Academic Development, Faculty Development, Hochschuldidaktik, Play and Creativity in Higher Education, SoTL
(First draft or so) Existential threat is brewing in my cup.The fumes of despair gently wafting up. Don’t judge! Naught by a mild case of impending doom,a pile of marking and various deadlines loom. I am fine, just fine. Fine.Nothing to worry. No one showed up to the webinar room.Apparently, I didn’t send the link … Continue reading Mid-semester Slump
All the Selves brought to the Role ”What is your biggest hurdle right now?” Coach.”Here are some ways to approach this.” Mentor. “These are models for overcoming hurdles.” Teacher.”Let’s identify the most effective one for you.” Facilitator. “You jumped that hurdle, well. Next time consider…” Marker.136.000 emails. 25 Moodle updates. 7 spreadsheets. Administrator. The plight … Continue reading Faculty Development–A Poem
In coaching today* I had a profound insight! Until today I did not have a mental image of a healthy work identity. Literally drew blank when asked. Nothing. So far I have more or less successfully lived off the typical ADHD bursts of focus and the subsequent cognitive hangovers. I don’t think I want, or … Continue reading A healthy work identity
My sister who is a systemic coach, and experienced third sector leader, coached me through a very rough spot on Saturday. At the end of which she jokingly suggested to just make a poster about my leadership approach, to sort my head. If you followed for a while, you know by now that I can … Continue reading My Leadership Approach
This week my teaching picks up again, making me reflect about a course I had begun taking on Coursera “Diversity and Inclusion in Education” just to see where I stand with the topic, and what I still ought to learn. Now there was an interesting prompt for reflection, about how we think about our learners, … Continue reading The Sound of Learning
I don’t really have good strategies, besides currently radically sorting and tidying the physical and virtual office spaces in preparation for the new academic year. What does help you to tackle overwhelm? One insight thought from today’s daily walk: in my profession academic development (faculty development, Lehrausbildung) I always feel I ought to know everything, … Continue reading Overwhelm is Real
One of the worst things for The Brain is to be forced to slow down. But that process of Entschleunigen (act of slowing down) is important for work life balance. So I am pondering this as we soon embark on the new academic year, different strategies for slowing down. Part of this is has been … Continue reading Entschleunigen: Slowing Down
So I was thinking about how to make the preparation for teaching easier and Goblin Tools is definitely a useful AI tool that helps breaking complex tasks into smaller achievable steps, besides having a whole host of other useful functions! And there is also something to be said about experiencing our very own structures How … Continue reading My Seven Steps of Semester Prep
Lean into It Last week a colleague and I were invited to visit our colleagues in Dumfries, for their Learning, Teaching and Scholarship day. I have yet to process all the interesting work and ideas from that day. So beginning to write up the one that stirred the most conversation and debate. A colleague proposed … Continue reading A thought on AI in Higher Education
A Denkanstoß Today I was reflecting on being young in age versus being young in experience with a certain skill or subject. This came about when I followed drawing instructions. And only halfway through the Pinterest tutorial did I notice that the resource stated it was from Drawing Lessons for the Young Artist. I have … Continue reading Of Being a Young Artist Again
The other quick learning guides I have been working with are SoTL Tips and Debunking SoTL Myths. I am going to share more of these on Instagram. The first SoTL Tip Tiles Text from image above: SoTL Tip 01 Always search for critique about educational models! Have you fallen for VARK (learning styles), or you … Continue reading SoTL Tips
While I have been rather quiet on here, I have been playing with various ideas, which I am sharing on Instagram (sorry not more Twitter for me, also at Mastodon) The first idea is to share bite-sized pedagogy. I am often told how difficult it is to get a handle on all the terminology and … Continue reading Bite Sized Pedagogy
Photo by Antoni Shkraba on Pexels.com Does any (or all) of the above sound familiar? Do you get decision paralysis, overwhelm, or procrastination? I tick all the above, and no strategy or mental image has helped so far. Until a conversation with a colleague clicked something into place. One visualization that was to help was … Continue reading The “Quiver of Arrows” Work Hack
Most of us have been there. The threated call! “Could you cover my teaching for me? Because, *insert valid reason here*. Here are the slides for this session.” Here is a strategy that worked really well for me. I had a look at the slides beforehand, yet some of the slides still did not make … Continue reading Tip: Covering a Colleagues Teaching Last Minute. And their PowerPoint doesn’t make sense!
Auf dem Zahnfleisch kriechend: By the skin of our teeth We made it! Granted: rough and ready, stumbling into the new year, still exhausted and tired from infections, and right away into the emergency room in the hospital. Anxiously waiting for ten hours for my MiL’s life to be saved, which it was. Photo by … Continue reading Happy New Year
Nathalie Tasler, PhD, SFHEA, MPhil, PGDip CCM, PGCert LTHE 