Those of us who have children well remember the thrill of hearing them utter their first word. It is something that we had anticipated for a long time and signals yet another astonishing phase in their development. You will probably also be familiar with the next phase a parent goes through which is "why can't they shut up!" as the child reveals its mastery of language by constantly asking 'why?' and 'how?'. Unless your child is Einstein whose first words (at the age of four) were allegedly "this soup is too hot", then you will recognise this all too clearly.
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Thursday 29 November 2012
Visit to KAOSPILOT Business School Denmark
What would you do if your town had a persistent problem with people dumping cars? Write to your MP? Complain to the council to encourage them to increase spending to sort the problem out? Write to the paper? Moan to your friends? Get an agreement with the council to allow an arrangement for you and some friends to take the cars to a space in town where they could be used as seats for a drive-in cinema before they are then taken to the breaking yard? The latter is the unlikely solution created by students at KAOSPILOT Business School in Denmark. Other projects involved exporting scrapped bicycles to African villages and monitoring the resultant development of mini industries based on bicycle repair or making tow trolleys from scrap. One Translation service company is doing well in Sweden and Norway but poorly in Denmark and so they asked some KAOSPILOT students to design an awareness programme for the area.
Technology, does one size fit all?
Technological advancements have enabled a wealth of opportunities for learning opportunities to be delivered in an online context without the need to be physically in the classroom.
A recent BBC article, How do you stop online students cheating?, suggested that in the near future students may be able to take exams at home without the need to be a formal exam setting. In addition to issues such as how to effectively invigilate exams of this nature, it also raises the consideration of how the environment of a formal exam room has an influence on performance. For some who respond well to pressure, the heightened pressure of an examination room can only increase performance. For others, the anxiety created within an exam room can inhibit performance and an exam set within the comforts of their own home may help to increase performance.
This brings into consideration the wider discussion of the role of face to face interaction within learning and how this might affect the learning experience for participants with different learning preferences.
A recent BBC article, How do you stop online students cheating?, suggested that in the near future students may be able to take exams at home without the need to be a formal exam setting. In addition to issues such as how to effectively invigilate exams of this nature, it also raises the consideration of how the environment of a formal exam room has an influence on performance. For some who respond well to pressure, the heightened pressure of an examination room can only increase performance. For others, the anxiety created within an exam room can inhibit performance and an exam set within the comforts of their own home may help to increase performance.
This brings into consideration the wider discussion of the role of face to face interaction within learning and how this might affect the learning experience for participants with different learning preferences.
Wednesday 28 November 2012
Chinese Change
A Chinese proverb for you this morning:
It is dangerous to try to leap a chasm in two bounds.
Friday 23 November 2012
Management by Talking About
Another process innovation this week as people were off on vision visits, teaching and doing marking at times when I had suggested we have UG Review Group meetings. At least I hope that's what they were doing, otherwise I would have to take it personally.
Anyway, we still needed to get the second year outline done by the end of this week with or without meetings. And we've done it. The process was a series of one to one conversations, usually with coffee, often by chance, once with someone I didn't even know but turned out to be one of our VL's. A few ideas to start with, some changes here, accretions there and off we go.
We knew we couldn't design a structure for the second year in the way we have outlined for the third year as it will be more focused on the requirements of the distinct degree programmes. So what we have is some principles which we will be proposing for what needs to be in each second year to express the vision and values we want for the Faculty. We are also seeing the patterns emerging which can characterise the programmes - in how we manage transition for example, not just into university but also from one level to the next and from university into work.
Next step is to pull together the scrappy pieces of paper into some notes to discuss with the group and with Mark Atlay next week and then more drop-in sessions.
About the Author: Elizabeth Parkin
Elizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
Anyway, we still needed to get the second year outline done by the end of this week with or without meetings. And we've done it. The process was a series of one to one conversations, usually with coffee, often by chance, once with someone I didn't even know but turned out to be one of our VL's. A few ideas to start with, some changes here, accretions there and off we go.
We knew we couldn't design a structure for the second year in the way we have outlined for the third year as it will be more focused on the requirements of the distinct degree programmes. So what we have is some principles which we will be proposing for what needs to be in each second year to express the vision and values we want for the Faculty. We are also seeing the patterns emerging which can characterise the programmes - in how we manage transition for example, not just into university but also from one level to the next and from university into work.
Next step is to pull together the scrappy pieces of paper into some notes to discuss with the group and with Mark Atlay next week and then more drop-in sessions.
About the Author: Elizabeth ParkinElizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
Thursday 22 November 2012
Bedford Drop-In Session
Excellent drop-in session at Polhill on Wednesday. I particularly liked suggestions for the incorporation of entrepreneurial projects in the final year. And of potentially doing projects with other students from other disciplines at Bedford such as sport or dance eg how to market some dance classes.
Some valuable practicalities about the increased impact of missing a week through illness or any other reason when there is a practice week or other intensive week.
Very aware from this session that we must always be clear that practice-based education is not practice instead of academic rigour. We are a university and academic rigour is the point – or a large part of the point anyway. Employers want academic rigour and practice. Practitioners don’t leave their intellects and rigour behind when they graduate. They use them to help address problems just as much as PhD students are employing rigour. It's just that the context is messier.
About the Author: Elizabeth Parkin
Elizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
Some valuable practicalities about the increased impact of missing a week through illness or any other reason when there is a practice week or other intensive week.
Very aware from this session that we must always be clear that practice-based education is not practice instead of academic rigour. We are a university and academic rigour is the point – or a large part of the point anyway. Employers want academic rigour and practice. Practitioners don’t leave their intellects and rigour behind when they graduate. They use them to help address problems just as much as PhD students are employing rigour. It's just that the context is messier.
About the Author: Elizabeth ParkinElizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
The Right Price for Learning
Right at the moment, if there is one thing I would like our students to learn in the first year of our new courses, it’s that dropping the price is not the automatic route to higher sales, let alone to higher profit. They just automatically think that lower prices are better prices.
I more or less cracked teaching pricing to Exec MBA’s but I haven’t cracked it for first year undergraduates. Theory certainly isn’t the best route in. I have a marketing lecture for first years coming up next month and have to think more imaginatively about it but this reflection is prompted by having shared some marking of first year assignments this morning with colleagues at Preston University in Ajman, Dubai. Good quantities of reasonable quality theory but low prices ruled here too.
I know it’s rather dull to come home from visiting a country for the first time and be struck more by the similarities than the differences but there we are.
About the Author: Elizabeth Parkin
Elizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
I more or less cracked teaching pricing to Exec MBA’s but I haven’t cracked it for first year undergraduates. Theory certainly isn’t the best route in. I have a marketing lecture for first years coming up next month and have to think more imaginatively about it but this reflection is prompted by having shared some marking of first year assignments this morning with colleagues at Preston University in Ajman, Dubai. Good quantities of reasonable quality theory but low prices ruled here too.
I know it’s rather dull to come home from visiting a country for the first time and be struck more by the similarities than the differences but there we are.
About the Author: Elizabeth ParkinElizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.
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