Assessment, Learning & Teaching Reflections |
Thursday 19 January, 2006
Old Teacher Fellows never die, they just teach less, (due to other responsibilities) but we never stop thinking about teaching. Now I only teach one first-year Social Sciences’ module and third-year dissertation students, I find myself wondering what else to do with the fifteen years of accumulated teaching experience I have in Higher Education. The obvious thing is to contribute to those events when fellow tutors gather for staff-development activity. Those opportunities (in my experience) at School level seem quite rare, which is why the teaching and learning events (Faculty-based and institution-wide) at the Staff Development festival are so important.
But there are other moments when teaching and learning advocacy can happen. Soon all Social Sciences staff will gather for a day of moderating assessed work – discussion will be swift and marks decided, and we will all regret not having time to talk more about the issues raised. Could we do more? Course committees, when they work well, provide opportunities for students to talk with staff about teaching methods and assessment principles. These are collective occasions when old-timers (who usually have less wisdom than we think we have) can offer positive support for ongoing efforts to improve the students’ experience.
Max Farrar
School of Social Sciences and Community Partnerships and Volunteering Office
