ResearchTeachingAdmin demands Coping Strategies Use sharpest time for

Research/Teaching/Admin demands: Coping Strategies • Use sharpest time for most valuable activity • Leave teaching preparation to last minute! • Work insane hours!! • Prioritise • Try to align teaching and research • Use term time for teaching and vacations for research • Understand policies of department and maximise within these • Hang on until things begin to get easier! • Bunching teaching • Negotiate • Joint-authored articles • Get students to gather data! • Careful management of office hours – including virtual office hours • Managing student expectations

Lectures: Issues / Solutions • Applying to real-world issues – theories may be wrong! • Too little interaction – makes it difficult to judge understanding • Range of student abilities – where to pitch • Choice of assessment methods – assessing large groups • Students’ difficulties in essay writing – difficult for them to express their knowledge • How to check students’ learning in lectures • What to do with students who are poorly prepared or unmotivated • Mixed ability groups (different degrees, different prior experience) • Fitting teaching into the university’s curriculum and objectives • What materials to give to students and effects on attendance

What makes a bad small class? • Too many students • Too few students • Unpredictable size • Where students sit • No interaction – tutor monologue • Some students prepared – some unprepared • Mixed ability students • Tutor poorly prepared • Not mapped to lecture inconsistency • Inconsistent notation • Insufficient value added seminar delivered as lecture (affects lecture attendance) • Insufficient time for students to prepare • Unsocial time of day • Too much material • Skipping key steps in argument • Some students want tutor to give mini lecture • Poor communication between lecturer and tutor • Poor material from lecturer

Uses of / Issues with e-learning • • • • Online resources attached to books Web. CT/Blackboard/Moodle – making files available Complement or substitute? Does it replace teaching or support it? Different role of lectures? Use of chat facilities Shared web pages for groupwork / building pages Wikis Students more familiar with technology than lecturers Divide between colleagues Online quizzes/tests Misunderstanding students’ use of devices Virtual classes Is there sufficient technical support – equipment and staff • • • • Lack of training Personal response systems Electronic pad for writing to screen Electronic whiteboard Tablet / on-screen writing Lack of room space or equipment for all students Podcasts of lectures – good or bad? Checking for plagiarism Rules for online submission Distance learning students on existing degrees / distance learning degrees Students making videos Using a whole range of web resources Motivating students to use online resources – incentives Managing student expectations Too many resources – problem of choice / priorities Should align use of technology with learning objectives