On the 15th of each month, we are inviting those working in the field of learning development to share their day. Write up what you have done on the 15th of the month (or your nearest working day to this date) (plus reflections) and share it with us via this short submission form. The entries will be shared here on the ALDinHE blog.
In 2010-11 and 2014-15, the ALDinHE website was previously used for a collective online journal by members of the LD community. The collective journal re-launched on the 15 May 2023. You can read the journal entries for each month. The shared experiences and ideas have helped shape CPD resources developed for new and experienced staff, and to identify other areas for future work.
A reminder will go out on the LDHEN list on the 15th of each month. Share your day by completing the short submission form for it to be added to the ALDinHE blog.
Sandra Sinfield – London Metropolitan University
As always the day begins with emails. I remember a time before email (yes – I am of that vintage!). When people wanted to contact you they might phone or handwrite a Memo and put it in the internal post. Those were sensible days! The emails do tend to give me information to share within and outwith our University on conferences, calls for papers, publications… Today it was good to shareWAC’s free: https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/faculty-writing/ – which looks to be a powerful addition to the LD repertoire: supporting colleagues with their writing and helping them into the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (joining the movement for an LD-inspired HE!).
This afternoon we had a Subject Standards Board meeting to review and Quality Assure our Facilitating Student Learning module with our External Examiner. This was a sad meeting – the first SSB without our wonderful Tom Burns at the helm. The first FSL without him. We are also negotiating the first PGCert LTHE without him – the first Curriculum module… It is hard – and it is very emotional.
Robert Ping-Nan Chang – University of the Arts London
Like many colleagues, a day for me as a learning developer starts with email. However, my 15th April began with with a conversation with my colleague whom I bumped into on the train. Since I just came back from a 2-week leave, there were lots of things to catch up.
Getting into the office, I encountered the difficulty of turning the light on and realised that the switch was broken, fixed and unfortunately broken again. This fault affected my tutorial arrangement; however, with the shortage of space being a perennial issue at my college, I was lucky to secure a meeting room to cover the tutorial period. I then emailed the students concerned about the room change.
As I am now helping with HPL timetabling, I went to a studio during the lunchtime to check on the surgery one HPL was doing. The sign-up tutorials were coordinated by the course team and there has been confusion about the arrangement (e.g. sign-up sheet, online option) and lack of effectiveness in terms of HR from Academic Support. More detailed planning and communication will be needed in the future especially when HPLs are assigned for embedded support.
Despite some issues, a surprise student compliment saved my day. While walking out of the studio space, a BA Interior and Spatial Design Y3 student stopped me and expressed her appreciation of my support on her dissertation, for which she received an A. This once again demonstrated the value of Academic Support in students’ learning/study.