Post #4 for #blogjune – where I just rattle off some random thoughts..
“What am I going to write today?”, I ask myself. Who knows, I’ll just going to keep typing for a few minutes and see what happens…
One thing in the back of my mind today is the paper I have to finish before the end of the month. It’s basically written, but stills needs some tweaking and a few hours of editing. I’m going to submit this for the ascilite2014 conference which has the theme of ‘Rhetoric and Reality’. It’s a good theme I think, and hopefully the conference will give us a good reality check against some of the rhetoric we see in higher education circles concerning education & learning with technology. I find some of the (rhetorical) discussion often distracts us from the real work of determining what works well and improves student learning outcomes. It will be good to be at an event where ideas can be presented and discussed – looking forward to it.
I believe there’s an ongoing discussion to be had about how we structure learning and assessment in this new (digital & social) age. How do we create authentic learning activities that apply some cognitive load and engage students enough for them to enjoy the hard work of learning? Are our students ready for this? What do they expect to do?
I’ve also been thinking about work-place culture and how we induct new academic staff to the ‘business’ of teaching. It’s quite a deal to start work in a new place and have to get your head around the IT systems involved, the teaching spaces and associated technologies, let alone the online learning system/space. There’s a significant overhead to get up to speed with these things, and I have been struggling with how to distill the essentials to ensure staff have enough of a grasp of things to get underway. Organised workshops can address some of the need, but I’ve found that face-to-face and at-the-elbow interaction is a productive way to help staff come to understand and gain confidence with their new environment. The BIG question for me is, does senior management recognise the need for staff support and professional development, and are they willing to invest resources for this? What are your thoughts and experience on this?
Came across a rope in the grass on my walk today – not a snake to be seen.
Today’s Word of the Day is ’sparge’ – I hope, dear reader, that you’re enjoying the sparge of ideas in these series of #blogjune posts.
Tags: blogjune