Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition

Hi all, yesterday's session on the World Cafe went very well indeed and we explained the concept, applied it to our teaching (Jerry and Joyce got notable mentions in their participatory work) and detailed a range of ways in which this methodology could be applied. The audience was varied and included the Vice Principal for Education, Senior Lecturers, 'Finland's Best Teacher 2009' no less, some Student Guild representatives as well as many other guests. Some discussion after our introductory session ensued and we held a WC session covering three areas that were of concern to our colleagues. The areas examined were -

• What does your College do to encourage student input into learning and teaching?
  
• What does your College do to promote social inclusion?
  
• What are you doing to keep students on their course / how is retention dealt with?

Although the list that follows is not definitive at present (due to most respondents writing in Finnish) it gives a flavour of the areas of discussion.

What does your College do to encourage student input into learning and teaching?
Feedback mechanisms – there are procedures in place for students to evaluate a given course and this is done electronically. Presently there is an optional online system which is a mix of a numerical scale and discursive comment.
For the last five years lecturers have been asked to encourage students to fill questionnaires in, but this process is dependent on the persuasive powers of the lecturer.
It is unclear whether there is a distinction between the learning and feedback process.
There are large numbers of learners who face individual challenges.
The class representative system (mentioned by Mark and Isobel) was seen to be a positive step in the learning process.
The function of the class rep was defined (objective discussions with tutors, how could they be picked, the selection process etc).


What does your College do to promote social inclusion?

Delegates spent some time defining what social inclusion was.
Last year there were not enough students who applied to College, so every applicant was given a place.
This year there were more applicants so therefore they were able to be more selective.
Nonetheless, they concede they should have courses ready for students of all academic levels.
The response at the present time is to provide Access courses, study support, teaching of social skills and language teaching for immigrants.
Delegates reflected on what they actually provide in terms of course provision and in terms of philosophy, they asked themselves what they expect of students to learn at home. In fact, this was not (at the moment) the case.
Philosophically, they accepted they were trying to inculcate a social spiral upwards.
Finally, they asked themselves what they could do better. It was concluded that they needed (arguably) clearer direction by management and the curriculum.
They questioned how they select tutors and whether they might do better in this regard.
They questioned whether, or to what extent, teachers are good role models.

What are you doing to keep students on their course / how is retention dealt with? (from this area for discussion, a number of questions were inspired)

How do we (as lecturers) motivate students?
What support services / mechanisms do we have in place, and are they being followed?
Drama was seen by many to be an effective mode of communication to enhance the learning process.
The effectiveness of how students on work placements are timetabled was a point of discussion. The work / college balance (dependent on the learner’s capability) was also communicated. It was reported that whilst this was an effective delivery mode in some institutes, competition for work places in other Colleges is such, that this may not be practical.
Innovative ICT use was discussed. Mark demonstrated the Communication at SCE Wiki. He discussed how this IT platform could be used to help retention.