My List of Things to Worry About at work today

Peter’s list of the things that were on his mind on the morning of 18th February 2008.

The relatively urgent things that are on my mind right now, to do with work, are:

I have to complete an annual report for the Workload Allocation Model, listing everything I have done in the last 12 months.

I have to write a new 10-minute presentation for the Open Day

I have to revise the course-evaluation questionnaire that students complete about the dissertation modules

I have to check and return the page-proofs for a paper that is due to be published in Progress in Physical Geography.

I have to get feedback from co-editors regarding recent developments in the “Environmental Geography” book project, but the co-editors are not being very forthcoming.

I have to give feedback to the University Project and Planning Manager about proposed changes to the University Appeals system.

I have to figure out exactly when I start being Chair of the University Appeals Committee, and what I have to do.

I have to read a draft report on the audit of SPIRE written by the Head of the University Audit Committee, and meet with her to discuss it.

I have to contact the European Commission to explain that I don’t want to go to Brussels for three days for a meeting, even though I previously said I hoped I could. Sorry!

I have to write a 5000 word submission for the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme, plus a CV plus covering documents, then meet with the University’s “external consultant” to go through it.

I am supposed to be making a decision for Routledge about writing a “Practical Physical Geography” book.

I want to chase up Routledge about the fact that some of my books that they publish are not showing up properly on Amazon.

I want to apply for a “discretionary point” promotion: the paperwork is available but I have to go through Head of School, fill in forms, write a case, etc

I have to draft a proposed new level-1 module structure to account for the new 4x15 credit model, and present it to the next Courses Management Committee

I have to draft a new School Quality Assurance Framework for presentation to the School Learning and Teaching Committee. This has to include proposals for revision of processes including Peer Observation of Teaching.

I have to write a lecture for geg-30014 about experiencing landscapes through non-visual senses.

I have to mark my 1st-year “people and environment” essays.

I have to mark the esc-10023 in-class test.

I have to find the exam script for a student who wants to know why he failed and why he is being thrown out of the University

I have to organise all the 2nd-year dissertation projects to staff advisors.

I have to produce a 2-hour session (lecture-workshop) about Personal Development Planning for the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education course.

I have to set up Personal Tutorials for all my personal tutees to go through their autumn semester marks.

I am overdue submitting my Chartered Geographer annual Continuing Professional Development record.

I am overdue updating my annual membership of the BSG.

I have not produced the Physical Geography Newsletter that I told everybody I would do last November.

I have to write two new lectures for 2nd-year about Arctic Landsystems.

I have to prepare for the next Appeals Committee meeting.

Some American bloke wants to phone me or have me e-mail him with answers to lots of questions about basal ice in Greenland, because he thinks I refereed the grant that he is now working on.

I am overdue setting exam questions for several modules, and I have to do that very soon.

I have a backlog of publication alerts that I have not followed up and read/filed

I have to read documentation and prepare for a “scrutiny panel” meeting to review proposals for new modules from SEMS.

I have to decide whether to follow the Union's instructions to take "action short of a strike" or the University's request not to.

I have to deal with queries from students doing the Physical Geography course, a Geography Dissertation, or any of my modules.

I have to give class feedback on the esc-10023 in-class test

I ought to sort out the temperature data-logger I bought for the cold room

I ought to do some research in the cold room, or write up the work I did on Fractals, or put in a new grant application.

I have to chase up an overdue book order from Waterstones: they failed to deliver books I ordered.

I am supposed to have organised a “Physical Geography Research” display poster

I am supposed to be setting measure in place to counter poor retention, including a “peer support” scheme that I need to recruit student volunteers for

I need to catch up on reading to set up my next “Progress in Physical Geography” report.

I have to remember the things that I forgot to put on this list, and do them!

Another day at work

7.30 got to work, made coffee, checked e-mails etc.
8.00 setting resit question for students who failed module esc-10022, sending question to office and setting up electronic submission for plagiarism detection. This may be a mistake: it might be easier not to know if the students are trying to cheat.
8.30 have read recent student postings onto the online discussion boards for my modules, and responded to a few of the posts. This may have been a mistake: it might be better to let them talk amongst themselves for longer before intervening.
9.00 have arranged set-reading for the week-6 Regional Landsystems tutorial, and put both the reading and a set of instructions/advice onto the WebCT page for the module. This was certainly a mistake in that I should have done it last week but just never had the time!
9.30 received a memo from the Vice Chancellor asking me formally if I would accept the post of Chair of the University Examination Appeals Committee, so I just wrote a memo back to say yes. This may have been a mistake, as well.

Break: off to walk the dog, do a bit of birdspotting and have a coffee and lorry-spot with Debbie for an hour or so.

Upon my return: (11.00 - 3.30) discussed plans for open day with a colleague; discussed plans for next week's teaching with a colleague; asked the Head of School if it would be OK to involve a new member of staff in a particular set of teaching; ran a 1st-year tutorial; met with a student to discuss his recent results and progress with his essay; reviewed a set of proposals for reform of the University Examination Appeals Committee; etc.

I had an e-mail from somebody called "Ib" at the European Commission in Brussels who seems to think I'm going to a meeting there to review some scientific proposals. Is Ib a man's or a woman's name, I wonder? They want my bank details so they can pay me, which is nice, but there seem to be lots of forms to fill in and it seems I have to go to Brussels, which is less nice. Very confusing: I shall try to ignore it for today and make a decision tomorrow having slept (or lain awake) on it. I also got an e-mail from the Exam Tutor telling me it was time to set the summer exam papers for my modules.

Break: off to help Debbie with horse, walk the dog, have some tea, etc., for a couple of hours.

Tea turned out to be two Easter eggs and four bars of chocolate, so if they find me slumped over the keyboard half way through this sentence you'll know why. They were only small bars of chocolate: from inside the Easter eggs! Nevertheless, so much chocolate when I was planning to have a nice piece of fish was almost certainly a mistake.

5.00 - 7.00 During the evening: dealt with a steady flow of e-mails and assorted other messages from students ("why can't I see my marks in the online system?" "can I meet you to talk about my dissertation", "I liked that tutorial, thanks", "I didn't like that lecture", "Can I put you down as a referee on my job application", etc...); constructed an exam paper for the ESC-10023 in-class assessment that I am running next week; worried a bit about all the things on my list that I haven't done yet. Decided to stop, and am now going to go and get beaten (probably) at chess by some Danish bloke I met online a couple of days ago! Hey Ho - well we saw some woodpeckers today, anyway!

What I'm up to at work

We're in week three of the Spring teaching semester: I've had a busy three weeks with quite a lot of teaching, but that's easing off for a couple of weeks now, and I've also had a few other things come through recently...

I've been asked whether I would be willing to take on the job of Chairing the University Appeals Committee. That's the committee that students go to if they think they got a raw deal somewhere that affected their degree result. I've been a member of the committee for a few years, and chairing it would be an interesting job. I said yes, but haven't had official confirmation yet.

I've been "longlisted" to go forward as one of the University's entrants for a National Teaching Fellowship. The put me on the list because I won an "Excellence in Teaching" award last year. I don't know yet if I'll get onto the shortlist or actually be put forward into the competition.

The publishing company Pearson has agreed to go ahead and commission me and some colleagues to edit a big new book on "Environmental Geography". It will be a big, big job, and will give me a lot to keep me busy over the next few years. I'll be heading up the editorial team. I've edited big books before, but never had to work with an editorial team, so this is new and exciting!

I'm still serving as external examiner for the Physical Geography courses at Bath Spa University, and I spent a lot of time this week going through their autumn semester modules, looking at the module resources and the students' work. It's very interesting seeing what students are like at another University, and comparing their work with the work I see here at Keele.

I'm enjoying working on a brand new module this semester: GEG-30014 "Inspirational Landscapes". It is an opportunity for students to push the boundaries of Geography right out to their own personal interests, and I've been able to lecture about how geographical landscapes are represented in film, poetry and music. Who'd have thought, back in 1976 when I was a 15-year old watching The Shootist over and over again at Canon Hill Film Theatre that I'd one day be showing clips from it in my own Geography lectures!

7th Feb 2008:

A relatively quiet day after a long spell of very busy days, so a chance to catch up on a few jobs.
7.15 - checked e-mails before leaving home.
8.00 - got started at work.
8.15 - have just been discussing what we'll do in next week's GEG-30014 lecture with my co-tutor.
8.20 - checked and printed and filed the proposed schedule for the 1st-year fieldcourse in which I am involved later this year
8.25 - three students yesterday claimed they were not correctly registered for the online resources for my esc-10025 module, so I just went into the system and checked that they are all, in fact registered. E-mailed the three students to tell them so.
8.30 - filed notes from last esc-10025 lecture and checked program for remainder of that module.
8.50 - have just been discussing the program for forthcoming open day with colleague who is organising it.
10.00 - wrote and sent long e-mail to editorial team of new book that we are planning to write. Also had meeting with one co-editor about plans for book. There have ben Great Tits and Blue Tits on my window sill all morning and I'm finishing my second mug of coffee.
10.10 - received and read the minutes of the last School Learning and Teaching Committee and the Agenda for the next meeting.
10.20 - received ad checked my annual pension service statement.
10.30 - read publicity for new textbook and submitted request to publisher for inspection copy.
11.35 - spent an hour compiling a sample exam (and drafting the real exam) for esc-10023 from exam questions supplied by colleagues. Also had to make up a bunch of questions relating to my lectures and a couple for lectures that colleagues had failed to supply their own questions for on time! Posted the sample exam online and announced this to students and colleagues.
11.40 - updated my "to-do" list and checked schedule for next week.
11.45 - received, checked, and wrote to School Administrator about a set of PowerPoint templates that the University wants us to use for our open day presentations.
12.05 - took a 20 minute walk break in the fresh air.
12.25 - have just met with a student to help with their draft essay.
12.45 - have just met with another student to help with their draft essay.
1.10 - have been discussing teaching plans for next academic year wth a colleague.
1.20 - checked out a video sent by a student on my Inspirational Landscape module, and an online article sent by a former student keeping in touch about glaciers.
1.30 - met with a junior colleague who needed confidential advice on a professional matter.
2.30 - just completed two half-hour meetings with students: a third-year student with a final draft of her double-module dissertation and a second-year student with plans for his dissertation proposal.
3.30 - in the last hour I had a cup of tea and chat with two colleagues, started looking up material for forthcoming new lectures in the "Regional Landsystems" module, sent to a former student copies of two papers I've written, as she wants to keep up with our work at Keele, dealt with a few random e-mails and informed the School Ofice that students will be handing in a particular piece of work tomorrow.
3.45 - have been tracking down materials for Regional Landsystems teaching. Now I'm leaving work to go and do the horse, go home... and may do some more work from home later: especially preparing a tutorial for tomorrow.