Adventures in Academic Development
Faculty Development, Hochschuldidaktik, Play and Creativity in Higher Education, SoTL
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
Just coping, not quite fine In a conversation with my students (who are also peers and colleagues) today we were talking about how we all struggle at the moment. What emerged from the conversation is that we all felt things should be easier this year. We have pivoted online, we know how everything works. And … Continue reading Is it because the spaces never close?
My efforts to publish working–out–loud pieces have been thwarted by overwhelm. So let’s step back by a month. There was some learning from this summer’s holiday-domain during which I ran out of words. This is a meandering thoughts blog, I am trying to figure something out–solve a teaching dilemma. Any ideas are welcome! If you … Continue reading Painting a Diary
The Hunt for Teaching Eggcellence! This month’s SoTLwalk is all about teaching treasures so these were the instructions: Have you made a discovery – tips, tools, delicious treasures – this year that you’d like to share with others? Where did you find them? Maybe you gamify your syllabus to make things more fun for your … Continue reading Sotlwalk April 2021
I am always intrigued how some themes or topics seem to come at you from all (or at least several directions) at a point in time, just to fade out of focus again once you have engaged. So this week it seems to be all about reflecting this academic year (and a bit) and the things we want to keep or stop doing in the coming months. Continue reading To keep or not to keep?
Review: Hochschulbildungsforschung Chapter 1 I have been reading this book, the title would translate into Higher Education Educational Research and probably considered a book of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. One of the things I had entirely forgotten–or rather supressed–was how annoyingly superfluously elaborate and cluttered German academic writing can be. In one of … Continue reading Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Chapter 1
About failed adventures, resilience, and preparing for the new academic year. Last week we spend four days in the Cairngorms (Scotland), as a short break after the summer was all but relaxing. However, the weird and wonderful mechanisms of stress and being worn out saw me reaching some physical and mental boundaries. And led to … Continue reading Falling into the Heather
This is one option, ten minutes dance-off while you are waiting for the next session to begin–by the by: beginning. Over the last couple of months people have been asking for suggestions of what do you do during these newly acquired breaks between meetings. You know the ones we used to use to run from … Continue reading Zoom Break Zumba
Over the last evenings I have been playing with digital and mixed media art to reflect on all the challenges faced working in higher education at the moment. In part these are responses to the irresponsible press articles demeaning online learning and teaching–it’s all just watching some videos after all, right?– dismissing the unbelievable amount … Continue reading Friday-Artday
Living by the Proverb ABSTRACT There seems to be a strong link between developing our identities and storytelling. As humans, we strive for coherence, and this coherence is found in stories (Hermans, 2001). This is an experimental paper telling a story about developing a brave, and authentic self as an educator (teacher) in Higher Education … Continue reading A Story about Becoming a University Teacher
I have had a bit of frustration with getting a definition sorted. So I made a thinking thing … ‘definitions are living creatures’. That’s the premise. Continue reading SoTL Definition Conundrum
How are you holding up? It’s a grey afternoon in Scotland and it looks as if a thunderstorm is brewing; alas I don’t think it will manifest itself. The announcement that we are still not permitted to travel beyond the 5 mile mark hit us hard this week. It has set wild camping plans back … Continue reading The most obvious insight!
Today’s topic on the FOS201 Course was OERs my academic knowledge around OERs is rudimentary at best, an image that came to mind during the FOS201 reflection was that I use OER like the fancy coffee machine in our seminar room. I use it when we are permitted to, let my colleagues know when they … Continue reading #FOS201 OER and OEP
Reflections on this year’s QAA Enhancement Themes Conference Frazzled Thoughts The reflections on this year’s QAA Enhancement Themes Conference are probably going to meander, from idea to idea, like a bumblebee from blossom to blossom. Two of my favourite phrases from the conference came from Prof Sally Krift who stated that we are in ‘a … Continue reading #ETConf20, The ‘New Normal’ and SoTL
I am going on walks every day, often Nordic Walking–which in Scotland earns me strange looks and the occasional comment. As spring takes hold and the days become longer, if not necessarily warmer, I was thinking about emergence. As educators we are used to being in an autopoietic state (Kidd, 2015), but the process of … Continue reading Emergence
Adventures in Academic Development 