UWE: 15th January 2013

Here are the main slides I used in my keynote UWE (811 downloads) , and the feedback grids you can use as a starting point and adapt grids (760 downloads) . You were a great group to work with, and I very much enjoyed your four presentations, and Mark Huxham’s. I particularly warmed to Rachel’s reminding us how scary assessing students’ work was for the first time – for me it still is. May all your learning outcomes be abundantly acheived in 2013.

Cork Institute of Technology: November 14th-16th

Sally and I are enjoying three days in Cork running workshops and meeting staff. My first workshop on ‘Making Learning Happen’ was for colleagues at Crawford College of Art, and the main slides are here. Crawford (764 downloads) , and my second workshop on ‘Smarter Assessment and Feedback’ at the main campus is here Smarter assessment and feedback (826 downloads)
On 17th November, I started with a breakfast workshop on ‘student engagement and retention’ for the Department of Hospitality and Tourism (though I didn’t see breakfast, but later in the day had a splendid lunch very well served in the Training Restaurant). Here are the main slides for that workshop Hospitality and Tourism (750 downloads) .  I then went across to the Faculty of Engineering and Science, and continued on the theme of ‘Student Retention’ Engineering and Science 1 (743 downloads) , and after lunch continued further with the theme of retention but this time in online learning contexts Engineering and Science: online (728 downloads) .  I really enjoyed working with both sets of participants, and the chats before and after the various events.
On the third day, numbers were too small to do the full advertised workshops, but I’m putting the full slides I would have used for two-hour workshops, for the benefit of the staff who attended the summary ones. Making Learning Happen (768 downloads) , Large Group Teaching (756 downloads) .

Hon Doc at Plymouth

Sally and I had a great time at one of Plymouth University’s magnificent graduation ceremonies on The Hoe, where we were both awarded Honorary Doctorates in Education.
 I was particularly pleased to actually wear a hat – my first doctorate way back in 1968 was much less exciting. We would like to thank everyone at the ceremony at Plymouth, particularly PVC Pauline Kneale for making us so welcome, and reading out citations which made us feel very proud.
For me, graduations are what Universities are all about, and there is nothing quite like seeing the shining eyes of successive successful students walking across the stage to receive the proof of their success. I love the way that as students leave the marquee at Plymouth, their teaching staff are already lined up to applaud them on their exit, as they enter the next learning stage of their lives, already having proved that they are very skilled at learning.

Helping students give presentations

The handout material you can download here is based on material I wrote some years ago, which appeared in ‘How to Study’ published by Blackwell in 2003. I’ve updated it a bit by removing reference to overhead transparencies. You may find it useful to adapt this to use as material to help your students with presentations (or even to give you the odd extra idea for your own). presentations (866 downloads)

Helping students write better reports

The short handout you can download here is a summary of one of the tales I tell at many of my workshops, about how to use a whole-class lecture slot to help students to write better practical reports. The idea can be extended to helping students to write better essays, reflective notes, and many other coursework elements. You;re welcome to use the ideas. All feedback gratefully received. report writing (721 downloads)

University of Hull: 28th June

Sorry not to put these slides up earlier – my journey home took seven hours, arriving just before midnight. Fine as far as York, but packed train thereafter (no chance of working on this train)delayed by two hours due to flooding near Newcastle, then with Metro cancelled and no taxis in Newcastle I ended up getting the only bus running home, which took a further two hours to my street due to entirely gridlocked traffic. ! I’ve strung all the main slides into a single (big!) file, not in the order in which we used them, as I dipped and dived into various presentations during the day. Great working with you all. University of Hull (685 downloads)