Away day

Once in a while, I guess about once every semester, we have an away day. Or a not-very-away day. We tend to have them on campus, just not in Ocean Sciences buildings. We tend to have a theme. Sometimes it is assessment, or research, or something like that.

This time we would focus on keeping track of what skills we teach the students, and when. It sounds so simple, but we have students on many different degree programs, and they all follow a different trajectories through all our modules, and all modules have several components and assessments to them. It really isn't easy to keep track of what people have learned! But we should, of course.

Some of our team are trying to do an inventory, but it is not easy. How do you categorise all the skills? How do you make the categories so small they are meaningful, but so large it doesn't become unmanageable? Does everybody think the same thing when faced with a particular category? Have they thought of all the skills we might teach and assess?

This was the main event, and I think it was very useful. We had done a pilot study on the previous away day, and one of my colleagues presented the results. It was quite interesting what came out! But obviously the data wasn't complete. We should manage that soon. And then we can evaluate whether we indeed teach enough of everything at the right time. And if someone wants to change their module or their assessment, they can use the database we then have to check whether that change agrees with whatever else is going on in the school. Or adapt something. Maybe add some teaching if a particular skill turns out to not have been taught before.

The afternoon was for me, and gets a separate blog post. What was the morning like? It was a beautiful cold day, and I decided to bike the long way around, as the direct route gets very icy. It was in Reichel, we also do our dissertation presentations. The most direct route is at risk of being very icy in weather like that. And I knew it would be catered, so I hadn't brought my usual food with me. But when I got there, there were no biscuits. I was afraid I would have to manage all the way to lunch without anything to eat since breakfast! I find that hard. Luckily, a lady brought in a bowl full of biscuits just when I didn't expect it anymore. I was saved! 

Soon, by the way, we will have a meeting in which we will talk through the results of this awayday. I look forward to it!

Reichel Hall