One small step

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landings I want to share a vivid personal memory of that time...bear with me.

As an 11 year old, excited by space adventure and, having followed the Apollo missions from the start (bedroom full of Airfix Rockets and a Lunar Lander to prove it) I eagerly awaited the launch of Apollo 11.  As the moon landing date neared I realised that it would take place on my 12th birthday - July 20th 1969.  I further realised that the whole adventure would be shown live on TV - albeit in Black and White.

We watched the early evening landing of the Lunar Module (about 8pm GMT).

Could I dare to hope that I would be allowed to stay up for the first moon walk scheduled for around 3.a.m?

Well, I could hope - and pray that this would be a birthday to remember.

But the parental answer was "NO".

Now, I was brought up to do what my parents said and so I missed it, the single most iconic event in my life to that point, and I missed it.  Watching highlights on the news the next day did not replace the loss, much like knowing the scores before watching Match of the Day.

The moral of this story dear reader:

Don't hurt for 50 years, the only one it damages is yourself - especially as my Mum does not remember the incident at all.

Centralise, Centralise, let not one task evade your eyes...

Naval historian, C. Northcote Parkinson coined the phrase:

 "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".

This is known as Parkinson's law.  Parkinson was a University man and so may well have been thinking about the increasing managerialism and centralisation in modern Higher Education (doubtful, as he died in 1993, but bear with me...)

picture from: kisspng-trinidad-blackhole

Over thirty years in Higher Education have certainly taught me that Parkinson was partially correct.  The work certainly expands but not always because we want to "look busy" as "the boss is coming".

The work expands as:

• Centrally positioned administrators find "efficiencies" in faculty based administrators and academics taking on more administrative tasks.
• The multiplication of meetings, sometimes to discuss other meetings, soaks up time better spent on the "real work".
• IT systems multiply as new uses of technology are embraced.  The investment in getting each to talk to existing or separate systems never quite materialises.
• Marketing, Human Resources, Finance and Academic Registry procedures are codified, translated into forms to be completed by staff and then embedded deep in intranet sites, clearly to challenge the intellectual capacity of users.
• The concept of "end user" control is applauded and enthusiastically applied to everything from booking travel, claiming expenses, getting permission to travel, submitting, refereeing, announcing and recording research outputs, classroom booking, equipment requests, photocopying, VLE completion....the list goes on.

A pity that time does not expand so as to ensure that the work assigned can be completed.

Reading level stage 1: REF, TEF and KEF go to University

"Come on TEF and KEF" calls REF, as they climb the hill.

"We are nearly at the top."

REF, TEF, and KEF have been sent to find out exactly what

is happening at the top of University Hill.

Illustration by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

"What will we do when we get there?" asks KEF? who knows

that REF and TEF have been there before.

"Will the people at the top of the hill be nice to us?"
 asks TEF nervously, as his last visit had not worked out too well.

"Buggered if I know," says REF.

Watching Paint Dry

Apart from those of a scientific bent few of us relish the thought of watching paint dry.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

However, Lecture Capture technology gives students of drying paint a wealth of options:

1. Watching Paint Dry
2. Filming Paint Drying
3. Watching the Video of Paint Drying
4. Selectively watching the Video of Paint Drying
5. Fast Forwarding the Video of Paint Drying
6. Saving the Video of Paint Drying to watch later
7. Accidentally Erasing the saved Video of Paint Drying that you were going to watch later.

The remedy?  Choose something else to engage students...

Who gives a TOS?

Teaching Only Staff (TOS) are becoming more visible in Business Schools, where the main income and, often, the only surpluses that a University can derive from its activities, are derived from teaching and programme management.
But Researchers make good teachers...good communicators...good heavens, you mean that they don't necessarily?  My previous blogs on SECOND CLASS LECTURERS and THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW might suggest how I feel about this, but I digress.

TOS feel, to me, like outcasts - even the epithet attached suggests some deficiency in their value - Teaching ONLY!!  It's like the Catholic Church thinking of all other religions as "non-catholic".

Pope Francis with non-catholics

The tag ONLY also allows institutions to hide the disproportionate loading of what some research professors call "Admin.", to you and me, that's "Management".  Management of recruitment, student experience, programme suitability, teaching policy, learning resources....the list goes on. TOS staff are highly professional, have skills, often bring industry insights and are developed in their specialist area - teaching.  Why is this part of the university mission so undersold?

So, what could we call TOS to try to avoid and reduce the stigma that is surely embodied in the name and the career opportunities?

• Professor
• Reader
• Senior Lecturer
• Lecturer

Worth a thought...

If you want answers, ask questions...

One of my favourite poems, and one that I use in teaching, is by Rudyard Kipling and appears in the Elephant's Child:

I KEEP six honest serving-men

 (They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When 

 And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

 I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

 I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,

 For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

 For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views; 

I know a person small—

She keeps ten million serving-men,

Who get no rest at all!

She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,

 From the second she opens her eyes—

One million Hows, two million Wheres,

And seven million Whys!

Just how many lectures give answers without the students being given the opportunity to ask questions?

The 5 Rs of YouTube Learning

I love a good mnemonic or contraction, initialisation or acronym - it makes the most common sense things sound thought-provoking.  Price (2009) considered the needs of the generation of "millennial" or YouTube students.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

What emerged was a fantastic and alliterative contraction - 5 Rs.

Let me attempt to explain...

The 5 R's stand for:

• Relevance. It's got to mean something to the student - linking it to the assessment may not be enough, but linking it to their future is a step in the right direction.
• Rationale. Rules need to be explained - why is the essay only 2,500 words?  What is the tolerance for exceeding the limit?  Why can't I use the good stuff I found on Wikipedia?
• Relaxed. Flexibility is the key - learning when I'm ready, not when the timetable says I should.
• Rapport. Approachability of tutors, professors and administrators is very important to today's students.  Do they know that you are human too?
• Research-based methods. Learning by doing and practical styles of delivery are favoured.

REQUIRED:

Review a course that you have just delivered against the 5Rs.

Ask yourself how the student experience could be improved by tweaking things like:

• Timetable hours - who on earth learns at a time convenient to administrators?
• Assessment - is it relevant and practical or is it an exam?
• The different ways in which you communicate with students - just how available are you?

Now consider why you probably do not take action on any of these things...

REFERENCE: Price, C. (2009). Why Don't My Students Think I'm Groovy? The Teaching Professor,
23 (1), 7.