The cutting edge of relaxation

Oh shame among bloggers! I missed a day. This was because I was at the second day of the Abertay Enhancement conference. A colleague asked me this morning whether I felt suitably enhanced; yes, I replied; any more enhanced and I could change my name to Jordan

The second day started with a thought-provoking talk from our Vice Principal, who managed to link Ancient Icelandic sagas to employability (you kinda had to be there). She was joined by one of our students who gave a different perspective on our new graduate attributes.

Then went to a talk by some Computing lecturers who were reporting on some peer teaching they had been getting the MSc IT students to do – this was interesting as I have some input into that module right at the beginning, and I got to see how the whole thing pans out. This session provoked a lot of discussion and nearly overran. Fortunately the next session was shorter and mainly consisted of cuddle your neighbour and stick postits all over the walls.

There were two highlights of the afternoon session: one an inspiring and thought-provoking talk on the connections between research and teaching, and the other a debate. The motion for the debate was “A healthy workforce is a better workforce” and it was comprehensively defeated, to everyone’s surprise! We voted (using TurningPoint) on our views at the beginning and end of the debate and it had to be said the unhealthy corner had put together  a stronger case. “The cutting edge of the relaxation though was one of the memorable phrases friom the healthy corner’s argument, and one that particularly appeals to me.

All rounded off with a glass of wine. It was worth getting alarmingly behind in my emails and getting nowhere with my tasklist this week; I’ve had a chance to think, reflect, chat, make connections, listen, learn, discover and plot wily stratagems.

Live briefs

This afternoon was the first instalment of Abertay’s annual enhancement conference, which runs for the whole of tomorrow as well. It’s a chance to get folk together from across the University to share ideas, good practice, experiences, thoughts and new directions. A sprinkling of guest speakers helps us to find perspective and gain new insights. Our keynote speaker – though this suggests a more grandiose conference than ours – this is really quite homegrown, in a good way – is Prof Brent MacGregor (writing at home from memory, may not get name right!) from Edinburgh Art College. He speaks on ‘Employability: Homer, Marx and the Beatles’ and is both engaging and relevant. He also manages to reference both Marxes (Karl and Groucho) and both Homers (Iliad and Simpson) which I think is quite impressive; the Beatles only get a general mention and John and Paul a nod each – nothing for Ringo or George. (Though I’d love to hear what the drummer of the Fab Four, voice of Thomas the Tank Engine and regular at the Chelsea Flower Show had to say about employability!) He makes me giggle though by mentioning ‘live briefs’ (for the uninitiated that means students working with real world clients) in the same breath as a reference to Mantz Yorke, the highly respected academic. This won’t strike you as the least bit funny. But a guest slot from Mantz Yorke a year or two ago came at a hectic time, got forgotten about periodically and mutated into ‘Pants Yorke’ with no disrespect intended. Underpants just ARE funny, I don’t care how old you are.

Also attend a really interesting session in which one of our sports lecturers reports the results of some research that has been conducted into student attendance at Abertay. We learn that bad times for lectures are: mornings; afternoons; Wednesdays; Thursdays. Our one-man timetabling team (the series Baldrick didn’t make) takes it on the chin but points out that not everyone can have 11.30-1.30 on a Tuesday. Students have work commitments, family commitments, travel problems, and a certain amount of poor motivation – all of this we know – and they want absolutely everything tied in to assessment.

Final slot of the day, by which time a lot of folk have sloped off, sees my colleagues speaking on the links between Information Literacy and employability – they echo a lot of the keynote speech and worry that people will think they just wrote it in half an hour – evidently it’s just proof that great minds think alike! It’s a tough brief but they generate food for thought and receive some interesting questions afterwards.

A stimulating afternoon and always good to get out and talk to people – to be continued.