-
Archives
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
-
Meta
Category Archives: Academia
Taking the PBL plunge
As part of my new duties as Associate Dean, I’m going to be continuing in a more hands-on role as programme director of our new Liberal Arts & Sciences degree. Modelled on the US approach, this will offer an opportunity … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Exercises, Problem solving, Simon Usherwood
Tagged PBL, Problem Based Learning
3 Comments
Anti-Fragile Universities
I recently had a conversation with a retired IT administrator from Boston University. He commented that people in universities, just like in most other organizations, usually operate to preserve the existing order. This reminded me of how difficult it is … Continue reading
The value of learning & teaching
The past 24 hours have seen a couple of good pieces of news for learning & teaching in my neck of the woods. This morning, the Guardian produced its new league tables for UK universities, with our School moving to … Continue reading
Are path dependencies good or bad in learning and teaching?
This past weekend, I’ve been lucky to spend time in Cornwall. And even more lucky to have had some amazing sunshine and heat. Because I’m me, while the kids scrambled over the rock pools, I found myself wondering about path … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Classroom Behavior, Feedback & Reflection, Learning, Problem solving, Simon Usherwood, Skills
Tagged path dependency
1 Comment
Helping others with using simulations
Of late, I’ve been working with the Higher Education Academy once more, developing more resources for their excellent New to Teaching Toolkit site. This is intended to help those with less experience develop their own practice in a supported way. … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, and Simulations, Online Classes, Simon Usherwood
Tagged HEA, Resources
Leave a comment
Learned helplessness all round
Following on curiouscat’s response to my post, I’ve been rather taken with the idea of learned helplessness. This past week I’ve been tied up with validating our new degree programmes: we had our final meetings with the panel and got … Continue reading
Make like MacGyver
During the past week I’ve been engaging with some very different groups of people. On the one hand, I’ve spent time with some people talking about public communication and on the other, I’ve attended a workshop on using stories in … Continue reading
Building programmes of study
For most of this year, I’ve been working with my colleagues to put together some big piles of documentation for the official university validation of our new degree programmes (Politics and Sociology and Politics and Economics for undergrads, European Politics … Continue reading
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
I view sharing my hard-earned wisdom on the world with students as part my responsibility as an educator, and every semester I encounter students with ill-formed plans to attend graduate school in the social sciences, humanities, or law. When I … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Chad Raymond, Cognitive Science and Psychology, Problem solving, Skills
Tagged Al Jazeera, graduate school, Kahneman, Taleb
1 Comment
Observations and Evaluations Done Right Interesting set of posts in the above link (aimed at the high school teacher crowd, but relevant for college as well) on how to turn classroom observations from a fear-inducing evaluation to a welcome chance … Continue reading
