Teaching

KIS met

Bernie Russell Teaching

This is a (brief) heads-up about a Hefce plan for universities to produce so-called Key information Sets (KIS) which will provide information to university applicants in a standard form.

(Apologies if your head was already up, and I’m one of the few whose head wasn’t.)

The plan arose out of a consultation on how to make information from HE/FE institutions more useful and accessible.

To quote Hefce:

Key Information Sets are comparable sets of standardised information about undergraduate courses. They are designed to meet the information needs of prospective students and will be published ‘in context’ on the web-sites of universities and colleges.

Timetable and workload data, contact hours and assessment methods are certain to form part of these sets, along with a range of other info, such as:

  • student satisfaction
  • course information
  • employment and salary data
  • accommodation costs
  • financial information, such as fees
  • students’ union information.

The aim, I’d assume, is also to provide this information as raw data that can be analysed and deployed by third-party organisations.

The university is already involved in stage one of this project.

In the meantime, there’s useful background and guidance on the Hefce site.

Maybe we should start thinking about this in the run-up to 2012? It could mean, for example, that we need to standardise our course information and procedures much more.

And, yes, it is a terrible headline.

It could have been worse, though.  I did toy with KIS met hardly…but thought better of it.

Get plusgood at Googling

Bernie Russell Teaching
Get plusgood at Googling
Been meaning to log this for ages. It’s from a comment on an earlier post – a Google Search Tutorials blog set up by Joss Winn, from the University of Lincoln’s Centre for Educational Research and Development
It’s a collection of short videos from Google about how to use specific features of their search engine. Useful and usable.
http://joss.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/
https://rbrussell.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2009/10/02/get-good-at-googling/#comments

I’ve been meaning to log this for ages. It’s from a comment on an earlier post – a Google Search Tutorials blog set up by Joss Winn, from the university’s Centre for Educational Research and Development

It’s a collection of short videos from Google about how to use specific features of their search engine.

Useful and usable. I’ve added it to the resources page.

Chatham House Rule rules

Bernie Russell Journalism, Teaching
Chatham House Rule rules
And now…a note from Pedants’ Corner:
The LSJ may invite a speaker to talk to students under what we referred to in our discussion of said invitation as Chatham House rules.
In fact, as I tried, but failed to point out, there’s only one rule.
It says:
“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed”.
So the meeting will be held under the Chatham House Rule.
Nuff said?

And now…a note from Pedants’ Corner:

The LSJ may invite a speaker to talk to students under what we referred to in our discussion of said invitation as Chatham House Rules.

In fact, as I tried, but failed to point out at the time, there’s only one rule.

It says:

“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed”.

So the meeting will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

Nuff said?

FT puts on the style

Bernie Russell Media, Teaching
FT puts on the style
Press Gazette reports that the FT has put its style guide/lexicon online.
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/5530
This looks like a great resource, and should probably be added to reading lists for all the writing and production units?

Press Gazette reports that the FT has put its style guide/lexicon online.

This looks like a great resource, and should probably be added to reading lists for all the writing and production units?

Map the mind

Bernie Russell Teaching
Map the mind
This post from Joss Winn  on using mind maps got me thinking about whether we should start using them in the LSJ?
What is…
A mind map is a diagram where ideas, tasks, resources, etc. are arranged round and connected to a central key word. Because the map is non-linear, it’s more flexible, and easier to restructure and scale than any kind of hierarchical scheme. This makes them ideal for note-taking, project-planing, brainstorming, etc.
More better info…
http://www.imindmap.com/articles/improveMemory.aspx
Do they work?
I think so. They mimic the brain much more closely than standard note-taking methods, and there is the obvious point that they start in the middle, rather than in the top left. There’s research showing that they shouldn’t be imposed on people who have note-taking techniques they find effective, but we wouldn’t do that anyway.
Online
Mind maps work really well online. Try Mindmeister, which allows subscribers to share and work on mind maps together. It’s free, but even the paid versions don’t cost much. There’s an academic version for $15 per annum.
http://www.mindmeister.com/
On the desktop
I use FreeMind. It’s simple, it’s free, and it integrates with Mindmeister. You can also share FreeMind maps as PDFs, web pages, graphics, etc.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
On the page
Of course, you can also do mind maps with pencil and paper, or with marker pens and flipcharts. It’s an effective note-taking technique and a useful tool for planning meetings.
Next?
I’d suggest we think about incorporating mind-mapping into our level one journalism skills unit?
http://chemistryfm.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2009/08/03/course-mindmap/comment-page-1/#comment-230

This post from Joss Winn  on using mind maps got me thinking about whether we should start using them in the LSJ? Continue reading →