Phew, I just got back from the US and so am writing this entry somewhat jetlagged. I realise how fortunate I am to have a job in which I am able to travel and see exciting cities such as Seattle. It wasn’t all fun-and-games though, I did work very hard too!
Archive for March, 2009
Conferencing tales!
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009End of term beckons!
Monday, March 23rd, 2009For those people who don’t work in academia, this time of year is probably no more or less significant than any other time, but for us lecturers it’s the end of another long, hard term. For some reason that I can’t fathom, the spring term is always very tough and so the holiday period seems like a welcome respite from enjoyable but hard work.
Lack of job security: PhD students reject academia
Monday, March 16th, 2009This week I wanted to write about a worrying phenomenon that is affecting the academic job market at the moment. PhD students coming up to the submission of their thesis are deciding to move out of the academic world and into other careers simply because of the lack of job security offered to them.
Writing a book while teaching: is it possible?
Monday, March 9th, 2009In order to improve your job prospects one of the vital things is to publish publish publish. This is true in academic life in all fields all across the world. But is it possible to do this if you have a job which is very teaching-heavy? How do you fit in the research, thinking and writing needed to complete a book if you are spending seemingly every waking hour either teaching or preparing to teach?
Oral presentations: teaching and learning skills
Monday, March 2nd, 2009In a couple of my courses I am coming up to the time in the academic year where students have to do oral presentations as part of their assessment routine. It means that my schedule looks very different as I no longer have to prepare seminars for them but instead get to sit back and watch as they lead the class. But does getting students to do oral presentations have any serious pedagogical value, or is it simply a way of varying the routine of essay after essay?
