Thursday, 20 June 2019

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...

Monday, 10 June 2019

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...