[tonyburkeMember July 19, 2017 at 8:54 AM Post count: 3]

#2120

Hi Lisa

As you know, I think a community for peer support in course leadership is a great idea. Having previously spent over ten years as a programme leader I know what a demanding, and sometimes lonely role it can be. Course leaders are given significant responsibilities but have to lead through persuasion, collaboration and, often, simply by example. I know I would have valued a community to draw on the experiences of colleagues and share ideas about how to tackle the challenges we all face. Often the most interesting ideas come from the experiences of others who have a similar role in a different context.

I am sure there must be many course leaders around the institution who would be interested in participating, and I hope you get some response to this.

Tony

[tonyburkeMember June 21, 2017 at 6:26 PM Post count: 3]

#2041

Hi James

Thanks for posting to the forum. I think this is a really good idea for a learning community. I’m a big fan of Graham Gibbs’ 53 Ideas – they are always so clearly articulated and based on solid experience. Gibbs implies that teachers need to take more responsibility for learner development within their own teaching rather than relying on centralised study skills support. Whilst I don’t disagree with this in principle, I could anticipate colleagues resisting this. As Gibbs notes, many academics would not see this as their responsibility. How do we change this mindset? An interesting point for a community to consider.

On a separate issue, I was interested in your comments about about the different perceptions of full time and part time students on your courses. Why do you think this is. Construction courses also have a large number of part time students (it’s approximately 50/50 FT/PT) but I don’t think there is quite such a dramatic difference between the two. Do you think PT students are naturally more engaged?

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