50th Anniversary Special, UoY Forum, Issue 33

8/11/2019 50th Anniversary Special, UoY Forum, Issue 33

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2 FORUM MAGAZINE, issue 33

Articles

4 David Foster:he James Legacy

6 John Robinson:York pedagogy

9 ony Ward:Ramblings ofan engineeringmanagementlecturer

10 Mike Wickens: Fiftyyears of teachingeconomics is notlong enough

12 Sue Grace:Continuity andChange

13 John Hutton:Memories ofteaching andlearning at York inthe 70s: the settingup of independentsubject-baseddegrees

14 Neil Flynn:An Invaluableexperience on theroad to success

2014 Conference

3 Advance informationfor the 2014 Learningand eachingConference.

15 News

For a large print,

black and white textversion please contactSharon Meredith onext 2018

Contents

Forumis published termly by theLearning and eaching Forumwww.york.ac.uk/staff/

teaching/groups/forum

Editor:Paola [email protected]

Sub-editor:Sharon [email protected]

Design and print:Te Studiowww.york.ac.uk/design-print-solutions

EditorialThis is a special edition ofForummagazine

for the 50th anniversary of our University.On this unique occasion, the writtencontributions are inspired by two mainthemes. Firstly, the legacy left by our veryfirst Vice-Chancellor, Lord James of Rusholme. Secondly, taking atrip down memory lane memories and anecdotes of people who,at different times and in different positions, have made uniquecontributions to the University.

In the first article, David Foster, former University Registrar,reminds us of the most important pillars the University is builtupon, reflecting on Lord James legacy.

John Robinson, our current Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teachingand Learning, reminds us of one of the main characteristics thatcontributes to making York such a unique place and proposes anew vision for York pedagogy.

Tony Ward, Leader of the Engineering ManagementResearch Group, reflects on his desire to introduce engineers tomanagement and shares with us some of his unique experiencesat York over the last twenty years.

Mike Wickens, Professor of Economics and Specialist Adviser tothe House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, points

out how at York teaching and research often progress jointly andbenefit from positive mutual externalities.Sue Grace, Academic Training Officer, reflects on her

experiences as a teacher and discusses how the idea of trainingacademics to improve their teaching skills has changed over time.

In a very emotional article, John Hutton, former Head of theEconomics Department and one of the founding staff at York,reminisces about teaching and learning at York.

Finally, Neil Flynn, former MSc in Finance student and currentlyportfolio manager for a leading international investment firm inShanghai, gives us the point of view of approaching the job market

as a York graduate.We hope that this anniversary issue will be inspiring for

generations to come.

Paola Zerilli

Editor

FORUM

Funding OpportunitiesRapid Response Grants of up to 3,000are available to support small-scale,short-term projects, initiatives orpurchases to enhance the quality oflearning and teaching by addressing a

clearly identified need or issue.Further details and application formscan be found at: https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/funding-and-resources/funding


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FORUM MAGAZINE, issue 33 3

Wednesday 18th June 2014

LEARNING

TEACHINGCONFERENCE&

The 2014 Teaching and Learning Conferencewill be a chance for colleagues to discussprogramme level issues, to see the biggerpicture and to discuss exactly what it is thatwe want our students to achieve through theirengagement with our programmes of learning.

he Learning and eaching Conference theme isbeing announced now, at the beginning of theacademic year, to give you time to plan howyou can contribute to the event.

If you are interested in exploring programmedesign issues during the coming year, with aview to possible submission of a conferenceposter or workshop abstract in January (thoughwithout a definite commitment at this stage),please register your interest here: www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/conference

Thinking outsidethe module box2014Students apply for a place on,study for and receive, degrees;they experience their studies as aprocess, with a beginning, middleand end. Programme planningshould therefore form the bedrockof what a university aims to achievein terms of student learning.

A FORUM workshop in Autumn term week2 will provide a first opportunity to explorethese issues: to learn about and discuss theexternal factors in the UK HE sector whichmake consideration of programme designincreasingly important, with input from JohnRobinson (PVC for Learning, Teaching andInformation) on how we might respond tothese external drivers here in York.

Further information about this workshop isavailable at: https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/sharing/sharing-practice/workshops


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Much has already been written inthis 50th anniversary year aboutthe Universitys short history,and about its current standing, nationallyand internationally, in the world of highereducation. Reflecting on some of thisrecord of truly outstanding achievement,I recall a visit in the mid-1980s to a USuniversity with which York had a link atthe time. My host had gathered togethera group of students, including some who

had spent a year at York and some whowere thinking of applying for the followingyear, the idea being that I would give ashort talk and then answer questions.But first, he invited a young woman whohad just returned from York to share herthoughts with the others. Momentarily,I held my breath she also paused,probably for effect but then she saidthat it had simply been the best year ofher life and proceeded to explain why.

he experience which the Universityhad provided for this student had its roots

in the vision of the founders, nowherebetter articulated than in the words ofEric James (Lord James of Rusholme),

The James legacyDavid Foster, former University Registrar

In the last fifty years every single member of our familysbeen at Yorkbut im the first to graduate

the first Vice-Chancellor, in his addressto the University Court in November1964, A university, he said, consistsnot primarily of buildings, but of menand women, both staff and students. Itsquality is not necessarily determined bythe amount of money at its disposal, butby the way that it envisages its task oftransmitting and discovering knowledge.Its success is to be measured by itscontribution to wisdom. his philosophy

is one which the University has never lostsight of, despite the fact that for manyyears, it was relatively underfunded inrelation to many other institutions, ananomalous situation which continueduntil the 1990s. In delivering this vision,Eric James and his colleagues wantedto ensure that the highest priority wasgiven to good teaching, located in a smallnumber of strong departments with anemphasis on small group teaching andin a collegiate environment. Vindicationof this approach came some years later

in the 1990s when the external qualityassessment of teaching was introduced.By the time that all the subjects on

offer at York had been assessed, andthe inevitable league tables associatedwith this kind of exercise had arrived,York found itself at the top alongsidethe University of Cambridge. Of theUniversitys many achievements in itsfirst 50 years, this ranks as one of themost impressive and one which wouldhave given Eric James great pleasure.

Yorks strengths

In July 1981, every university in the UKreceived a letter from the UniversityGrants Committee (UGC) informing themof the amounts by which their fundingwas to be cut. In some cases, the cutswere draconian and one institution lostalmost half its recurrent grant. As usual,the media produced league tables fromwhich it emerged that York, although itwas to suffer a cut like everyone else,was the fourth least affected (in thecompany of Oxford, Cambridge andBath). his led to speculation over time

about our relative good fortune. No exactreasons could be adduced but it wasclear that the principles to which theUniversity had adhered from the starthad stood it in good stead: for example,it had a small number of strong viabledepartments, it had strong academicleadership and there was strong demandfrom well-qualified applicants foradmission. Furthermore, it was not over-dependent on income from overseasstudent fees, the research base wasstrong and it had husbanded its funds

with great care, only expanding when itwas satisfied that the business case wasrobust, as in the creation of Archaeology,Electronics and Psychology, and inonly creating posts when there was anabsolute need to do so. It was only in thelate 1980s for example that a full-time,professionally qualified Director of HRwas appointed and a HR Departmentestablished (the first permanent full-time staff development post was createdaround the same time), long after suchposts were commonplace elsewhere.

In the late 1990s, another institutionof similar size, wondering how Yorkhad emerged at the top of the teachingquality league table, came to find outhow we did things. hey departed still


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David Foster joined theRegistrars Departmentin early 1965 as themost junior member ofthe administrative staff.From 1986 to 2003,he was the Registrar and Secretary. He

retains strong links with the University,most notably through the Departmentof Theatre, Film and Television and theEnvironment Department, and withAlcuin College.

A university consists not primarily of buildings, but of

men and women, both staff and students. Its quality is

not necessarily determined by the amount of money at

its disposal, but by the way that it envisages its task of

transmitting and discovering knowledge. Its success is

to be measured by its contribution to wisdom.

ERICJAMES

unclear how we managed with a teamof one full-time and one part-timeadministrative staff, compared with theirteam of five.

In July 1973, the UniversitysChancellor, Lord Clark, paid tribute to

Eric James on his retirement, likening hiscreation of the University of York to thecity of Urbino, in Clarks view the firstperfect social unit of the Renaissance.He emphasized the smallness of theUniversity, with only 2200 students,itself a reflection of Erics view that theplace should be modest in size (in thequinquennial estimates which universitiesin those days had to produce for theUGC, concern had been expressed thatgoing above 3000 students might causeirreparable damage to the college system).

Avoiding too rapid expansion clearly didthe University no harm but the Universityof 2013 is of a size, and subject range,which Eric and his colleagues would neverhave envisaged. Would they be pleased?I think they undoubtedly would, not justbecause of the huge success which ithas enjoyed in its 50 years or its enviablestanding in the international arena orits significance to the City of York butbecause it has remained by and large trueto those principles which have been thebedrock over 50 years.

In a valedictory interview with heManchester Guardian on his retirement,Eric attributed the Universitys success tothree factors appointing the best staff,recruiting able students and looking afterthem. A fellow vice-chancellor (of a large,prestigious university) in a letter to Ericin 1973 told him that York, in his opinion,was the best of all the new universities,adding that under Erics leadership, it hadacquired a reputation of commitment toteaching to which few others could aspire.He left a priceless legacy, well summed up

in the words of one of the first students(the class of 1963) who said that theUniversity has never looked back fromthose early days and has developed intoone of the top universities in the world.

Lord James of Rusholme, 1st Vice-Chancellor of the University of York


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Lord James described York pedagogy

in he Start of a New University(1966): A good deal of the teachingis tutorial in character, based on aweekly or at most fortnightly contactbetween a teacher and a small groupof students (ie not more than four)... Atthe same time, the value of the othermethods of teaching are recognised,and both lectures and, still more,seminars of ten or fourteen students arebeing used. It is often said that tutorialteaching is extravagant. his is not soif the programme of formal lectures is

made a good deal lighter than in manyuniversitiesutorials, lectures and seminars

along with labs, the same methods weuse today, though not always in thesame proportions as in 1966. Electronicmedia have expanded learning resourcesand ways to communicate, but the basicmodes of University teaching remainmuch as fifty years ago.

his is surprising given all the externalinfluences. Since 2000 we have seenthe introduction of fees for home

undergraduates, high growth in taughtMasters provision and the establishmentand increasing influence of the NationalStudent Survey. In the past two yearstheres been change in research degreesthrough the rise of Centres for Doctoralraining, introduction of the KeyInformation Set (KIS), the rise of MassiveOpen Online Courses (MOOCs), and yethigher student fees.

Not that these things shouldnecessarily affect the way we teach.

John Robinson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching,Learning and Information

If we were to react to KISs publicationof contact hours by replacing tutorialswith lectures, we could lose somethingimportant Lord James fundamentalelement in the academic pattern. Butthere are, perhaps, better reasons toreassess our pedagogy.

For example there is good evidencefrom HE research that all of the followingincrease educational gain from aUniversity programme:1. students working harder,

2. students having clearer expectationsof their programme,

3. programmes having higherexpectations of their students,

4. frequent feedback on student work.

York peda

independence of mind developed through a critical

approach which challenges assumptions and engages with

on-going research. York graduates are life-long learners


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John has been Professorof Electronics at Yorksince 2000, and wasHead of Department from2007-11. In addition tohis Pro-Vice-Chancellorsrole, John is Director of the Higher York

Creative Technology Centre. Beforecoming to York, John held an IndustrialResearch Chair at Memorial Universityof Newfoundland as well as working inindustry in Canada.

ogy

We need to consider how to do thesethings better. I have an initial proposal a pedagogy that puts student work at thecentre. Here, in summary, are its steps ofprogramme design:

AscentWe already have a description of York

graduates in the Learning and eachingstrategy. hey have:

independence of mind developedthrough a critical approach whichchallenges assumptions and engageswith on-going research. York graduatesare life-long learners

Our product is learners; we mighteven say, scholars. Each programmeof study has its own more detaileddescription of a graduate, so its finalobjective is clear.

We must plan our students ascent

to that objective. his means orderingcompetencies, particularly learningskills, so that the things students doearly accelerate their ability to learnlater. he intermediate expectations at

each progression point are the rungsof the ladder students have to ascend.For most undergraduate programmesthere are six rungs; for each we shoulddescribe how the climb from theprevious rung gets students closer tothe finish.

WorkA student doing a full-time programmeshould be studying 40 hours per week.In most cases, more time will be outsidecontact hours than inside. Student-

work-centred programme design paysgreat attention to what students arespending that time on, with a reasonableargument for why that activity is themost robust, effective and efficient wayto step them up to the next rung. It isnot enough to characterise non-contacttime as in the library or private study.We must devise engaging and absorbingwork that will advance studentsintellectual grasp and facility with thesubject.

Appointments

Appointments are all those scheduledencounters when people have to be inthe same place at the same time. hemain ones are still supervisions, tutorials,seminars, lab sessions and lectures.We often call appointments contacthours. Only after the student workhas been mapped out should we designthe appointments, whose purpose andplacement should be appropriate tothe rung they are on. With the ascentplanned so that strong study skills are

developed early, students will becomeexpert users of documents (as definedvery broadly below), so lectures maybe relatively few. Instead, tutorials willfeature, because a programme based on

student work is going to include manyopportunities for formative feedbackpropelling that work.

Resources

Specifying the appointments allocatesour key resource: people. We also mustidentify and allocate other resourcesbased on student work. Study spaceswill be high on the list, because studentsspend more time learning outside ofappointments than in them. Other keyresources range from lab equipment to

musical instruments. Some may haveuse restricted to appointments (eg labsessions), but many will be available 24/7.

Documents

Documents are resources too, butso important that their creation andcollation deserves a design step of itsown. From traditional course texts,course notes and programme handbooks,to videos of lectures and interactiveonline simulations, documents must beplanned, prepared and perfected. Online

documents can be read anywhere anytime so it is vital we design them well.

I hope to have many opportunities todiscuss York pedagogy with the academiccommunity during 2013-14.


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50 years of Learning

and Teaching at York


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My first day at York was 1 January1993, not a good day to starta new job the Universitywas closed. Joking aside, I came toYork after spending 18 years as apractising engineer in industry, mainlyin management positions in the UK andfor a short period in the US. I came withthe desire to introduce our engineers tomanagement, something much neededbut sadly lacking in graduates. his hasbeen the main element of my day jobever since.

For me, one of the importantcharacteristics of an engineer isthe ability to understand systems.

Systems are everywhere,mechanical, electrical,electronic and even managerial those involving warm bodies,us, human beings. A characteristicof humans is that we are sometimesvariable, unpredictable, do odd thingsoccasionally, prone to mistakes,have moods although usually, andthankfully, not all at the same time andoften need incentivizing (intrinsicallyhopefully but often extrinsically as well).o make the warm body system requires

a good understanding of the bodies in thesystem. As with any system, thinking it(the system) can be optimised by dippingin and optimising its parts separately is,at best, hopeful.

My research interests are inengineering education and I have cometo realise that the great exponentsof some of the teaching and learningtheories I have grown to like and useare also examples of this, dare I say,problem. he theories associatedwith experiential learning, student

motivation, assessment and feedback,critical reflection all seem to be studiedand debated in isolation, as islands ofresearch. In reality they all relate to thesame thing the warm body doing thelearning, an integral part of the system.o optimize the education process is well what? What does the optimumsystem look like? Is there one? If thereis, it will be in the arena of the systemwhere all the theories collide and act onthe entity doing the learning not in theoptimisation of any one part.

Alongside my desire to teach I havedeveloped a real desire to help studentsin whatever way I can. his led me,nearly 12 years ago, to take on the role ofProvost of Alcuin, the first College. Well,

Ramblings of an engineering management lecturerTony Ward, Senior Lecturer

in Engineering Management,

Department of Electronics,Leader of the EngineeringManagement Research Group

alphabetically, and as you approach fromthe North, and as you descend verticallyfrom a height, and many more of my,now widely recognised as really bad,

jokes. his desire for helping students is

both the yardstick (or should it be metrestick?) and driver of all I do, my teaching,research and pastoral activities. his hasremained relatively unchanged despitemany changes since 1993.

So, what changes have I seen over thepast two decades (and now I feel old all ofa sudden)? here have been so many, butI will touch on just two:

Firstly, despite what the governmentsays, the ability of students inmathematics has dropped, and has beendropping progressively over the past few

decades. We can see this quantitativelythrough tests such as the PIP test andqualitatively through the commentsmade in lectures relating to mathematicaloperations. We are not seeing our outputstandards fall; our professional institutionhelps see to that. Add into that astaggering rate of change in technologiesrelated to our technical discipline and theresult? he toothpaste tube called thecurriculum is constantly being squeezed.A challenge for our teaching subjectmatter but also for our teaching methods

with VLEs; in-class video recording;readily available plagiarism checkers;audio feedback; electronic submission ofassignments, marks entry and transcriptsall fuelling another dimension of change

we need to deal with. his area is alignedto my research interests so I have aninterest in the impact of these disruptivetechnologies on the teaching system.

Secondly, the change in studentdemographics. Numbers of overseasstudents studying electronics are rising.Just as well, because the number ofElectronics home students is fallingand has been steadily for years. here

has been a healthy rise in numbersof Chinese students from a few

isolated students a decade ago tosignificant numbers today. Whatwas noticeable when there wereonly a few students was that their

ability to communicate in Englishimproved through their studies,both in their written but especially

in their verbal communications. Whatwe see with significant numbers is at

best a static ability, sometimes a decliningability in proficiency in English. o makeour financial books balance we needinternational students. Without gettingtoo political we need the government torecognise the economic value to UK plcof the education system and stop playingaround with visas and quotas in isolation

to the rest of the complex system theyseem to think they can optimise byplaying around with its parts.

I will end by sharing the two booksthat have made a big impression on mein the past. hey are The Goalby Goldrattand Cox, a story about big systems andtheir optimisation and the ever presentbottleneck, a component of a systemthat can never be eliminated, onlymoved around. Freakonomicsby Levittand Dubner is about incentivisation fromsome fascinating new angles. I guess the

reasoning is fairly obvious.

Tony Ward graduatedfrom Bristol University inElectrical and ElectronicEngineering. He workedin the UK and the US ina range of engineeringand management roles and, after 18years in industry, started a technicaltraining company before coming to Yorkin 1993. He was the founding Directorof the White Rose Centre for Excellencein Teaching and Learning in Enterprise.His research interests lie in engineeringeducation and entrepreneurship.


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Teaching is one of the most satisfyingaspects of being an academic. ButI imagine that it can also be one ofthe most soul-destroying. Much dependson the reaction of the students and on thefreedom to teach what interests us.

When I first started universityteaching nearly fifty years ago I was mostimpressed by one of my colleagues whoremarked that as academics we should

be professional communicators. his wasthe more impressive as he was a first-rate researcher with what would now beclassed as 4* publications.

Far from being at the cost of my ownresearch, I have found that teachinghas enhanced my research, and not justsupervising PhD students. eaching hasgiven me the opportunity to talk aboutwhat interests me most and, by talkingabout it, deepen my own understandingof the subject. Students have often toldme that they could tell by my enthusiasm

when I was really interested in a topic,and this made them that much moreinterested in it too.

Another valuable early lesson for mewas the benefit to students of courses in

Fifty years of teachingeconomics is not long enough

Mike Wickens, Professor of Economics and Government adviser, reflects on teaching economics

which the value-added was high. I havetaught at British universities that onlyadmitted what would now be A* studentsand later I taught at a university withvery much lower entry requirements. helatter had a first-rate research reputationwhile the former, although much moreprestigious, did not. he students goingto the former were bright when theyentered and when they left, but they

didnt learn nearly as much at university.As a result, I have always aimed to givecourses that stretch students so thatthey learn a lot, but not to penalise themby pitching the final examination toohigh. It is the learning that is important,not the exam mark.

Universities now give teachinginstruction to new staff. My experienceof this, including at York, is that thesecourses do not take sufficient accountof the peculiarities of each subject.Economics is a good example. It requires

a combination of skills not found inother subjects: like the sciences, it usesmathematics, statistics and computing;in addition, a knowledge of history,politics and philosophy is required

especially when making policy or valuejudgements; finally, and the real skill, is totake a complicated real-world problem,formalise it mathematically, carry outthe logical analysis and, most important,translate and explain the findings in wordsas though to a layman. his makes it verydifficult for a non-economist to teachthe teaching of economics. It also makeseconomics so fascinating.

o illustrate the issue of value addedand the complexities of economics, manyyears ago at York, the head of departmenttold me that he had been unable tofind any staff willing to teach first-yearmacroeconomics. hey claimed that itwas below them. I was horrified by thisand immediately volunteered. I took theview that it was most important to put thebest teaching staff in the first year in orderto enthuse students about economics.But, as a result of my experience atteaching at London Business School,

rather than give them the usual rather dryfirst course in macroeconomics, I decidedto adopt an entirely different approach.My aim was to enable them by the endof the course to read the Financial imes


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Michael Wickens isProfessor of Economicsat York and CardiffBusiness School. He is aformer Managing Editorof The Economic Journal,Specialist Adviser to the House of LordsSelect Committee on Economic Affairs,former Chairman of H.M. TreasuryAcademic Panel, and has consulted forthe IMF, Bank of England, The UN Foodand Agriculture Organisation and theEC Commission. His current researchinterests are in macroeconomics, financeand macroeconometrics.

with understanding while slipping in thevarious bits of theory that the second yearcourse needed to build on. his involvedinterpreting key economic data, relatingthem to the theory and examining theimplications for explaining economic

events and assessing policy. In this waythe students would be economicallyliterate even if they didnt take anothereconomics course.

One the first things I did when I came toYork twenty years ago was to modernisethe MSc course in macroeconomics. Inthose days it was much easier to alterthe content of a course and keep itup-to-date. his is essential in a subjectlike economics where the problems andtechniques of analysis evolve rapidly.hese days a committee of non-

economists must be consulted. One of thechanges I made was to include financein the macroeconomics course which Iregarded as an essential, but completelyneglected, aspect of macroeconomics.he recent financial crisis has more than

justified this. It then became clear that itwas necessary to go further and introducewhole courses on finance in the MScprogramme. I therefore proposed that wecreated MSc degrees in finance. Now, in

terms of student numbers, these coursesdominate the Department of Economicspost-graduate programme.

Over the years the technology hasaltered the way we do economics.Increased computing power has changedthe way we analyse economic modelsand carry out statistical analyses. Withcomputers in each lecture room, we cannow illustrate arguments and methodsonline, and as students have their owncomputer they can practise in their rooms.

My main experience of changingtechnology involved the way I delivered

lectures. Fifty years ago I wrote it all up ona blackboard which required an academicgown to keep off the chalk or, for some,to erase the board. hen white boardsappeared. he absence of an erasermeant that one always had blackened

hands. In both cases the students and thestaff seemed to spend their time writingfuriously. he lecturers had their backsto the students which didnt improveaudibility or communication. hen over-head projectors appeared. Initially wewrote the lectures on these. We thenwrote the lectures beforehand and rolledthem out to the students. his was acrucial step as it enabled us to get througha lot more material. Nonetheless, it stillrequired students to copy it all down.hen we moved to slides. My students

very sensibly asked me to photocopy mylecture notes and distribute these, whichI did. hey then pointed out that thesenotes did not cover all that said as theywere just the main points and asked meto add some commentary, which I did.hen a student told me that my lectureshad been recorded and would be willingto transcribe them for distribution, whichwas very generous. At this point I realisedthat with some more effort on my part Icould turn the whole course into a book,which I did, although it took more effort

than I anticipated. he book is now a best-seller on macroeconomic theory readthroughout the world and translated intofour languages. All of this would not havehappened without my students to whom Iam extremely grateful.

I could go on and enthuse at muchgreater length, but I expect that you havealready got the message that I love talkingand thinking about economics. I am sofortunate to have been an academic andto have had the constant stimulation oftalking to such clever young people.

My main experience of

changing technology

involved the way I

delivered lectures. Fifty

years ago I wrote it

all up on a blackboard

which required an

academic gown to keep

off the chalk

How could they carry out research back in the 60s, they didnthave the internet?


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Sue Grace taught in arange of educationalinstitutions beforecompleting a PhDin the history ofcrime. In 1998 sheset up the Postgraduate Certificate inHigher Education for staff at York andcontinued to teach History in the Centre

for Womens Studies throughout. Insemi-retirement she has acted as aneducational consultant and returnedto her interest in crime by becoming amagistrate.

Like many others, my first teaching atthe University of York was during mytime as a PhD student in the HistoryDepartment. Despite years of teachingin further education, co-teaching withmy (ever patient) PhD supervisor wasnonetheless still extremely daunting. Aswe walked to co-teach one session I said,I dont know much about the British

in 19th century India. No, she saidcomfortingly, I dont really, it is a longtime since I wrote my last article on it. Herlevel of knowledge was way beyond mineand that was not really what I had meant!But I very quickly learnt more about theBritish in India! I was very fortunate toexperience such a supportive introductionto teaching in the University of York. Inanother university at about the same timeI was thrown in at the deep end with littlesupport. As an experienced teacher, usedto A level and FE marking meetings, I

had asked about a standardizing meetingfor marking. here was a look of horrorand I felt as though I should have knownwhat the difference between a 2.1 and afirst was from birth! he irony was thatthese very similar undergraduate classeswere actually operating at quite differentstandards at the two universities. Even asan experienced teacher, it seemed to meessential to have some sort of mentoringand colleague support to find my waythrough the unspoken mysteries ofseminars, lectures, marking, exam

setting, and especially the personal crisesof my students.So when I was asked, many years later,

to establish and run the new lecturerPostgraduate Certificate of (Higher)

Education [(Y) PGCAP] for staff it wasentirely because I remembered my ownappreciation of the help I had received.With the idea of being supportive, I saidyes. I saw that many PhD students andnew staff did not necessarily receive thesupport that I had done it was patchyto say the least. Soon I realised that, forsome, this training was seen to be part of

a seemingly ever-increasing bureaucraticstate and as creeping control from thecentre. Yet, over the 10 years I wasinvolved with PGCAP, many did indeedsee it as supportive. It was simply notright that new PhD graduates shouldteach with little support pursuing aPhD did not normally set one up for thecomplexities as life as a lecturer. Now it isalmost unimaginable that members of anynew profession should not have trainingas they enter their new profession andindeed subsequent updating as do medics,

pilots, solicitors etc. he challenge is howit can be done most effectively and thatis not always obvious. Sitting at the feetof Nellie as they say in Yorkshire is a goodway to learn but lecturers in departmentsdo not have much time to hand hold newstaff. I was asked to write about changesin my time at the University of York thatnew staff have to articulate, overtly, theireducational principles, plans and activitiesaround teaching is certainly one.

It is impossible to talk about changesin HE teaching during my career without

placing them in the macro level changesin 20th/21st century higher education andthat would take a book not 700 words!Debates about student-centred education;increasing litigation; far more record

keeping; ever-increasing debates overbudget and new technologies all add tothe increasing complexities of HE teachingand have escalated in my later years in the

job. In my final two years I set up a MedicalSchool postgraduate programme for busy

medical professionals which was entirelyon-line apart from four contact days peryear. Such courses are utterly differentfrom any at the start of my career. hatsaid, one of the main shifts came earlierwith QAA audits and having to articulateoutcomes. Like many Arts academicsI was initially extremely cynical aboutthe need to express learning in termsof concrete verbs. However, I have toconfess that this process really helped meto focus on a more carefully consideredevaluation of what the students needed

to learn and not what I fancied having as anice discussion in a seminar!

Moving with the times

A major theme for historians is continuityand change and in university educationthere is lots of both! Caring colleaguesremain one of the most importantcontinuities. As in many walks of life,much of what has really changed relatesto external pressures, the pace of lifegenerally and to increased expectations.E-mails might be one seemingly tiny

illustration of this but they have changedthe teaching relationship massively. Inthe early electronic days one tutee saidto me, when challenged about a pointin an essay, that he had e-mailed theoriginal lecturer to ask him what he hadsaid at 11.10 in his lecture the previousweek so that he could cite him moreaccurately in the essay!! We have had tolearn to manage and control our ways ofworking with such changing demandsand, wherever possible, make themwork for, and not against, us. hat hasnt

always seemed easy but it has often hadits rewards.


Continuity and changeSue Grace, Academic Training Officer,Professional and Organisational Development


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Some of my most vivid memories ofteaching and learning date fromthe mid-1970s, a period of unrestand uncertainty throughout the universityworld, not excluding York. When Yorkopened its doors to students in 1963, weoffered a very broad curriculum in thesocial sciences, with boards of studiesinstead of departments, and a multi-

subject Part One of five terms, followed bya shorter period of specialisation. By theearly 1970s, Part One had been reducedto four terms, subject departments hadre-emerged, and more specialisation wasthe clear trend. Many students, however,were pressing for integrated courses,crossing traditional subject divisions,in some ways a return to the originalconcept. Buildings were occupied andexams boycotted.

hroughout that period, despite somestressful and exhausting conflicts, the

passionate commitment to competingand contradictory concepts of educationwas striking. he outcome, ironically,was the opposite of what some idealistssought the setting up of independentsubject-based degrees, the end of theSocial Science Board of Studies and of any

Memories of teaching and learning at York in the 70s:the setting up of independent subject-based degreesJohn Hutton was one of the founding staff at York, teaching Economics to the first student intake in1963. He has therefore seen considerable change and development at York and in higher educationin general. Here are some of his memories.

serious attempt to pursue a broad socialscience curriculum.

In those early days, because of thePart One system, staff got to know a widerange of both students and colleagues inother subjects. We also interviewed mostcandidates for student places, jointly withstaff from other social staff departments,and when students duly turned up, their

faces were already familiar to someone.Interviewing, at least in Economics, wasabandoned long ago, as it was extremelytime-consuming and we could not claimthat its results were better than simpleconditional offers by post.

A feature of Economics at York was,and is, the prominence of the graduateschool, the brainchild of ProfessorAlan Peacock, who came to York fromEdinburgh with several of us pioneers.He had been impressed by US graduateschools, as complementary to the

broader US undergraduate degrees, anddetermined to set up something similarin York. One result has been the presencearound the department, often for years,of a cosmopolitan group of postgraduateresearch students, who enliven theplace in many ways, and also interact

well with undergraduates, academicallyand socially. heir base was the Stables,home for much of the early period of theresearch institute under the aegis of theinimitable Professor Jack Wiseman.

When I decided to retire in 2004, Ifound that I greatly missed the everydaycontact with students of all sorts. hosewe supervised often became friends, and I

remain in touch with several. he ordinarybusiness of holding a small tutorial group,then lecturing to perhaps 300 students,or perhaps discussing the details of PhDthesis chapters with the author, anddealing with numerous requests forinformation or help, is the bread andbutter of academic life. It is what makesgoing to university a unique experiencefor students and one can only hope thatcost and staff performance pressures donot change that too much.

here have, however, been some

definite improvements in arrangementsfor teaching in more recent years. o havean academic appointment is no longerthought sufficient to be let loose teachingstudents with no one taking any interestin how the new lecturer is getting on.raining and mentoring new staff can beof great benefit for students and staff. Ido, nevertheless, think that in the badold days students had to be more self-reliant, without the provision of detailednotes for many lectures, and selectedonline material available almost instantly.

And I still think that our chalk-andtalkmethods of delivery had many virtues!

John Hutton came to Yorkfrom Edinburgh in 1962as a Ford Foundationresearcher with ProfessorAlan Peacock, the founderof economics at Yorkand was appointed Assistant Lecturer inEconomics in 1963. He became Head ofDepartment in 2000 and retired in 2004.Johns time at York has been interspersedwith posts in HM Treasury as an Economic

Adviser; with the International MonetaryFund as an adviser in the Fiscal AffairsDivision, and in Australian NationalUniversity in Canberra.Id like to return an overdue book

I took it out in October 1963


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After Neil graduatedfrom his BSc Economicswith first class honours,he came to York tostudy MSc Finance. InSeptember 2010, heaccepted a job offer as a derivatives

trader for a London based hedge fund,specialising in macroeconomic strategies.In March 2013, he moved in Shanghai towork as a portfolio manager for a leadinginternational investment firm.

Ihad the pleasure of studying myMSc Finance in York in 2009/2010.After finishing my degree, I moved toLondon to become a hedge fund trader,

and have since relocated to Shanghai tobe an investment manager. Having livedin York for 20 years prior to studyingat the university, I was well awareabout life in the city. When applyingfor undergraduate courses, I neverconsidered York because it was too closeto home comforts for me. But whenapplying for my masters, my choicewas made very easy. he Department ofEconomics was very highly rated, andas I was funding my own studies, it wasvery good value for money, especially

considering the costs of similar coursesat other top universities.During my undergraduate degree,

my professors had spent their entirecareers in academia, which despite givingme a strong theoretical background ineconomics, I felt that it didnt give me thetransferable skills and knowledge to takeinto industry. At York, my professors hada great mix of academic and professionalexperience. his included pioneers ineconometrics, decades of investmentbanking experience, and a number of

government advisory roles. he benefitof this is that I could gain extensivetheoretical knowledge, invaluable careeradvice, and industry contacts all fromone professor.

Neil C Flynn, Wealth Managerat Globaleye

After my exams, I began my focus onsearching for a job. Prior to searchingthe investment banking websites forpositions, I browsed the universitys owncareers website. Within a few weeks,Id signed my contract to begin work asa trader at a hedge fund. Equally, theuniversity career fairs had many topfirms, which helped me to shape thedirection of my career.

From York to Shanghai

With its picturesque campus, and

peaceful surroundings, its somewhatironic that York prepared me for thebig city life and high finance industryin London and Shanghai. For me, thegreatest aspect of university life in York isthe diversity of students. My classmatescame from all four corners of the globe,and have since become very good friendsand business contacts. As the city is smalland the campus is based in one location,its very rare to not see people you knowwhen out and about. his, in a sense, isYorks benefit over larger cities because

you build closer ties with your universityfriends. In fact, when I moved to London,I was joined by several good friendsand classmates who had found jobs ina variety of companies, ranging from

investment banks to research houses.Likewise, when I came to Shanghai, myYork network was even larger. he recent50th anniversary celebration in Shanghaiattracted over 100 former students,and the alumni association is active inarranging networking events for Yorkgraduates here.

For me, university life has a verysimple concept: you get out of it whatyou put into it. his is true at everyuniversity across the world. At York, Ifound that the rewards from hard work

were even greater than I had expected.I have friends who have stayed at theuniversity to pursue a PhD and are wellon their way to becoming very successfulin academia. Likewise I have friendswho are very successful in a wide rangeof blue chip firms across the world,something that is even more impressivegiven the unemployment woes whenwe graduated. From these two ends ofthe spectrum, we are connected by ourexperiences at York. We have attainedthe abilities and the skills for our careers,

the confidence and the internationalknowledge to work far from our homes,and the reassurance of knowing thatYork has given us the best chance to besuccessful in whatever path we choose.

An invaluableexperience on the

road to success

I remember you now63 you were a bit of aCampus heart throb


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NEWS


NEWS

National Teaching FellowshipCongratulations to Professor Dave Smith, Chemistry, who hasbeen awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the HigherEducation Academy for excellence in higher educationteaching and support for learning.

Dave is one of 55 Fellows selected from higher educationinstitutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

MOOCs: Not here, not yetIf you were keeping half an eye on theHE press and the national broadsheetsat the end of last year, you couldnthave missed the rumble about MOOCs(massive open online courses) thatbegan in the US and is now sweepingacross UK universities and, dependingon the viewpoint of the copy writer,either revolutionising higher education(and sounding the death knell of thetraditional university) or are beinghyped out of all proportion. Happilythere is also a good deal of intelligentdeliberation in between if you skirtaround the headlines and look for it.

Late last year, the University of Yorkwas invited to join FutureLearn, (anOpen University-funded venture intothe UKs first MOOC platform) but theSMG have decided not to accept theinvitation and instead have adopteda wait-and-see approach. his isunderstandable for a number of reasons,not least because it is too early toattempt a meaningful analysis of the

impact of MOOCs but it is interestingto see that 17 other high-ranking UKuniversities decided to accept theinvitation and were developing MOOCsfor the July 2013 launch of the UKs veryown MOOC platform.

So, is Yorks caution wise? he wordlimit here isnt big enough to do thisdebate justice but you can at least havethe discussion with colleagues and

your HoDs if you are interested in beingpart of the revolution, evolution orbubble (take your pick).Jane Lund, SPSWOn behalf of the Distance Learning Forum

Useful introductory articleson MOOCS:Cormier, D, 2012,What is a connectivistMOOC?(animation), available at www.connectivistmoocs.org/what-is-a-connectivist-mooc, accessed 23 April 2013Educause, 2012,What Campus leaders needto know about MOOCS, available at http://

net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/PUB4005.pdf, accessed 23 April 2013

Vice-ChancellorsTeaching Awards2013Congratulations tocolleagues who havebeen awarded Vice-Chancellors TeachingAwards this year.

Dr Steve Ashby,Lecturer, Archaeology

Professor Mike Bentley, DeputyHead of Department, Physics

Dr Amber Carpenter,Lecturer, Philosophy

Dr Martin Cockett,Senior Lecturer, Chemistry

Mathew Gilbert, PGWT, Electronics

Emily Hellewell, PGWT,Archaeology

Daniel Howdon, PGWT, Economicsand Related Studies

Dr Malin Holst, ResearchAssociate, Archaeology

Professor David Howard, Head ofDepartment, Electronics

Dr Louise Jones, Lecturer, Biology

Professor Peter Lamarque,Philosophy

Dr James Moir, Senior Lecturer,Biology

Elaine Tham, PGWT, Psychology

Dr Mike Thom, Teaching Fellow,Biology

Dr Meesha Warmington, TeachingFellow, Psychology

Learning Enhancement Team(ASO) Cecilia Lowe (TeamLeader), Janet Barton, David

Clarke, Ant Edwards, Adrian Lee,Chris Mellor, Madeleine Morgan,Tamlyn Ryan, Alice Wakely

E-Learning Development TeamTraining Sessionshroughout the Autumn term, the E-Learning Development eam is offering the

following training sessions, open to all staff.

Getting Started with the VLE (17 dates)

Media and Multimedia Primer Assessment and Feedback Primer

Interaction and Student Contributions Primer

For further details on these sessions including dates, please see the eams trainingschedule on the VLE http://goo.gl/4aplBi


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Learning and Teaching Calendar of Events:Autumn Term 2013/2014

Key to the calendar

Events organised by theLearning and Teaching

Forum. Open to all staff andPGWTs. For further information,see www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/sharing/sharing-practice/workshops; toregister, [email protected]. If you are unable toattend an event but would likea copy of the materials, pleaselet Janet know.

Postgraduate Certificatein Academic Practice

(PGCAP) sessions. Priority isgiven to staff enrolled on theprogramme, but other staff areinvited to express an interest inattending any session andplaces will be confirmed a weekor two before the event. Forfurther information, see www.york.ac.uk/admin/hr/academic-practice/pgcap/workshops.cfm

Preparing FutureAcademicssessions

aimed at PGWTs. Priority is

given to those enrolled on theprogramme, but others areinvited to express an interest inattending any session and theplaces will be confirmed a weekor two before the event. Pleasenote that these workshops aresubject to change. Check www.york.ac.uk/admin/hr/researcher-developmentforthe latest information, orcontact the ResearcherDevelopment Team: [email protected]

Freestanding workshopsoffered by learningsupport colleagues. [email protected] for further details or tobook your place.

Academic Integrity: StaffTurnitinawarenesssessions. Please contact [email protected] furtherdetails or to book your place ona session

Taught Masters SpecialInterest Group: for further

information, see www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/sharing/sharing-practice/special-interest; to register [email protected]

WEEK 2

Wed 9 October, 12.302pm, H/G21 Why Programme Design Matters

WEEK 3

Tue 15 October, 9.3011am, ATB/037 Staff urnitin Awareness

Wed 16 Ocobert, 25pm, RCH Lakehouse Developing Your Research Career

WEEK 4

Wed 23 October, 12.302pm, AEW/004 Blogs and Blogging in the Academic Environment

Wed 23 October, 25pm, H/G21 Effective Lecturing (Arts and Humanities)

WEEK 5

Mon 28 October, 911am, H/G21 Marking Consistency and Fairness

Wed 30 October, 25pm, H/G21 Enhancing Small Group eaching (Sciences and Social Sciences)

Thurs 31October, 14pm, D/L/049 Creativity and Problem Solving

Fri 1 November, 10am4pm, H/G09 Introduction to eaching & Learning (interdisciplinary)

WEEK 6

Mon 4 November, 12.302pm, H/G21 Dealing With Group Work

Wed 6 November, 25pm, H/G21 Enhancing Small Group eaching (Arts and Humanities)

Thurs 7 November, 14pm, H/G17 Introduction to Pedagogic Research

WEEK 7

Mon 11 November, 9am5pm, H/G09 Marking and Feedback all day workshop

Wed 13 November, 911am, H/G17 How to Complete Your PFA Portfolio

Wed 13 November, 25pm, H/G21 Impact and Public Engagement

Thurs 14 November, 9am12 noon, H/G09 Evaluation and Quality Enhancement

WEEK 8

Mon 18 November, 23.30pm, PL/006 Staff urnitin Awareness

Mon 18 November, 12.302pm, H/G21 Learning and eaching Encounters: Lectures

Wed 20 November, 9am12 noon, H/G09 Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

Wed 20 November, 25pm, H/G21 Developing Information Literacy in the Digital Age

Fri 22 November, 9am12 noon, H/G17 Demonstrating in the Sciences

WEEK 10

Thurs 5 December, 14pm, H/G09 Structuring and Designing Sessions

WEEK 11

Mon 9 December, 9am-5pm, H/G09 Criticality all day workshop

Mon 9 December, 2-4pm, Berrick Saul

Tree House

aught Masters SIG

Tues 10 December, 1-4pm, D/L/049 Effective Lecturing

Wed 11 December, 9am-12 noon, H/G17 Giving Feedback on Student Work