All you ever wanted to know about learning and teaching

Just a reminder that there are two EDDG meetings next week: Monday, 1st March, 1.15-2.15 in room 810 and Wednesday 3rd March 12.30-1.30, also in room 810. There will be coffee/tea and biscuits, but please feel free to bring your lunch.

This EDDG meeting will focus on Frank Coffield’s excellent booklet ‘All you ever wanted to know about learning and teaching: but were too cool to ask.’

Some of the issues we could discuss include his conclusions that:

· Senior manager teams (SMTs) firstly have to become educational leaders who are knowledgeable about teaching and learning. Learning should not be another topic for senior management to tackle but the central organising principle of the college.
· Senior managers should teach regularly to emphasise the overriding importance of teaching and learning, and be reminded of the need for time for preparation, reflection and assessment.
· The percentage of the budget should not be spent on staff generally, but on staff who teach.
· If we want to educate our students and not just teach them to pass exams, then they need to be able to exercise critical intelligence. We could provide them with a model of such behaviour by consulting them about their learning experiences, reflecting on their views and then acting appropriately to respond to their constructive criticisms.
· Institute a review of all administrative procedures with the aim of cutting back bureaucracy as much as possible to release more time for learning and teaching.
· Tutors/lecturers should discuss their teaching methods openly with students, and begin a dialogue about their learning and how it could be improved.

Please come along and share your views about any of the above or any issues raised by the Coffield article. There are still copies of the article available in the staff resource base (218) or in the staff room on the 1st floor.