Everyone teaching in a university should want to bring ideas, facts and principles to life in a way that will encourage their students to find out more for themselves. The heart of teaching in higher education is, as Alfred North Whitehead put it in “Universities and Their Function” in 1927, the “imaginative acquisition of knowledge”. A university education is nothing if it does not ignite a burning desire to learn. Imagination illuminates the facts and structures them. It makes the dull and obscure parts of learning a challenge to be overcome rather than a burden to be endured. In that frame of mind, students are ready to understand and will want to share with other people the remarkable feeling that understanding brings.

Effective university teaching matters a great deal – but not because it has much to do with student satisfaction. That’s a by-product. It matters because it gets students to engage with abstract ideas in a way that allows them to make the subject their own.

Accomplished teaching is the single most important method of producing graduates who can reason and act for themselves, and can apply theory to practical problems – precisely the skills that any employer wants to see.

It is not a simple equation of cause and effect. The other important element is the resolve of the students themselves. By their own efforts, they can convert the opportunity into the outcome. Students decide their own destinies, and lecturers only add or subtract value at the margins. Skilful teaching, by teachers who apply their learning with imagination, can inspire students to do more than they ever thought they could.

Teaching in higher education should never fool students into thinking there is an easy path to success. Rather, it should make the hardest road enjoyable to follow by communicating complex ideas clearly and succinctly.

Read full story in the Times Higher Ed, and read also the next story “Credit where it’s overdue“.

Summer
In May, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the summer, as teaching was coming to an end, but I picked up a couple of summer projects, went to France with Oak Hall, and in fact haven’t completed my own studies this summer, and teaching commences again next week! I then started conversations with a few others, and look what’s happening now…

2009-2010 Timetable
Semester 1 (Finishes 5th February)
I have quite a full timetable (all modules include preparation/marking):

• Monday 3-6: Introduction to Media Studies
• Tuesday 9-12: 20th Century British History
• Wednesday 10-11: Landmark (The Internet as a Landmark in History)
• Wednesday 1.30-5: STUDYING the PGCLTHE + associated 3 x 4,000 word projects
• Thursday: 7.5 hours “Blended Learning Research Fellowship“, including Learning Website
• 5 Final Year Project Students for Media Studies (Due 5th May 2010)
• Media Studies Website (for March 2010)
• History Website (for March 2010)
• SkillsNet Website (Content, Staff/Student Evaluation)

To also fit in:

• Monday Evening: Housegroup
• Tuesday afternoon: I’m not available from 12 noon on Tuesday afternoons, this is time I need!
• Super Fun Days Out Adrenablog; Twitter feed, Facebook Page, and Delicious.
• North Winchester Community Church website/Gathering website.
• Sunday: North Winchester Community Church/Christ Church (now just focusing on evenings!)
• Syzygy Website (for November/December 2009)
• Own websites:  Digital Fingerprint; WW2Poster; Bex Lewis (and integrating old websites into new WordPress formats)
• FRIENDS, FAMILY, SOCIAL and GYM time!

Christmas

• Cooking at Lauterbrunnen for Christmas Week
• New Year, who knows yet…
• Complete VD poster article. Start to think about Book Proposal (Thesis to Book – note am not necessarily expecting to submit)
• Get ready for semester 2!

Semester 2 (Finishes 18th June)
I have an extremely full timetable:

• Monday 3-5: Introduction to Media Studies
• Wednesday 9-12: Dreams and Nightmares
• Thursday 9-11: Film History
• Thursday 11-3 (2 hours of): Creating and Consuming History
• Friday 9-12: Researching Media Studies
• 2 hours for 6 weeks: Reflecting
• History Independent Study Module, Dissertation/Second Marking
• Tuesday or Friday: 7.5 hours “Blended Learning Research Fellowship“
• 5 Final Year Project Students for Media Studies (Due 5th May 2010)
• Media Studies Website (for March 2010)
• History Website (for March 2010)
• SkillsNet Website (Content completion – for May 2010)
• Adding French content to ARCA website (awaiting translations).
• Been asked if I’ll teach 4 weeks on ‘History of Public Health’ and 6 weeks on ‘Design for Digital Media’ – hmmm

To also fit in:

• Monday Evening: Housegroup
• Tuesday or Friday afternoon: My time
• Super Fun Days Out Adrenablog; Twitter feed and Delicious.
• North Winchester Community Church website/Gathering website.
• Sunday: Christ Church
• Working on Digital Fingerprint as a business model, continuing WW2Poster; Bex Lewis.
• FRIENDS, FAMILY, SOCIAL and GYM time!

Easter

• A week away in Cornwall with my housegroup – woot!

Summer
The summer is yet some time away, and the Blended Learning is permanent, so I guess if I’m sensible with my money… Although waiting for the dates of Oak Hall in Israel, and may go there next September… I know it’s quite tiring, but invigorating in other ways.

• Greenbelt
• Israel with Oak Hall?

So if you’re wondering why I go quiet for long periods of time, this may kind of explain it, as there’s usually approximately 3 hours of preparation for each hour of teaching… and then the marking, well, we try not to think about the marking (e.g. Intro to Media, around 40 students, 2 assignments, about 1/2 hour + per assignment)! Some weeks there’s tutorials, and some courses run alternate weeks rather than all term, so manageable – with a few late nights, I suspect!