Category Archives: Uncategorized

New Year, New Uni… On the move…

Just a note to announce that from February I’ll be moving, after 18 years at the University of Gloucestershire, to take up a new role at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The SOAS announcement is below.  Director of the new Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at SOAS announcedContinue reading “New Year, New Uni… On the move…”

Putting Fun in its Place: Workshop at Social Media in Higher Education conference.

I will be at SocMedHE17, in Sheffield, next week, to deliver a workshop. I have previously, with Dr Nicola Rivers, written about our scepticism of ‘fun’ language in HE, but the session next week will be more specific. I will blog about the participants’ response – but you can get a sense, in the outlineContinue reading “Putting Fun in its Place: Workshop at Social Media in Higher Education conference.”

The Denial of Death, Masculinity, and a well-lived life

This post might have ended up on my my Dispirited blog, but there is enough cross-over with recent preoccupations here about grit to persuade me to pop here initially…  Teaching is a funny thing. Sessions on material you have done many times before, and where you are pretty sure what is going to unfold, can knockContinue reading “The Denial of Death, Masculinity, and a well-lived life”

How much a smile cost?

How much a dollar really cost? The question is detrimental, paralyzin’ my thoughts Kendrick Lamar: How Much a Dollar Cost? Walking into the campus this morning, I had a chance encounter with one of my favourite colleagues, and ended up talking about the busy, and quite challenging, day that I had in store. She observedContinue reading “How much a smile cost?”

Higher Education is not The Apprentice, and neither is the ‘Real World’.

Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster.  Enabled by technology, we were discussing assessment feedback in Higher Education, while watching an episode of The Apprentice*. Although neither us of us are entrepreneurs, or teach business, or retail, courses, what initially struck us when watching the Apprentice was that it offered a certain jouissance of judging others. TheContinue reading “Higher Education is not The Apprentice, and neither is the ‘Real World’.”

Conclusions: Proposals for stimulating and challenging teaching

Following our model, we have outlined 5 themed proposals for developing stimulating and challenging teaching. This is where the origins of this post in developmental work with colleagues is further unmasked. The example activities are the basis for us to work with staff groups, to ask what might this look like for your students? ThisContinue reading “Conclusions: Proposals for stimulating and challenging teaching”

Academic Challenge and intellectually Stimulating Teaching: 5. Becoming the subject specialist

Ros O’Leary & David Webster “Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” Paulo Freire We propose that we take learners backstage. That they are actors in the drama of learning, and not the audience. As notedContinue reading “Academic Challenge and intellectually Stimulating Teaching: 5. Becoming the subject specialist”

Academic Challenge and intellectually Stimulating Teaching: 4. Developing community and active citizenship

Ros O’Leary & David Webster The implication for thinking about learning as reconstitution of self (or transformation), puts emphasis on developing cooperative learning and learning communities. Drawing on Vygotsky , action theory (Bredo, 1997; Lave, 1996) and the idea of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991) becomes important. Here a novice, or our student,Continue reading “Academic Challenge and intellectually Stimulating Teaching: 4. Developing community and active citizenship”

Is Socratic Dialogue really good praxis?

In contrast to recent collaborative posts, this one is all my fault. The only mercy is its brevity. I am not the first to suspect that the valourising of Socrates, not in terms of founding Western philosophy*, and all that, but in terms of character, and approach, was a little problematic. There’s a blog post,Continue reading “Is Socratic Dialogue really good praxis?”