Life and work in academia: event for new lecturers in languages, linguistics and area studies

Programme | Event report

Past event summary

Aimed at new teaching staff (less than 2 years experience) in languages, linguistics and area studies, this workshop aims to complement ‘generic’ Postgraduate Certificate courses offered by institutions. The workshop will also be useful for experienced staff who are new to the UK and finishing and recent PhD students seeking academic employment.

The event will take a holistic and long term examination of the academic career and will include discussions of:

• classroom issues;
• career promotion and progression (for both fixed-term and permanent staff)
• university citizenship
• making the most of the Subject Centre
• good practice in e-learning
• assessment
• transition from school into higher education.

The second day of the conference will include a choice of workshops including.

• Designing e-learning materials
• Language teaching for content specialists
• Pastoral support
• Working with international students
• Researching teaching and learning

All full programme for the second day will be published soon.

Workshop fee

1 day:

Day 1 only (16th April 2009): £50
Day 1 only (16th April 2009) with evening meal on 16th: £70
Day 2 only (17th April 2009): £50

2 days:

16-17 April: £80 (includes evening meal on 16 April)

Accommodation is not included in the workshop fee. LLAS will supply a list of nearby accommodation on request.

Programme: 16 April 2009

Time	Session
10.15 - 10.50	Registration and coffee
10.50 - 11.00	Welcome and introductions
11.00 - 11.45	Introduction: The university academic: one job, many roles Chris Perriam, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, University of Manchester Summary
11.45 - 12.15	Supporting teaching and learning in languages, linguistics and area studies: What can the Subject Centre do for you? John Canning / Alison Dickens, Subject Centre for LLAS Slides
12.15 - 13.00	One year on : A perspective from a new lecturer Simon McKinnon, French Department, Durham University
13.00 - 14.00	Lunch
14.00 - 15.00	Career progression and promotion Vicky Wright, Deputy Director, Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and Director of Centre for Language Study, University of Southampton This session will explore ways in which delegates can progress in their careers and the possible opportunities available to them. Vicky Wright will also address the particular needs of part-time and fixed-term staff. Slides
15.00 - 15.45	Parallel Workshops
	Teaching languages ab initio Teresa Birks, LLAS/ CILT, the National Centre for Languages	Teaching introductory courses in your discipline Sarah Rule, Subject Centre for LLAS
15.45 - 16.15	Tea Break
16.15 - 16.45	Being a university citizen Pam Moores, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University ‘Service’ and ‘administration’ are often marginalised in discussions about academic careers. This session will explore the notion of citizenship in the university, in subject associations and in community engagement.
16.45 - 17.15	Discussion
	Evening meal in the Garden Room

Provisional programme: 17 April 2009

Time	Session
09.30 - 10.15	Workshop: Pastoral support of students Adrian Sewell, University of Southampton
10.15 - 11.00	Workshop: Designing e-learning materials Kate Borthwick, Subject Centre for LLAS
11.00 - 11.30	Coffee Break
11.30 - 13.00	Open space Open space technology provides you with opportunity to discuss any topic you wish. You may wish to discuss issues that have arisen from Day 1 or raise questions that have not be addressed in the workshop. To learn more about making effective use of Open space please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology
13.00 - 14.00	Lunch
14.00 - 14.45	Workshop: Getting the most out of your Postgraduate Certificate course Jannie Roed, University of Coventry Slides
14.45 - 15.30	Workshop: Issues in assessing students Alan Davies, University of Edinburgh
15.30 - 16.00	Plenary
16.00	Close

Event report:  Life and work in academia: event for new lecturers in languages, linguistics and area studies

by Michael Seabrook, University of Reading

‘Life and Work in Academia’ was organised by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, and held at Clare College, Cambridge. It aimed to complement ‘generic’ institutional courses for new lecturers by taking a discipline-specific view of the academic career.

Session 1:  The university academic: one job, many roles

Chris Perriam, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, University of Manchester

Chris Perriam began by outlining the four major roles of the university academic: research/supervision, teaching, administration and the increasingly important role relating to knowledge transfer. He emphasised the need to retain an acceptable work-life balance, especially during the first year(s) of an academic career, and discussed the notional 37.5 hours per week which should constitute full-time employment, acknowledging that the reality is likely to be somewhat different. Chris then examined ways in which new staff can begin to feel established within a department: institutional induction programmes benefit from meaningful follow-up (which might simply take the form of a check-list); participation in teaching and learning committees may provide better/more relevant information on departmental function than generic training events; mentoring can be used for broader benefits (e.g. assistance with developing the mentee’s CV). 

Discussion then turned towards workload: in a full-time lecturing contract, up to 40% of time should be dedicated to research. Rigorous enforcement of deadlines for students will help to achieve this; also, any expectation that a newly (re)written module should be taught perfectly is unrealistic – Chris advised that it could take several years to feel confident teaching a specialist content module. Workload modelling and regular comparison of one’s duties with one’s job specification may help to achieve a balance between the university’s priorities and those of personal development. The session concluded with strategies to build a research culture, including a recommendation to spend time sharing research with colleagues, aiming for regular publication and seeking to attract research income and research students. Success appears dependent on being ‘strategic but not ruthless and maintaining integrity while not being exclusivist’.

Session 2:  Supporting teaching and learning in languages, linguistics and area studies: What can the Subject Centre do for you?

John Canning / Alison Dickens, Subject Centre for LLAS

This session provided a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Subject Centre, hosted by the University of Southampton but with a UK-wide remit and funded by the Higher Education Academy. In their joint presentation, Alison Dickens and John Canning described the Subject Centre’s web resources held at www.llas.ac.uk (including the Materials Bank), and gave examples of past workshops/conferences. Materials useful for outreach work in schools (such as the ‘Why Study Languages?’ CD), are freely available via the Subject Centre. The major programmes Routes into Languages and Links into Languages are closely allied to the work of the Subject Centre, although smaller projects (e.g. on the transition between school and university for linguists) are also undertaken.  Alison Dickens presented two key publications by A. Gallagher – ‘Hard going but worth it’ and ‘700 Reasons’, before mentioning initiatives such as the Language Café project (see below) and the three subject groups accessible via the Subject Centre’s homepage.  At every stage, the possibility for the Subject Centre to support new initiatives requested by colleagues was emphasised, with small grants available to support pedagogical research and/or materials development. 

Session 3:  One year on: A perspective from a new lecturer

Simon McKinnon, French Department, Durham University

In his third year as a Teaching Fellow at Durham University, Simon McKinnon used his session to present ways in which new lecturers can become established within their institution. Having begun by teaching core language modules, Simon inherited a content module on the history of the French language, and was later able to launch his own module in French interpreting. He mentioned that both formative and summative marking can provide the most problematic element of workload in the early stages of a career, and that job-shadowing senior colleagues can be very useful to gain experience of administrative roles. As a Teaching Fellow, Simon spends more time on curriculum development than research-active colleagues, and has found that being a representative of his department on University committees can provide useful insights. Despite not being officially ‘research active’, Simon has managed to keep up with research developments in his field and finds that his own research is increasingly informed by questions from students etc.  He suggested that institutional frameworks for new staff (e.g. PGCert, Probation, Appraisals) should be seen as opportunities rather than additional administrative hurdles, and has found that money is available to fund professional development (e.g. he was able to visit CiLT). While the position of Teaching Fellow may have been regarded as inferior to that of Lecturer in the past, this is changing, with many institutions offering comparable opportunities for career progression. Simon’s session concluded with his personal experiences of establishing a successful Language Café in Durham, which has enabled engagement with the wider community:  with an attendance of c.150, more of whom are members of the public than students, the café has improved its venue’s takings as well as enrolment on the university’s continuing education programmes!

Session 4:  Career progression and promotion

Vicky Wright, Deputy Director, Subject Centre for LLAS and Director of Centre for Language Study, University of Southampton

Vicky Wright’s session began with small-group discussions on ways in which new lecturers could deal with competing pressures and achieve a balance between the university’s priorities and their own career development. Discussions centred around differentiating between realism and perfectionism, and ‘learning to say no’. Vicky then presented statistics to show the changing workforce demographic in the HE sector (see presentation slides). She gave examples of University and Departmental vision statements, and encouraged colleagues to think about where they are able to fit in with these visions themselves in order to progress within the organisation. Following the 2004 Framework Agreement for single payscales across HEIs, detailed job specifications enable individuals seeking promotion to frame their case in a much more structured manner than previously. To illustrate this, Vicky cited the Education, Research and Enterprise job specifications for Lecturer A/B scales used by the University of Southampton, and emphasised the need for colleagues to plan ahead and use their appraisal / personal development review sessions effectively.

Session 5:  Being a university citizen

Pam Moores, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University

While career progression is often determined by publication lists, Pam Moores used her session to emphasise the importance of taking a more holistic view of the individual’s contribution to the life of a department.  This involves not only taking a fair share of administrative responsibility, but also the increasingly important place of community engagement to improve the relevance and impact of the university’s work for the wider community. Although lecturers are specialists in their fields, they are also part of an academic community, and must therefore be good citizens within this community. Completing a PhD often requires a single-minded approach, leading to the academic stereotype of a driven, focused individual (whose citizenship capabilities may have become dormant), however the daily reality of academic life requires a much more diverse and versatile skill-set. As a result, Pam argued that a good university citizen is not only an original thinker, but also a ‘sympathetic counsellor with IT, communication and media skills’.  Rather than perceive administrative staff as a separate (even opposing) group, they should be seen as partners: while academics can help with the administration of recruitment, placements, quality assurance and enhancement, assessment, representation, community engagement etc., they should also feel confident to share these tasks with specialist administrative staff. 

Session 6:  Pastoral support of students

Adrian Sewell, University of Southampton

Adrian Sewell’s session began with small-group discussions of participants’ experiences to date regarding the pastoral support of students. A common theme identified was that of confidentiality, and the ways in which academic staff may avoid litigation as well as feelings of personal responsibility for the wellbeing of students. Lecturers with pastoral responsibility need a sound awareness of the (ever-changing names of) support services which are in place to assist students, so that complex problems may be referred to them speedily. The role of the personal tutor may be as extensive as the individual makes it: it was felt that rather than relying on handbooks/directories, it may be more beneficial to visit Student Services departments and facilities for oneself. 

Session 7:  Designing e-learning materials

Alison Dickens, Subject Centre for LLAS

E-learning is clearly going to become an increasingly significant feature of academic life, as the education system responds to the needs of ‘digital natives’. In this session, Alison Dickens began by outlining the various ways in which technology is used to enhance the student experience. Throughout this session, it was emphasised that any e-learning tools should be used to assist learning rather than for their own sake, and that some students may be resistant to non-traditional methods. Since students are often ‘one step ahead’ where technology is concerned, developing durable, effective e-learning materials is important, and the lecturer’s duty of care / responsibilities for data protection mean that ‘tried and tested’ technology may be preferable to new innovations which could encroach upon more ephemeral, ‘cutting edge’ material used by students during leisure time. Alison emphasised the wealth of resources available at www.jisc.ac.uk, which include case studies and ideas for e-learning materials and methods. It is clear that lecturers cannot ignore technology, since it meets demand from students as well as institutional and government requirements, although use of technology should complement rather than hinder the learning experience.  Alison concluded by describing the Subject Centre’s Learning Object Creator software (soon to be available online), and showcased an example of material created using the LOC. 

Session 8:  Getting the most out of your Postgraduate Certificate course

Jannie Roed, University of Coventry

As course director of the PGCert at the University of Coventry, Jannie Roed introduced her session by explaining the rationale for new lecturers achieving this qualification at their institution, which will usually be accredited by the HE Academy. While it assists in matters of quality assurance and compliance with national/institutional policies, the methodology of reflective practice adopted by PGCert courses is useful to the individual on a number of levels. Peer support and feedback from peers and students is vital to personal development:  feedback from the former can take the form of peer observation, sharing experiences and materials, networking and contributing to seminars/conferences, while useful feedback from students can be gained both formally and informally, as well as via examination results. Jannie concluded her presentation by providing a number of useful tips to facilitate a successful and enjoyable experience of the PGCert. A notebook/diary of critical incidents and comments during each lesson will help provide work-based evidence. When preparing for assignments, engaging with the secondary literature in a critical fashion (as one would in one’s own discipline) is essential, while reading newspapers (especially the THE) will give an appreciation of the broader context. Planning one’s assignments and portfolio is crucial, while becoming part of peer support networks and using institutional mentoring schemes effectively will enhance the experience.

Session 9:  Issues in assessing students

Alan Davies, University of Edinburgh

Unfortunately Alan Davies was unable to attend the event, so this session did not run. However, the issue of assessment was raised during Open Space discussions.