The Story of BEd 1 September 2009

Dianne SollyLynn Bhania

2010

120 students arriving in 3 weeks and I have just

heard that we can’t have the seminar rooms we

wanted.

Should I tell her we only have 3 staff

instead of 4?

But it’s all planned for 1 hour lectures and 4 seminar

groups

Dianne’s got a real problem – we

need to think positively.

OK Let’s stop moaning and make a plan.

We need to think creatively.

Relentless positivity in action

What happened next?

Despair

Acceptance

Need for change

The next slides show how we got from anger to willing acceptance...

3. Asking questions

• Ask other people• Check what rooms are available• Look at other venuesDo you teach in rooms in

other buildings?

Yes, the Sports village and what about

Bayfordbury?

That’s a good idea!

So there are big lecture theatres free in the mornings. Let’s book them all

now and cancel when we have a plan!

With 2 hours we could combine the

lecture and the seminars…

…and we’ll only need 3 staff who could teach as a

team

The Dianne and Lynn theorem 2009!

• Rooms do not fit the plan

Problem

The original plan

Cutting up the plan is helping us to see the

picture and match sessions to rooms.

Look there are 4 themes

emerging and the day

at Bayfordbury gives us an

extra 4 hours teaching …

…and lots of opportunities to

demonstrate good teaching strategies like

using the outdoor environment.

Building the learning community Explore the de Havilland campus with your team. Together make a map

indicating all the key features that would be useful for a new student to know.

1 person from each group should collect paper from Lynda Attwood. She will be in the corridor opposite room R118 between 1 and 1.30pm.

Display your map on the ground floor corridor of R block between 4.30 and

5pm.

Using post-its, write comments on at least 3 other maps indicating:*what you like about the map*what you have learnt from the map*what else the map could tell you

Amazing what you can do with only 1 piece

of paper. Proving that less is more.

Problems make you think creatively and do things differently.

How did we hear the student voice?

a) blogsb) photosc) assignmentsd) learning conversationse) SFQsf) films

a) blogs

b) photos

c) Assignments (based on 3 S of E Learning Principles)

1. Learners progress best in a safe, inclusive yet challenging learning environment

“During our first few weeks at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) the BEd1 cohort engaged in various activities, which required us to work individually , in pairs, in small groups, in our seminar groups and as a whole cohort. The campus map and the facilities’ poster exercises instilled a sense of belonging to the University and the SoE much as children develop a sense of belonging to their school and their respective classes.”

2. All learners can expand their knowledge and deepen their understanding

“We gained a greater understanding of the importance of the outside environment from the Bayfordbury trip. A truly memorable day; we were quite literally running around in circles in the orienteering task, and never did find our first clue! The beautiful sunshine, almost Mediterranean in quality, lent itself perfectly to the photography task, and the warmth made the mini-beasts quite lively!”

3. Learning develops through enquiry, exploration, discovery and critical reflection

“In the School of Education I have seen this principle in action in a number of ways. On the first day in the campus map task I was working with people I barely knew. As a group we accepted the challenge, discussed openly how we were hoping to accomplish our goal, and became engaged in the task. We demonstrated resourcefulness when given limited materials with which to make our map, and creativity in the design and presentation.”

d) learning conversations

e) SFQs

f) films

What did we learn?

Throughout this we learnt 4 things.

a) less is moreb) problems make you creativec) relentless optimism and positivity pays offd) team teaching works brilliantly

And our final reflection…

We realised that whilst redesigning the module we had lived the principles just as our students did.

Where next?

Continue to explore new ways of using spaces:• Bayfordbury• Change lecture + seminar for combined

sessions• Have these in lecture theatres• Team teach for 2 hours (fewer staff needed)• Chunk session into lecture/workshop/task in

line with neuroscience research