I began this blog, in a different form in 2006 to improve my written English and stay sane during the trials and tribulations that is grad school. Unfortunately the archives of the first years were lost, when my hard-drive decided to die with a strange noise and even DiscWarrior could not help.
Fast forward about hundreds of gallons of coffee, countless chocolate bars, and several fix term contracts later, and I have been working as a lecturer in academic and digital development (faculty development, Hochschuldidaktik, Hochschulbildungsforschung) for some years. I won several (internal) grants, a best presentation price, and recently a golden tweeter award, held some keynotes, and obtained my Senior Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy. I am currently leading a couple of master’s level courses (MEd in Academic Practice), and the dissertation projects, and trying to change attitudes around the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching in the institution; and translating my PhD topic of creative pedagogies into Higher Education Context. So far so chaotic.
During the last ten years I began sharing about teaching practice, Didaktik, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), teaching methods, research methods, and writing and academic writing. There is the odd poem, and some photography, some posts about being an academic with ADHD–and how to survive this more or less unscathed.
The National Teaching Repository
I am one of the directors (Engagement and Impact) and the Lead Curator for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
The ‘National Teaching Repository’ was born out of the desire to facilitate a space for proven and successful teaching materials to be disseminated whilst ensuring that the original authors can evidence the reach and impact of their work in the process. The National Teaching Repository started out as a UK based resource, but very quickly it has proven that its reach and impact is truly global. It has established supporters, contributors, and users from around the world, and continues to expand on a weekly basis.
Visit the Repository
We won the OEGlobal Award 2023 under the Open Practice Category.
#creativeHE
With a passion for educational creativity, the #creativeHE team inspires the innovation, experimentation and disruption of teaching practices through an international, friendly and facilitative community. Founded on open scholarship and collaborative practice, the team are committed to continual personal, educational, institutional and sector transformation to enhance staff and student experience. And we won a team Cate Award 2022
Things that haven’t changed
Run on sentences are still going strong. And my focus on creative pedagogies (creative learning and teaching) and thus implicitly active learning has not changed. I am trying to translate creative pedagogy and principles of Kulturpädagogik (culture education) into the higher education context. This has led to colleagues playing with Lego, balloons, play-dough, and my line manager putting the Incredible Hulk on top of their computer. I also have been accused or commended (I am really not sure) of pink fluffy unicorness.
Bottom line: taking education seriously does not equate to perpetuating teaching methods, and attitudes that one believes one ought to, rather than methods that are authentic to the individual educator, and their context.
Erziehungswissenschaften
Science of Education
One of the frustrations that still has not changed is that in the UK, my discipline (my profession) does not exist! Nobody knows what Erziehungswissenschaften (EzW) is! This was brought home recently, when I was invited to speak at a congress in Munich, and when I said my discipline is EzW people knew! If I try to translate this into English, I get confused and empty stares … *sigh*
Anyhow, if you want to know the serious and magical business of learning, and teaching, of educational theory that constitutes the foundation for anything from play-dough to unicorns, just browse the blog. I try to share practical things, teaching tools or strategies, reflective practice, and some theoretical musings. I also often share resources I have developed or created. There might be the odd recipe or coaching insights(or tip).
It’s not just all work and no play, I also run a creative writing blog: https://writingforhealing.blog/
And I published my first poetry chapbook: https://amzn.eu/d/7wAbozz
Nathalie Tasler, PhD, SFHEA, MPhil, PGDip CCM, PGCert LTHE 
A native of Germany in Scotland is part of a rare breed! Ich hoffe, daß Schottland gastfreundlich ist – in meinem Fall eindeutig!
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Auf jeden Fall—Glasgow ist trotz jedweder Gerüchte besonders gastfreundlich! Maybe a little rough around the edges, but that creates a unique charm. Danke für den Landesgruß!
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