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Author Archives: Clinton Golding
DIY workshops
Sometimes your staff or students could really benefit from a workshop on a particular topic. Here is a template for creating workshops for any aspect of academic development for staff or students. I have used this successfully for workshops about … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Different kinds of teacher knowledge
One way to understand what is required for good teaching is to analyse the different kinds of knowledge a teacher needs. This analysis then allows a teacher to identify the areas where they are strong and the areas in which … Continue reading
Posted in Learning to teach
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The devil is in the detail
Sometimes we think we have a profound understanding of teaching, when actually our ideas are so vague and abstract that they are practically meaningless. For example, we might think that we have a deep understanding of teaching because we have … Continue reading
Posted in Reflection and improvement
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Teaching failures, blunders and catastrophes: learning from our mistakes
I recently organised a panel session on teaching failures. Three teaching award winners—Roslyn Kemp, Anthony Robins and Clinton Golding—shared some major failures in their teaching with a group of c.25 academics, and then we discussed what we might learn from … Continue reading
Meta-blog: Blogging as academic development
This blog is inextricably intertwined with my academic development practice. It is the result of my previous academic development work, it is my current personal academic development, and it leads to further academic development work for others. The blog … Continue reading
Posted in Higher education
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Tips for writing a convincing thesis
Here is a blog I wrote for Times Higher Education on writing a convincing thesis.
Posted in Postgraduate education
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Learning to write is like learning to play tennis: written feedback is not always useful
Sometimes giving feedback on student writing is straightforward. They have missed something important, so we tell them what they didn’t know, or we tell them to do what they missed: for example, “criterion is singular and criteria plural”, or “You … Continue reading
Posted in Postgraduate education, Writing
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Engaging teaching
Why am I interested in learning about some things (movie history) but I couldn’t care less about other things (motorcycle engines)? If we can crack the secret of intellectual curiosity we can make our teaching engaging for any student.
Posted in Learning, Learning to teach, Uncategorized
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Promising leads for improving teaching
There are many ways to improve teaching, but in my experience when enhancing my own teaching or mentoring other teachers, there are three paths that are most likely to lead to improvement. 1. Covering too much We commonly try to … Continue reading
Posted in Learning to teach, Mentoring, Students
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Digging deeper: How do I tell where to drill?
When we write academically, one of our main tasks is to deeply explore the topics we write about. It is not enough to present a superficial overview, so we need to drill deep. Yet it is often difficult to judge … Continue reading
Posted in Reflection and improvement, Writing
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Snow writing
Like many people, I schedule writing time to make sure I fit it in my busy week. But sticking to your schedule is often difficult, and there are many good reasons why you might miss your writing time (like getting … Continue reading
Posted in Postgraduate education, Writing
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The Slow Professor
The Slow Professor had me revise what it means to be an academic. It is well worth a read in full, but in short, I think the message is: stop worrying about time management and making time and fitting things … Continue reading
Posted in Book review
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My student complains I don’t give enough feedback, but I give lots of feedback!
Here is my reflective, diagnostic process for figuring out what to do when I face situations like this. My initial analysis of the situation: Although my feedback practices normally work for my students, they aren’t working for this student. I … Continue reading
Learning is a journey
My colleagues and I have been researching student conceptions of learning using a research method called photovoice (Wang &Burris 1997; Wang 2006). Students take photographs that metaphorically represent learning, and then talk about what they have depicted. To prepare for a … Continue reading
Posted in Learning
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How do you judge whether someone is a good teacher?
Judging teaching is like diagnosing measles. There are many things that can indicate measles, but no single indicator is proof of measles. A few spots doesn’t mean you have measles because there are plenty of other reasons why you might … Continue reading
Posted in Evaluating Teaching
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Disciplined learning, when students are reluctant to tackle the tasks we assign
Sometimes we ask students to do a series of tasks that are necessary for their learning, but which they would rather avoid. For example, we might assign readings for every class, or ask them to complete weekly reflections, or to … Continue reading
Posted in Learning, Planning teaching, Students
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Heartening a disheartened teacher
Sometimes a teacher gets disheartened, jaded or discouraged when they struggle to improve their teaching without result. They might think “I’m just a bad teacher”, “I’ve already tried that”, “Nothing works for my students”, “It’s not my fault”, or “I … Continue reading
Posted in Mentoring
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What methods should I use in my teaching?
How do I decide whether to teach using case studies or key readings, whether to offer a lecture or to use the allocated time for directed problem solving? Should I assign practice exercises, and should they be completed individually or … Continue reading
Posted in Planning teaching
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That’s a good question
Sometimes in a seminar, lecture or discussion, if we don’t know the topic we feel like we can’t really participate or engage. We might know nothing about postmodern accounts of learning, for example, or the learning styles of accounting students, … Continue reading
Building a shared conception of critical thinking
If every teacher and every paper in a multi-disciplinary course uses their own conception of critical thinking, students end up more confused than critical. So how do you build a shared understanding of critical thinking in a multi-disciplinary course? Go … Continue reading
Posted in Planning teaching
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Clinton Golding 