Over the last few weeks I've been working up a study design to explore shyness in higher education. What I have found surprising is that it seems that very little research has looked at shyness in higher education learning interactions (with the exception of Psychologists like Ray Crozier). Yet, when I think about higher education, I think about the importance placed on students around constructing their own knowledge and contributing to discussion and debate, and therefore the extent to which students need to be comfortable to express opinions that others may not agree with, and sometimes be seen making mistakes. These sorts of interactions can be thought of as shyness invoking - they place students in a position where judgements can easily be made about themselves as individuals (i.e. their ability, their intelligence, their personality).