I’ve been back on the Mahara podcast to discuss my work on relational grading. I am very happy with the title of the podcast.
Continue reading “A rebel with a cause!”A Slacker’s Guide to the Teaching Track
It’s been very fun being one of a rare breed: a Professor in an education-focused role! One really big perk has been getting invited hither and yon to talk about my career and give dubious advice. Since it’s August and hopefully even go-getting and driven academics are managing to slack off a little bit (with all solidarity and many apologies to the Admissions Tutors amongst us), I thought I’d take my chance to poke to a bit of fun at all the strategic careers advice out there and reflect on some of the ways I’ve managed to be modestly successful by ignoring it. No-one reading the ALPS blog in August is a slacker, admittedly, but if you have any aspirations to slack more, please pull up a chair….
I blame Cathy….
Today we have a guest post from Dr Terry Hathaway who (un?)justly blames me for his recent excellent work!
Terry works at the University of York, teaching Norwegians about the wonders of British culture, politics, and pubs. His primary research focus is the power of corporations, which he is currently writing a book on. You can find Terry on Bluesky at @terryhathaway.bsky.social or contact him at terry.hathaway -at- york.ac.uk
I did something rather stupid recently. I listened to a paper at the PSA Teaching and Learning Network conference and, unfortunately, was inspired
The misfortune with this inspiration is that it meant much more work, and it meant much more work just before term started when I had roughly zero time on my hands. The lesson of the story is, clearly, don’t be inspired (and certainly don’t go to the PSA TLN conference or you too could be inspired by great teachers).
Continue reading “I blame Cathy….”The role of pedagogical research in education-focused careers: a short series
Following on from the new innovation of the ‘SoTL roundup’ at the start of the month, which Jeremy got the ball rolling with yesterday, we’re also going to start the new academic year with a bit more blogging about scholarship and pedagogical research on ALPS!
Last April, at the UK Political Studies Association conference in Birmingham, I convened a roundtable on the role of pedagogical research in education-focused careers. We had a range of contributions from folks at different career stages, all in education-focused roles, leading to a series of fascinating reflections about how research and scholarship had enabled interesting, rewarding careers, contributed to academic missions in departments and wider institutions, and supported the development of a theoretical and evidence base in the discipline for educational work. We will hear from some of these voices on ALPS in the next few days.
Flipped Learning
Some of my students mentioned to me after I gave a public lecture earlier in the year that they’d never seen me lecture before! I am very proud of this and although a lecture can be a fun and lovely thing, I think my students benefit a lot from my alternative approach, flipped learning.
The other day I answered a call to provide a case study for a book on flipped learning by Robert Talbert and ended up writing loads. I understand that you are now marking the days on your calendar, waiting, waiting, waiting for this book to be published, longing for the moment that you can read about my flipped classroom! Don’t worry! I have empathy for you and I will here give you the full answers to all his questions so after you’ve read it, you can get on and live your lives after all…..
In seriousness, this post is a lightly edited version of a questionnaire that I answered on my longstanding flipped learning practice (with a few examples and some advice towards the end). If there’s anything you’d like to know more about, just hit me in the comments.
Continue reading “Flipped Learning”Teaching Narratives: The Salt Path, Nature Cures and the Politics of Story
I could not have enjoyed Jennifer’s story of taking students to see a bonkers film more. However, even this totally wild story was upstaged by Susan’s comment which I am still laughing about. Stories tend to have a moral and a meaning and it is very clear what we need to take from these two hilarious tales. Then again, you can also always read texts against themselves, so perhaps the main take-away is that we could all have more fun and laughter by preparing for class a bit less….
Meanwhile, I’ve also been thinking about teaching with popular culture. In the wake of the recent scandal about the bestseller, The Salt Path (a book that has been on my ‘further reading’ for my Politics of Nature class from the start), I’ve been thinking about whether it might be interesting to address the controversy in class, and, if so, how. This blog is a slightly experimental attempt to think it through.
Where’s Cathy? Joyful reflections on tricky times
I felt a bit bad when I read Pigeon’s post apologising for a short absence from blogging for Very Serious Reasons! (Happy to note that he seems to have survived the avian vet’s ministrations, though.) Although I’ve been editing the blog here and there with guest posts, I’ve had a much longer period of absence without explanation. This is despite the fact that I’ve got a long and growing list of things I want to write about, including replies to other people’s ALPS blogs that are buzzing round in my head. I will get to this, though possibly in the autumn, as rumour has it that people won’t be reading blogs about active learning in the summer. (Tell me in the comments if this isn’t true!) But today I can at least give you a bit of an update about what I’ve been up to and a few links to teaching-related things that might be of interest.
Continue reading “Where’s Cathy? Joyful reflections on tricky times”Have fun, be flexible and encourage feedback….
It has been an exciting month for me and podcasts. Here I am again, this time talking on the Mahara podcast about portfolio assessment, which I am sure I will write about here again.
This could also be a good moment to re-up a previous episode I did for the same pod:
Let me know if you have any questions about portfolio assessment that you’d like me to write more about for ALPS!
Outdoor Learning and the Politics of Hope
Readers of the blog might enjoy my appearance on UCL Uncovering Politics talking about my latest book chapter on outdoor learning.
The chapter itself is: Cathy Elliott, ‘Chapter 6: Hope in the Garden: Outdoor learning as politics’, in Outdoor Learning in Higher Education. Educating Beyond the Seminar Room. Edited By Wendy Garnham, Paolo Oprandi. Feel free to buy the book!
Learning how to teach
I’ve been chuckling today about Simon’s post on what he learned about teaching from his teachers: it seems that he mainly learned from their mistakes, poor time-keeping and general fecklessness, especially with kiwi fruits. Catching up with his post alongside Amanda’s thoughts about whether we can teach someone how to teach and Jeremy’s reflections on our great recent PSA Teaching and Learning Network conference has made me think about the role of the community of other teachers in developing our practice and craft.
Continue reading “Learning how to teach”