Author: Nathalie Tasler

  • Is it because the spaces never close?

    Is it because the spaces never close?

    Just coping, not quite fine In a conversation with my students (who are also peers and colleagues) today we were talking about how we all struggle at the moment. What emerged from the conversation is that we all felt things should be easier this year. We have pivoted online, we know how everything works. And…

  • Pumpkin Apple Cinnamon Jam

    Autumn Jam Recipe Ingredients 1kg pumpkin 1kg apples Lemon juice Canning sugar or pectin 1 Tablespoon cinnamon Prepare Jam peeled, seeds taken out, cut in pieces add cinnamon to taste (I think I used a generous tablespoon full) add jam sugar (or pectin if you want to avoid additional sugar), instructions on how much per…

  • #LTHEchat 217: Symbiotic versus Parasitic Aggregation–Good Practice for Social Media

    The lovely Dr Linnea Soler and I were trying to understand how to ethically aggregate knowledge, share and amplify colleagues voices through social media. We wrote this blog post sharing our initial findings and thoughts about it.

  • Notes on Autoethnography

    Autoethnography Take Two I need to edit a paper to incorporate some of the reviewer comments, equally my designing educational inquiries course just began again this week, and one of my MEd students is running an autoethnographic project. So there are my three reasons for indulging in reading and writing again. This is a mere…

  • Drawing Focus: ADHD and Productivity Strategies

    Stressful (yet effective) ADHD coping mechanism If you are a regular reader you know that I am always trying to hack the ADHD brain–aka The Brain. One of the habits that worked during very stressful times was to jump onto social media for 3-5 minutes and read some headlines, share or bookmark something to read…

  • An Introduction to SoTL #ViCEPHEC2021

    All presentations for the conference are on the VicePHEC YouTube channel (link opens in new tab). If you missed my opening keynote for this year’s VicePHEC conference you can follow up on YouTube or see below #ViCEPHEC2021 Opening Keynote Imperfection I was really worried because my video editing skills are rudimentary at best. So the…

  • Painting a Diary

    My efforts to publish working–out–loud pieces have been thwarted by overwhelm. So let’s step back by a month. There was some learning from this summer’s holiday-domain during which I ran out of words. This is a meandering thoughts blog, I am trying to figure something out–solve a teaching dilemma. Any ideas are welcome! If you…

  • Something Different: On a Lunchbreak

    I am taking you with me on an adventure. Okay maybe a micro-adventure, nevertheless if you need a mental break from thinking about work–come along. As pebbles crunch underneath my trailrunners I notice: today smells like adventure, here in Scotland! Adventures smell of summer and soil, petrichor, deep dark woods; they smell of minerals in…

  • SoTL as Strategic Imperative?

    SoTL as Strategic Imperative?

    I made this a year after setting up the SoTL network in our institution, and this is my visual reflection on the thoughts emerging from this. The first point was that I was wondering if SoTL needs to be a strategic imperative for Higher Education institutions. On one side it fosters evidence based practice, providing…

  • Of Jewelry Making and Curriculum Design

    good point Danielle about good design degrading – I think that must be true for most things, but then some Celtic jewellery is still incredibly beautiful today, so there's something enduring about good design, even if some of it changes over time #LTHEchat — Virna (@VirnaRossi) June 9, 2021 In the #LTHEchat above Virna Rossi…

  • First Time in the City in Months

    I met a colleague today. In real life 3D and colour! First time in the Westend in over nine months. It’s strange I forgot how Glasgow smells in the rain. It’s a Weeg thing. Only Glasgow smells like this. When it rains, hues of swamp rise from the Kelvin walkway, dust caked to the sidewalk…

  • The Last SoTLwalk

    The Last SoTLwalk

    I was gutted to read that the wonderful Dr Natasha Taylor is posting the last SoTLwalk The June SoTL Walk: Our final ramble! – Elemental (rmit.edu.au). So if you have some time join in on the Padlet or on Twitter with the #SoTLwalk hashtag and help celebrate Natasha’s wonderful initiative, which has helped bring people…

  • Evaluating learning: an uncertainty principle

    Here is my hypothesis: The more we focus on one aspect of the learned, i.e. in exams we force the expression of learning into a specific way and the closer we look at that one specific factor the less we are able to see the effects of said learning more widely. A personal experience example…

  • Academia and Buzz Word Bingo

    One of the themes of our engagement in #ALTC Winter Conference and #LTHEchat was that the terminology we have chosen to use ‘disruption’ and ‘active learning’ smell too much of buzz-word bingo to sit comfortably with colleagues. And we agree. But …  There is also a but … what else are we to use. We…

  • Another Attempt at Journalling

    Keeping notes, making sense, reflexive practice and doodles A while back I shared my first experiences with bullet journaling as one of the many ‘brain hacks’ I am trying. Unfortunately have to report it doesn’t work well for me, because forming habits is near to impossible. So ended up with these beautifully crafted pages that…