these students over time.
The outline of my internal paper is called ‘Cultural differences that affect teaching methods: An experiential case study with American students’. I have evidence to back this up from feedback and records of past years going back to 2009. The aim is to share this experience and improve our self-awareness and also our understand of our students if we are to be effective in our teaching methods and presented my mini research results in this year’s Symposium. It was important to share this experience with my colleagues as I noticed many tutors were ‘disengaged’ and this s inevitably affects their interactions with their students, who are than uninspired. This will affect attendance levels as well as motivational levels, thus it affects the whole process of teaching and engaging with our students. As the ‘student experience’ is an important aspect of the University’s success, improving tutor attitudes’ will improve this interaction between tutor and student. My interest in this mini research idea came about as a result of many disgruntled tutors on the mega module which prompted the question in my head of ‘why’.
2009 Contributed to a text book: An Introduction to Work Psychology- writing the chapters, on Group dynamics in the workplace, Leadership and Training.
My research interest is in Group Dynamics and Leadership. I have been involved in organising events around the topic of Leadership, as part of my role in the Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP) and am fascinated by these two topics. Although they seem as separate topic areas, they are very much linked. How you lead a group of people, how you bring them together, engaging with them and empowering them, will in part be influenced by the leadership qualities and skills. Group dynamics is a fascinating topic and understanding the different personalities, backgrounds, cultures and so forth, of how we influence one another within groups, the attitudes we bring will affect whether a group of people will gel and be effective or will hinder a process.
In terms of my interest in Leadership, I was also involved in preliminary talks with various research groups, seriously conducting a literature review in Emergent Leadership with the Research Action group. The module of emergent leadership is about engaging with the process and aimed at all working towards improving current practice.
2009-2017 Personality and Individual Differences Knowledge Development: I have also been involved in organising events on Personality and assessing traits and types that deepen our understanding of some of the group processes and have been involved with many experts in the field of Individual differences and Personality particularly in my role within the Psychometric Forum, as Chair for 8 years and then as a committee member. Promoting good practice and advancing our knowledge in this field as a group.