EH4102 - first lesson

Yesterday was the first EH4102 lesson. I came back from the residential, I am on in order to attend.
The lesson was centred around around some reading we were asked to complete around the scholarship of teaching and learning. Initially we were asked to go through the reading and discuss based on some questions given to us by the tutor. Having not done the reading I turned to my colleagues and found that on our table of 6 people, only one had done the reading. She was able to explain them and we attempted the questions. I found that I did not really gain anything from this activity, it was unfortunate that no one had completed the reading but is, I think, a reflection of the people on the course and their reasons for completing it. The majority of the participants seem to only be enrolled on the postgraduate certificate in learning and teaching in higher education in order to gain the SD2 and because they have been told to do so by line management or as part of their appraisals. Although I am happy to be completing another qualification, especially one so transferable, I also feel that I am only completing it in order to meet targets and am not sure I truly have enough time to complete it or give it as much time and commitment as is really required. In the lesson, we discussed the value to students associated with the scholarship of learning and teaching, I felt that it was interesting to learn how other people work, the way that other people are encouraged to get involved in research and the way this affects their teaching. During the discussion I found I didn't really understand some of the concepts, for example I can see the value of lecturers being scholarly in their specialist field, this has value to the student as it means they are professionals and are teaching relevant material, also that they are able to give relevant, 'real life' examples. However i was unsure on difference between that and scholarship relating to learning and teaching, perhaps this would have come from completing the reading but even those who had read the material seemed unsure. Other than what was read before the lectures I did not learn any new information or hear about any new ideas, it meant I found the first part of the lesson difficult to participate in and did not really enjoy it.
The second part of the lesson we were split into action learning sets, in which we discussed the project assessment for the module and people's queries or questions regarding it. I found this part more interesting and relevant although I already and a pretty good idea about what I wanted to do and how I was going to go about it. I found I had a lot, possibly too much, to contribute and hopefully was able to help my colleagues. Although I can see the value in action learning sets I found it to be a laborious process which is not suited to my learning style. I find it difficult to stick to the particular sections of the process and wanted to skip ahead or ask questions when it was not time to do so in line with the model, I find this frustrating as I am very much the sort of person who prefers action to talking about action and the action learning sets model seems to me to be a little bit unnecessary, all in all this lesson was not something I would have chosen to do, I would prefer a little more information or at least something which is going to make me consider the way I currently work and if there is anything I can change. I felt that the onus was absolutely on us to discuss read, work and then solve others problems, the tutors did not play a particularly big role and I would defiantly not teach in this way to my students.
I feel like I have been very negative but I am trying to use this blog in a truthful, honest way in order that I can gain the most from it. I did not enjoy or gain much from the lesson and would not encourage others to attend.


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