Mark's final words

Hello dear SWAP Access to Nursing 'A' students,

Well, here I am penning my last post of this blog for your Communication classes. It’s been an intense and, I hope, educational year for all of us. We learn too you know!

Please read my words and I would be grateful if you could add some words of your own at the bottom in the comments section. This is particularly helpful for when we meet last as a class, on Thursday 6th June. Have you developed as a person, are you more confident, what skills have you enhanced, has the Unit, teaching, feedback, assessment content helped you in any way? You decide what you want to write and I will reply to all comments as always. 

We (lecturers) should, I believe, always be prepared to do the tasks which we ask students to do. So, in that spirit, I aim, right here and right now, to write my own reflections and evaluation of the year. Here goes.

Mark's Reflective Words

So, to start, what was my motivation and expectations at the beginning of the year?  That is very straightforward indeed, as it was to create a supportive but challenging learning environment to allow you all to develop as learners. That all sounds a bit woolly, but I suppose that’s what teaching is for me. Sometimes the word “teach” is too blunt an instrument for my liking. I wanted you to develop confidence and say yes I can do this and not too much of the "I'll never be able to do that" type of chat. I think we can safely say this potential quandary has been avoided. 

My expectation was that I would be working with a group of initially nervous and interesting students who would be ready for a challenge and to challenge me too. Clearly we were all up for that to be fair and although tough at times, I am certain we all learned a great deal along the way. There are many ways to approach an evaluative task, that much we know by now.

It is impossible to predict how classes will gel, but from very early on it was clear that you all worked and really importantly, 'learned' very well together. This intra-class dynamic is crucial to the development of a positive learning environment - it was always a pleasure to walk into your classes and we did plenty group learning exercises. I also made a point of striking the balance with individual (autonomous) learning too of course. Something for everyone in my classes!

This brings me to my positive experiences. To be honest, the positive experiences are really too numerous to mention. One of the most fundamental factors in teaching I think, is developing positive relationships with learners. I feel that I was lucky in developing such relationships with each and every one of the class. So, my primary positive experience is the sum of all these relationships. 

I also feel that the blog we created together was an amazing journey, and most certainly a labour of love in my case! I really hope you enjoyed the experience and the end product. I am conscious that people learn at different paces. I am task orientated, I don't like loose ends and think three weeks at least ahead of the game. Does that make that strategy any better than those who leave things to the last minute? No, it doesn't. I just don't choose to "thrive on working against the clock" as I hear some of you say so often. The end product is the most important factor, always. If we were all the same it would be a  really dull affair, that's for sure. 

If I have even persuaded you to think, learn and manage your time differently, I would be happy with that. No more, no less.

We started with 25 fine learners in August, but ended up with a magnificent 23 in the end. This is excellent in terms of retention figures, make no mistake.

But what about improvements? We always need to be aware of how things could be improved. So what about improvements in things that I have control of (and this segues into the evaluation of my own performance)? Well, that’s trickier as it requires a degree of self-criticism. I am not averse to such of course. 

I suppose I’m asking myself "would I do anything different?" Well, I think I might time or pace assessments in a slightly different way next year. I was very aware of the amount of assessments that you needed to get through this year. I made a conscious effort to space the summative work out to avoid assessment overload (and marking for that matter). Don't forget I have 11 other classes!

The order of assessments were speaking, writing, listening and reading (x2) which equated to 184 assessments and approximately 138,000 words to mark. Over 360 minutes of individual presentations and circa 280 minutes for the discussions. Wow, I may need a Pinot just trying to process all that information. After hours, naturally. 

My own organisation skills were tested throughout and it is anticipated that you all knew where you stood with the (eight) assessments needed to pass FA1W 12. However, what I can note is that having taught and managed undergraduate and postgraduate courses at university, I know without a shadow of a doubt that universities will be strict on making deadlines, so make sure you do not fall foul of any time challenges as it were. You (most likely) won't receive as much pastoral care as you do at College and that can be problematic for some students. Different systems but you will get some support, don't get me wrong, arguably not as much.

So, what have I learned? Well, amongst other things I’ve learned about Nystagmus, Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome, Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injections, Dextro cardia, Interventricular haemorrhage; hey, you catch my drift...

I’ve also learned (or re-learned) that if we’re coasting along then we’re probably not learning a lot. But when we feel we are on the very edges of our comfort zone, then, possibly, we are learning. That’s what learning feels like. It’s not always a pleasant feeling at the time - but it seems worth the discomfort in retrospect. This is an important thing for us as lecturers to remember. We force students out of their comfort zone a lot. How often do we move out of ours?

I always like to think that one of my strengths as an educator is my time management and feedback skills. This takes a lot of time and effort to get right, so hopefully this is an area where you feel I have given you my very best attention. Oh, and a light peppering of humour never hurts either I always feel. Life can be so dull without a wee bit of laughter. And laughter is something 'they'll' never take away from us. Yet.

Things erode around us as educators but I always believe that the safest place is in the classroom, where we can learn, facilitate meaningful engagement without lots of admin., forms and the like. They are just the things that have to be done though. I doubt this will diminish as the years go on, but are a necessary evil I suppose. Checklists, checklists, checklists!

I have spent a lot of time putting this blog together too and have really enjoyed the experience this year. I know that not all members of the parish are keen bloggers, but that's OK. I'm fine with that, I like to be flexible with everything that I do. Just over 8,000 hits at the time of me composing this post. That is really quite amazing, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unstinting engagement. Especially to the regular contributors. 

Another way of self-evaluating for me as a lecturer is asking the simple question "what did my students learn?" One way of getting a measure of that is by asking you to comment on the blog, e mail me, fill in the end of unit questionnaires etc. and unless you're all telling fibs, it seems that you all learned something of value to you along the way! Thankfully. Please tell me I am right in saying that, ha ha. 

It was apparent from informal and formal mechanisms that the oral presentation delivery was the biggest fear for many students in the beginning. Oral presentation teaching is one of my passions of all the different areas of communication I teach, so it was refreshing to listen to so many amazing talks. The collegiate approach shown by you as a class, the expertise of the PP slides and the question and answer sessions were really entertaining and always educational. I guess you all found your voice. Working with Alan in the IT department certainly made the visuals come to life and I will continue that team teaching approach next year. The impact of his assistance certainly enhanced all the deliveries. 

So, to finish (and I just love cyclical structures), let's go right back to a question we started with at the very beginning of our time together: what is the purpose of education and communication? No need to reply, but I wonder has anyone changed their mind on that one.

Please make a comment on this thread below prior to our final reflection class on Thursday 6th June.

*Stop press*! As this is our last full group meeting, you can bring your coffee and tea in to class. I will bring the biscuits. See, I can do it... (#rules).

Take care, it has been a genuine blast and don't forget to add me on Facebook if you are a social media type. You will see me and one of my very best pals of many years raising a glass to you all to toast your future. A future I am convinced will be bright for you all. 

Thank you.

Yours aye,

Mr H