Adventures in Academic Development
Faculty Development, Hochschuldidaktik, Play and Creativity in Higher Education, SoTL
I did not set any goals for this year’s Academic Writing Month. And I believe because of this it was my most productive and most joyful AcWriMo ever. This is the 13th blog post of the month! All I wanted to do was: just write. I just wanted to write again. Without force, expectations, publisher … Continue reading Successful Aimlessness: #AcWriMo2022 Last Words
SoTL is Educational Research SoTL is intrinsically linked to your teaching practice. Whatever this practice may look like from traditional classroom teaching, to supporting learning, and supervision. You are a core part of this process, both in influencing pedagogy as well as in gathering data, analysing it and implementing changes. You might however, beg, borrow, … Continue reading AcWriMo2022: Debunking 4 SoTL Myths
This post is aimed at colleagues who (like I used to be) are mainly social media lurkers; who want to make the next step but are worried about it. Table of Content Introduction Remember my blogpost about the wicked problem of creating space for different voices? Particularly, the point about how to encourage participation? I … Continue reading Public Participation: An Emotional Rollercoaster
Somewhere on the wilderness of the World Wide Web I stumbled across this contemplation about comfort work by Austin Kleon. The idea was so relatable it made me contemplate not only how I work but also if framing things under this light might help with motivation during challenging times. First things first. Austin Kleon defines … Continue reading Writing is Comfort Work
Part two of random writing: Social Network Dynamics I want to share a wicked problem. All that talk about social networks–their value, their issues of late made me ponder this: Maybe the combined perspectives will unearth some insights, so please do comment and share! Even if just to say you have the same questions. In … Continue reading Unsticking my Writing by Pondering a Wicked Problem
Have you ever written something: just because? Just because the words needed out. Just because you could feel your thoughts churning but were not able to grasp them, hold on to the maelstrom of shapeless cognition? That’s me today. The last weeks were full of meetings, and teaching, and movement, and falling down the stairs … Continue reading Just because #AcWriMo2022
Finding your SoTL Writing Voice This post is based on a CPD session I ran today, for colleagues and PGR students who are new to SoTL and trying to figure out just where to begin with it. I am going to share the writing prompts with you. So if you want to use this to … Continue reading Writing about your Teaching Practice: Your DIY Writing Workshop
Maybe not all mindfulness techniques but some of the most common: deep breathing, and body check are not as simple or risk free as you might think: How Deep Breathing Can Worsen Trauma Responses | Psychology Today It is a dreich rainy first November here in Scotland. And at 7 am I am contemplating my … Continue reading Mindfulness is NOT a panacea for anxious students
This year for Academic Writing Month I decided to blog more. That’s it. No specific goals, no three posts a week etc. I didn’t want to immediately inhibit the writing process by setting unrealistic expectations. It’s mid-semester here, there are teaching observations, teaching, running network, struggling with chronic health issues, all of which is usually … Continue reading Writing Creates More Writing
The following infographic reflects the stages of the process I often observe in my practice supporting SoTL, and which we use in our institution to support colleagues familiarising themselves with SoTL. It also made me think more about SoTL as practitioner inquiry: institutionally we are speaking about educational inquiries–rather than educational research–which is a horse … Continue reading SoTL Development: A Pragmatic Approach
Dr Vicki Dale and I are running a very hands-on postgraduate course around creative pedagogies. One of the core messages I think we still have to make stronger–there was yet another course participant asking for discipline specific pedagogies–teaching methods are in the least interdisciplinary–although I vote for transdisciplinarity! So I am making a public plea: … Continue reading Looking Beyond: Thoughts on Teaching Models
Warning Rant While there is still no sector-wide agreement about the exact definition of SoTL/Scholarship and while this remains contested, debated, and perpetually redefined and tweaked, thousands of educators in Higher Education are engaging in undertaking SoTL, in their own way. Sometimes haphazardly, cautious, tentative and sometimes full of valour and zest. This article for … Continue reading Thoughts About Ethics and SoTL: 01
This is a (not comprehensive) list of things that keep coming up in my role supporting SoTL, fellowship applications and teaching on the PGCAP. This is the fifth blog post I have been fretting about today and decided to just press publish now. Note: Editing will probably happen. SoTL is all about your own practice: … Continue reading SoTL: Quick Tips
This has been a very slow blogging year. I made up for it with several publications, including lead editor for an open access book and starting our oSoTL journal. The second edition was just published and edition three plus a special edition are in the works. So trying to get my blogging mojo back for … Continue reading #AcWriMo 2022
…or thinking about rivers ‘We are all tired.’ These words reverberate through higher education, no matter the country. We are all tired. Normally in October I have a plan for the academic year, the next quarter and the month. This is one of my key strategies to stay on top of the ADHD-fall out—being highly … Continue reading Why Most Productivity Advice is Pointless
Adventures in Academic Development 