Write a brief summary of any work-related activities undertaken on 15th November 2014 and/or your nearest working day . In posting your reply, you consent to the potential use of anonymised extracts from this material in resources that may in future be published by the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE), for educational and professional development purposes only.
My day:
I work as a Learning Advisor at Leeds University Library (Skills@Library team). Yesterday was my first almost “clear” day of the semester where I had no teaching and only 1 meeting! In the morning I had a meeting with a colleague to discuss a ‘Writing in Exams’ webinar that we are running on Friday. We are going to use Adobe Connect to deliver the webinar.
After this, I started prepping for a 20 minute talk I am giving next week as part of our Digital Dates programme (co-ordinated by Skills@Library and our Staff and Departmental Development Unit). It’s about managing references and I ended up going sort of off track by comparing EndNote and Mendeley- this led me to the discovery that you can finally edit citations in Mendeley without knowing XML whoop!
As it was my first “clear” day of the year I also used the time to contribute to our new team blog for the first time. This is where we share ideas, successes, tips etc. I shared my material for a ‘Top 10 tips for essay writing’ session I delivered as part of the School of Media and Communication’s Media Futures programme.
I then did some work on a module I am managing next semester called The Digital Student. This was mainly trying to sort the reading list out and downloading some podcasts (The Digital Human, BBC radio 4) to listen to that we think we’re gong to use in the module.
Finally I had a drop-in with a lovely student who needed essay writing help. We talked a lot about writing paragraphs- I think this is something we can build on much more in our teaching!
I also replied to and wrote plenty of emails as course! That was basically my day! I love the variety the job offers and when you see it written out I realise how great our job is Can’t wait to read all your entries!
Michelle
Okay – so it’s the 3rd January and I am a little late for the 25th November post – but it’s a good reason to reflect on that day – so here goes:
As with everybody – the day started at 08.30 with what I jauntily refer to in my hardcopy diary as ’email & admin’ – and as we know this is endless and overwhelming…
I had to prepare additional teaching materials for an evening teaching session. This year we are very swiftly introducing a University wide PASS Scheme – and our new VC wants us to offer PASS mentoring to all our foundation and first year students – so that means recruiting and training about 600 Mentors. No stumbling blocks there then!?
Given our own small staffing levels (about 2.7 FTE and falling within our CELT that have both staff and student-facing responsibilities) – the prospect of training 600 sounded daunting – but TB suggested that we train one cohort who were also Mentors or Ambassadors under other schemes – and they could train the next batch and so on.
Next stop – writing a Take5 blog post on Academic Reading (sort of… http://lmutake5.wordpress.com/ – see what you think?)…
The an online meeting of the ALDinHE PD working group – which was fun. I love these brief moments of meeting with my friends and allies.
And off to a three-hour evening training session for the PASS super-mentors who will be training the next group.
Crawled onto the sofa in front of the telly like a very old person!
shelldaynight
Posting on behalf of Dr Debbie Holley:
Opportunities and challenges
My day started with transport challenges so I arrived rather hot and bothered for my first meeting. Our Director of study has agreed to teach a guest slot on our PGCert ‘developing assessment’ module next year, and we were meeting to talk about possible content. A fascinating discussion ensured about students, mitigation and complaints and how clear aims and objectives really help with keeping these to a minimum.
Then off to do video focus group interviews with our year one computing students – we have flipped their curriculum for pdp and they now do a group blog, all around an ‘authentic’ task which is based on developing augmented reality artefacts (triggers) for our library. They had some wonderful things to share, and I hope to share with you all at the ALDinHE conference – thanks to the great ALDinHE AR community support! I suddenly thought about consent forms the night before (!) and sent out a pleas for exemplars at 20.45 the previous evening – had 4 replies by 6.30 the next morning – many many thanks!
Next up was meeting one of my profoundly deaf colleagues who has agreed to team teach a session with me on inclusive practice, and wants to film as part of her case study on staff attitudes to disabled colleagues. Another fascinating discussion and I have suggested that this is submitted as a workshop for our ALDinHe conference:)
Post meeting write ups and emails and then off to get my train home – makes me remember I do have fabulous aspects of my job, and work with some really inspiring colleagues both inside my own institution, and also through the ALDinHe network.
I was on holiday on 25th November, so this is what happened on 26th November.
I’m the Learning Hub Manager at Teesside University Library. Our small team of learning advisors (2.8 FTE) is part of the Learning and Research Support Team, which includes our academic librarians. On this day, we had an ‘Away Morning’ for the whole team, to look at our achievements and challenges. I found it very encouraging to reflect on recent achievements such as the growth in our workshop programme and the introduction of a PASS scheme. However, we also identified a number of difficult challenges which are beyond my influence, such as uncertainty in the sector, and these were rather disheartening. But it was helpful to spend time as a team discussing the bigger picture together.
At lunchtime, my colleague Yvonne and I ran a PASS Demystified workshop for potential PASS leaders in Computing. We’re expanding our PASS scheme into this subject area from Jan 2015. We had five students attending, which was more than we had expected. We were helped by our existing PASS leaders in Engineering, one of whom promoted being a PASS leader in a Computing lecture, and another who attended this workshop to answer any questions. It’s great to work with such committed students, who are so willing to volunteer their time to support others.
In the afternoon, I had 3 tutorials booked. The first tutorial was with a mature student faced by her first assignment who was quite daunted by the terminology of the criteria. I spent the time looking at how she could divide the assignment into sections, and also trying to give her confidence that it was within her capabilities. In the second tutorial, I discussed a draft critical appraisal assignment with a nursing student. I pointed out areas where she had made assertions without referring to theory as evidence for her argument. The third tutorial didn’t turn up. This was frustrating, but at least meant that I could catch up on emails.
My final meeting of the day was as a project member for a project led by one of the other teams in the library on Enquiries Management. The aim of the project is to install a system to record all first-line enquiries. I’m involved because some first-line enquiries are then referred to the Learning Hub, but I also hope that in future we might be able to use this system to record Learning Hub enquiries. At the moment we use an in-house Access database, so it would be good to have something more sophisticated. But it’s still early days for the project.
So overall, an interesting day, if a bit hectic!
paulineridley
Well for once I was actually in work on the 25th (I’m down to one day a week and often do that from home so rarely need to go in). Started badly with car park stress (no spaces left, and it’s an out of town campus so no alternative onstreet parking) just 10 minutes before my first meeting, finally resolved by our lovely administrator bagging a guest spot for me. Made it just in time for a strategy meeting about the way we support course design teams – which was frustrating in a different way, as despite great response to the new approach we’ve been piloting, rollout across the university is delayed again pending other organisational changes. Then into office to try and find a desk space, check email and get some writing done, eat sandwich at desk, before heading into town for another meeting on a different site (and more searching for somewhere to park). Meeting itself was fun – helping to devise an intensive module design course for fine art tutors – but finished just in time to get stuck in the home time traffic. Score for the day: travel to/from work and between sites 3 hours, sitting in meetings 3 hours 30 minutes, productive work maybe 2 hours worth. And then back home to find my home broadband still out of order! Luckily had had some lovely feedback from last weeks workshop to counter all the aggro….
Kate Coulson
Hi, I’m Kate and I am Head of the Centre for Achievement and Performance (CfAP) at the University of Northampton….
On 25th November I was at my desk for 8am, I love getting in a little bit early as it’s quieter and you get the chance to not only read but respond to emails and drink a cup of tea without interruption.
In the last few weeks I have enforced an email blackout when I leave work in the evenings and over the weekend. I had started to get “Email Anxiety” – constantly worrying about work via my phone. I’m sure a lot of colleagues experience this so I’ve turned email off on all of my devices! To start with I would worry I’d missed something really important but in the last week or so I’ve actually realised that it’s beneficial. I can now concentrate on one thing at a time rather than talk to my children with an eye on my iPhone/iPad/MacBook!
Once I’ve dealt with my emails, I always have a look at my diary for that day and the next few days so that there aren’t any nasty surprises and as I lead the team at Northampton I also look at team member’s diaries to see what pressures or challenges they may experience and if there is anything I can do to support them.
First thing in the morning I usually have a call/text/email/in person conversation with Kate Swinton, our Operations Manager. The location and method of the communication depends on our teaching or meeting commitments and the fact that we have two campuses. I call this the “state of the nation” update. Sometimes these are quick, at other times we are re-jigging diaries to ensure that our students are getting the support they need.
On 25th November I also looked over my teaching session for later in the day. I was scheduled to teach some Foundation Degree students. They needed to know how to embark upon their first essay. So I went through my notes and teaching materials. Then I changed my mind completely!
At 10am I went off to a 3 hour session with my Leadership Development Group. This is a group of “future leaders” at the University. There are 12 of us in the group and we meet fortnightly to undertake discussions and psychometric tests! We’ve recently undertaken the 360 feedback tests and a leadership-style test. All very scary but ultimately interesting.
I love these leadership meetings as I get to spend quality time with colleagues from across the university. These links are invaluable in my day-to-day work. This session finished at 1pm and I hotfooted back to the Library (CfAP are part of Library and Learning Services); downed a cup of soup and went off to set up the teaching room for my teaching session.
I taught twenty students who are undertaking a Foundation Degree in Dental Nursing. We had a rather interactive session regarding how to write an essay. Lots of discussion about their initial fears; some group work and feedback and some time answering questions at the end. After the session I felt a little deflated; it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I think it’s that time of year where we are all tired out and counting the days until the Christmas vacation! (Apparently the students loved the session; the course tutor sent some feedback to me the next day so my concerns were unfounded!).
After the teaching session I returned to my office…..to read more emails and help with our drop in session. So all in all a busy and productive day – and no two days are the same
RattusScholasticus
My day was a mix of workshop, tutorials, meetings and professional development – nice to have such a varied day! The overarching theme, if there was one, was the importance of professional collaboration and sharing expertise.
It started with a workshop for STEM PhD students, on writing for publication. It was very well attended – graduate students are clearly aware of the ‘publish or perish’ ethos which applies even to them these days – such a lot of conflicting priorities for them to manage to ensure that they are employable in or out of academia once they’ve submitted. I do feel for them – the wrong decision or advice can have a huge impact on their career.
It was a topic which I’ve inherited though, and which I was a little ambivalent about delivering. Yes, I have some publishing experience (refereeing and editing as well as authoring) which I could draw on, but as my partner is a STEM researcher, I am very aware of how differently publishing works in the sciences, than in Learning Development or even my former discipline of modern languages. And I see the role of the learning developer as having expertise in writing for assessment, not publication. Was I the best person to deliver the session, or would they have been better served by a professor from the STEM subjects who might be a journal editor with a lot more relevant experience than me? Or both – a professor to bring the ‘case study’ of their own experience, and myself to help them bridge that transition from writing as a student to writing as a peer? They need to make informed choices about where the best place to publish is if they are not to waste their time writing for venues and in formats which will not serve them well on the CV, or submitting articles which look too much like thesis chapters to be accepted. I am also scheduled to speak to them about writing for a general public, which again, does not always fall comfortably in the area of writing for assessment, although I am pleased to see that more UG assignments are being set which are not just traditional essays, but writing for different audiences in different formats. But I think the best approach here is to team up with the Outreach team and draw on their expertise for some collaboration. It’s been interesting to think about the boundaries of my expertise, and also the views of those commissioning the sessions that writing is writing is writing, and that therefore the Writing Development Service is the obvious place to approach.
Two tutorials in the afternoon, which I enjoyed as they presented quite different challenges. One was concerned about structure and criticality, the other a student with dyslexia who wanted to know if he had done a good enough job with his writing style. This has opened up the opportunity to create better links with the dyslexia team, to ensure we’re sharing practice and referring appropriately.
and to end the day, an online meeting of the ALDinHE professional development group – always enjoyable to discuss plans with colleagues for the ALDinHE community!
Okay so here’s what I got up to on the 25th, assuming I can remember! It becomes such a blur…
I started the morning by going through my emails and actually dealing with them, instead of putting them off like I usually do. Could this be a start of a new me? What an alarming thought! I had lots of responses to my request for participants in my research project so I mainly spent my time replying to them and sending my questionnaire.
At 10am I had to go to an All Staff meeting (I try only to go to meetings prefaced with capital letters; life is happier that way). There was tea and coffee and biscuits, and I had a curious insight into what it is like for students when they are being talked at on subjects not of their choice. I found myself slouching in my chair until I remembered what it’s like to teach those students, and then I sat up straight.
My student at 11.15 came on time then declared that he had solved his problems and understood now, and wouldn’t need to talk to me, but since he was in the library anyway he thought he’d come along. That’s a new one for me. The half-hour gap until my next student gave me enough time to deal with more student emails and book more students in for tutorials; a luxury of time I don’t always have.
My 11.45 student has improved his writing beyond compare to his first year (he’s now a third year) and I told him so. He calls me ‘Miss’ with alarming regularity but is a nice boy, so it’s good to see him doing well. He stayed for 15 minutes, giving me time to faff around with more emails before going for lunch.
I gave myself a nice lunch break today as I don’t think I’ll have time for one tomorrow, so I walked into town and then sat in the canteen with my sandwich. I’m taking part in Stoic week so I had a good read and made some notes on our thought for the day. Nice.
After lunch my next student didn’t show up, giving me time to do some work in a research project I’m involved with in collaboration with Psychology and Video Games. I seem to now be the one coordinating it all so I sorted out a meeting for us and got in touch with our RA, who needs to register with the Campus Jobs system so we can pay her. I also heard back from a journal to say they are accepting a paper, which was great news!
The one student that did show up, at 3, was good if loud, and I talked to her about her rather disjointed writing style. I had a lot of admin to catch up on; my database of the students I’ve seen is not up to date so I had to go back through my diary and enter them all in as best I could remember. LUckily, I have a good memory.
I left at 4, earlier than usual, to walk round to St Mary’s football stadium to check it out as a venue for our conference dinner next year. I was given a cup of tea and a biscuit and an excellent sales pitch, and think we’ll do very well there! I had to get a later train home as a result but all in all it was a good day.
NEED to know about Stoic week! Please?
I wasn’t at work yesterday (Monday is my nanna-ing day) so here’s my diary for today.
I’m a Study Adviser at the University of Reading. We’re a small team (three people working 2.4 FTE in total) but we have very long arms so our reach is wide! We do 1-2-1s, generic and embedded teaching, and lots of innovative self-help resources.
Today started with catching up on emails, as I wasn’t at work yesterday. They included exciting and positive responses from co-contributors on a book chapter and conference paper proposal which was a very nice way to start the day! It’s hard to fit research in when we’re so busy, but we do think it’s important, if nothing else so that we can model what we advise – and it keeps my brain on its proverbial toes.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual (at this point in term) juggling act of trying to get a workshop on referencing prepared, in the often unpredictable slices of time between seeing students for 1-2-1s. Fortunately I was able to take advantage of my own work last year producing a toolkit of teaching materials on referencing. The goal then was to support academic tutors in embedding LD teaching – but I’m happy to help myself with the exercise sheets (and answers!) that I’d prepared.
It’s a difficult time of year for 1-2-1s. Many students that we speak to at the moment are quite distressed and overwhelmed. Today was all about time management, procrastination, and particularly coping with the workload, intensity and new subject knowledge at Masters level. Seeing four quite anxious Masters students in a row (two were considering leaving their courses) made me think about whether Masters courses in the UK remain fit for purpose. They so often still assume a student who is being prepared for PhD study, and yet recruit students who are unused to the rigorous academic culture and demands of UK HE, or are returning to study after a lengthy break.
It also made me think about the emotional demands we can be subject to. Luckily all of these students left the office smiling and with strategies to move forward, so I was happy too. But some days are not so good. I’m looking forward to hearing Carina Buckley’s research into this under-discussed topic.