PGK work diary

Invited Talk at Prince's Teaching Institute Summer School

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:05:00 +0000

I was an invited speaker at The Prince's Teaching Institute Geography Summer School, and went to Cambridge to give my talk this week. I was asked to speak for an hour to a group of about 50 teachers, and my talk was called: "Complexity, Uncertainty and Wonder: Physical Geography for Grown-ups of All Ages". You can see the slides from the talk here.

The Summer School was a very high-profile event; I was the only speaker on the programme whose name I didn't know! A reporter from The Telegraph came to my talk, and Michael Palin gave the after-dinner speech. There's more about the event on the PTI website:
http://www.princes-ti.org.uk/SummerSchool/2008/

My talk generated some interesting discussion with teachers about discrepancies between the A-level syllabus and our current scientific understanding of phenomena in Physical Geography. I am hoping to pursue some of the ideas further in collaboration with some of the teachers.

Official Photos

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:18:00 +0000

Debbie took some new photos for my official portfolio for use on the University website, publicity for the Teaching Fellowship, etc. We're not sure which of these to gives the truest impression...

National Teaching Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:02:00 +0000

I got news today that I have been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy. There's a glitzy award ceremony in London in September, and a £10,000 prize for spending on "professional development in teaching and learning and aspects of pedagogy".
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/professional/ntfs

Lots of people have been asking me for more information about this, so I've started a little web page about it at:
http://www.petergknight.com/ntfs.html

1st-year Field Course

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Despite some wet and windy weather the Physical Geography students did well on their field course and even seemed to be enjoying themselves: but then, what's not to enjoy about doing physical geography on the beach? For me it was a busy week of teaching, and was followed by busy weeks of marking and having meetings, but summer is now coming over the horizon with opportunities for getting down to more substantial work projects.

Cups of Tea with Dr Waller

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:53:00 +0000

I took this photo of my esteemed colleague Dr Waller in my office taking a rare break from his busy schedule, and he suggested that it actually showed him in typical pose: with a cup of tea in my office.

I'm sure we were having an intelligent and important conversation about some academic matter...

New book projects - decision time

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:55:00 +0000

It says something about my approach to my work that I really wasn't sure whether to put this entry into my work or home blog. I've been in discussions with three different publishers about four different book-writing projects over the last year or so, but the time has come to make some decisions and get down to work. I did set up a team of editors to start work on an "Environmental Geography" textbook project, but the team didn't really gel properly so I've kind of disbanded that and was intending to drop the Environmental Geography project. However, further discussions with the publisher are starting to sway me towards re-establishing that project but as an individual effort rather than a team game. A second project that has been in the air for a while with another publisher is a book about Practical Techniques in Physical Geography. The commissioning editor has come up with an attractive deal to sway me towards that one. The deal could also lead towards an additional book that I have as my longer term goal: a new Glaciers textbook. The fourth project, a big Geomorphology idea, is still on the publisher's mind but is starting to look increasingly unlikely. Having said that, the Environmental Geography book and the Practical book both looked unlikely a couple of weeks ago. For the moment, though, my ideas are leaning towards writing two books simultaneously: Environmental Geography and Practical Techniques for Physical Geographers. That should keep me busy!

My List of Things to Worry About at work today

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:53:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:05:00 +0000

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:

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:01:00 +0000

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.

PIPG Report

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:31:00 +0000

Hooray! Submitted the manuscript for the paper I've been working on. It's a co-authorship with Simon Cook for Progress in Physical Geography. It's another worry out of the way. Now I am on to worrying about getting all my marking done, moving forward with the SPIRE audit report, preparing for the Geography Triennial Course Review, getting a plan for next semester's new module, planning for the SPAGS audit, and buying a new box of tissues to replace all the ones that have been used up by this semester's record number of sobbing visitors to my office!

28th Nov: SPIRE Audit

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:59:00 +0000

Work at 7.30. Helped Aidan (a bit!) with a PhD question., then prep's for SPIRE Audit. Chaired Audit meetings from 9-5 without any breaks. 5-7 off, then 7-10 prepping lecture for Friday and dealing with day's backlog of e-mails/student queries.
12.5 hours working today.

23rd November 2007 - d'oh!

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:30:00 +0000

Well, we knew I wouldn't really keep that up, didn't we. It was a bit naff doing it hour by hour and I really can't keep doing that. Minute by minute might be interesting, if life-filling, but I think I'm going to have to go with day by day. The hour by hour approach is possibly the worst because it misses all the interesting stuff (big and little) and catches only the dull medium stuff. For example, I don't think I actually recorded the event when I finally completed and submitted the book proposal for the Environmental Geography project to the publisher. It was a big job and a big weight off my mind, but was immediately replaced by the next big weight in the queue!

Yesterday was full of all the usual unique-to-the-day stuff, but I couldn't face another day of recording it all, so we're changing approach again; I don't know what the new approach will be, so this is more exciting, isn't it. I still have 3 more weeks of being required to record how I spend my time for the University "Full Economic Costing" project, so there will probably be something here... I wonder what.

Today I am scheduled to observe a colleague giving a lecture, to see a couple of students about their work, and to meet with colleagues to discuss nextweek's teaching and next year's prospectus entry. I'm also going to Keele M6 services for a coffee with Debbie, to the vet with a cat, to a field with a horse and to a lane with a dog, but I guess those are things for another diary.

The "big job" of the day is to do something on the PIPG Paper. The other little job is to sort out what's happening in a meeting tha tI have on Monday. Oh, and to sort out my lectures for next week. Oh, and to pick up a pile of coursework that students handed in yesterday and I have to mark. Oh, and... you get the picture.

21st November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:09:00 +0000

Lots of big pressing jobs overwhelming me at the moment: Chairing an Internal Quality Audit, preparing a book proposal (deadline about now), writing a paper for Progress in Physical Geography (deadline coming up), sorting out the Physical and Geog Sciences School Quality Assurance paperwork, doing all the paperwork for Physical Geog for the upcoming Annual Review of Courses, supposed to be getting back to Routledge about another (overdue) book project proposal idea... but can't find time to do them in amongst a heavy teaching and admin burden at this time of year.

Today: 9.25hours
1 hour staff meeting
0.25 hours safety training and form-filling
1 hour planning a new research paper to be written with Rich
2 hours working on the Environmental Geography book proposal
1 hour helping students
1.5 hour setting up teaching and assessment materials
1.5 hours assorted admin
1 hour online student support

20th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:53:00 +0000

7.30-8.30 Marking
8.30-9.00 Teaching prep
9-10 Teaching
10-11 Teaching prep
11-1 Teaching
1-2.30 Meetings with students
4-5.30 assorted admin (clearing e-mails)
evening: mark esc-30018 class tests 30mins

4.5 hours teaching
3 hours prep/marking
1.5 hours admin
9 hours total

19th Nov 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:55:00 +0000

1 hour scheduled teaching
1 hour meetings with individual students
3 hour meeting for SPIRE Audit
2.5 hours marking coursework
2 hours preparing teaching and teaching materials
1/2 hour book project work
Total: 10 hours

18th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:09:00 +0000

Sunday.

45 minutes preparing teaching for esc-20004.
15 minutes conducting on-line plagiarism check of esc-20004 coursework
15 minutes writing employment/training reference for student
2.5 hours working on Book Proposal

Total: 3.75 hours

17th November 2007 (Saturday)

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:31:00 +0000

Saturday: 4 hours total.

0.25 hours following my tutorial group students' online discussions on WebCT.
0.5 hours thinking about whether to proceed with each of three book-writing projects that several different publishers want me to pursue.
1.75 hours preparing esc-30006 lectures and online resources for next week.
1.5 hours marking 1st-year student tests. A lot of students wanted to refer to the Isthmus of Panama in their answers. About 70 students did so, but managed about 20 different ways of spelling it! Here are some of their bizarre spellings and misunderstandings:

Ipathus of Pameline
Ismar Panameus
Isima of Panamar
Isama of Paninar
Isthus of Panama
Isthis of Panama
Ismus of Panama
Ingalamus Panama
Isethus of Panama
Isathus of Panama
Isathmus of Panama
Isthamus of Panama
Istimus of Panama
Itsmus of Panamar
Ithumus of Panama
Islas of Panama
Pirmis of Pangaea
Pangeian
Iapetus
Gateway of Isthamus
Gateway of Isthamas

Even though they're only first-year students I'm astonished by the extent and variety of their wrongness!

16th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:31:00 +0000

7.30-8.00 Helping a colleague with publicity/recruitment materials
8.00-8.45 Teaching admin and preparation with colleagues
8.45-9.45 SPIRE Audit work
break
11.30-11.45 SPIRE Audit
11.45-12.30 Work on book publishing project
12.30-2.00 Talking to a series of students: helping with a dissertation, commenting on essay drafts, discussing revision strategy and learning skills, etc.
2.00-2.30 Work on book publishing project
2.30-3.00 SPIRE Audit
3.00-4.00 Peer Mentoring and discussion of Peer Observation of Teaching

0.5 hours recruitment
1.75 hours admin
0.75 hours teaching preparation
1.25 hours book project
1.5 hours student support/teaching
1 hour mentoring
(6.75 hours total)

15th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:30:00 +0000

7.30-8.30 Teaching and admin related office housekeeping including discussions with colleagues about teaching, and WebCT / e-mail delings with students.
8.30-9.30 Setting up an assessment: setting questions, designing the test and photocopying test papers.
9.30-10.00 admin work on forthcoming IQA Audit of another School, (SPIRE) which I am chairing. furure refs to SPIRE Audit are all this.
10-11 Lecture
11-12 Student visits: problem-solving, congratulating and admonishing by turn.
12-3.30 SPIRE audit preparation (with occasional interruptions for helping students and general admin)
4.5 hours admin
1.5 hours teaching preparation
1 hour scheduled teaching
1 hours helping students

14th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:54:00 +0000

a half-day today:
2 hours of student assistance
45 minutes of teaching preparation
45 minutes of administrative tasks

Went to a lot of trouble to attend a stupid administrative meeting that turned out to be a total waste of my time. 15 minutes.

Saw a stream of students with queries, problems, issues, questions, excuses, etc. 90 minutes.

Dealt with the daily flow of e-mail queries and problems from students. 30 minutes

Organised a tutorial schedule. 30 minutes.

Assorted administrative tasks. 30 minutes.

Checked my teaching for tomorrow and ensured that lecture was ready. 15 minutes.

13th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:37:00 +0000

7.30: Arrive at Keele. Administrative Housekeeping (dealing with e-mails, checking schedule, etc).
8.00: Work on PIPG paper
8.15: Mentoring discussion with junior colleague

Schedule for today:

9-10 2nd yr Geomorphology Lecture
10-11 Meet student to discuss progress (didn't take the whole hour but there were other students waiting too!)
11-12 3rd yr Glaciers Lecture (Peer-observed by a colleague)
12-1 1st yr Tutorial
1-2 Attend research seminar (Didn't go in the end... was seeing a colleague about an exam paper and then helping a student with his essay research)
2-3 2nd yr Tutorial
3-4 2nd yr Tutorial

8pm - I' dealing with the day's e-mails: a combination of petty administration and helping students... Thinking about better ways of teaching, given the blank uncomprehending faces that stared back at me in some of today's sessions.

Summary of today:
Scheduled teaching: 5 hours
Meeting with students needing help 1.5 hours
General office housekeeping and admin: 1 hour
Helping colleagues, including mentoring junior staff: 1 hour
Research and writing: 0.25 hours (!)

12th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:33:00 +0000

8am: Dealt with several e-mails from students with queries, and made appointments to meet with some of them later in the day. Set up this FEC Blog.

8.30: Preparing materials for 9am tutorial

9.00: 1st-year tutorial class

10.00: Attended start of 1st-year lecture class to present prizes to 2 students.

10.10: Updating my online access to the Authors' Licensing and Copyright Society, dealing with information from other departments about forthcoming teaching commitments, and further requests from students.

10.30-11.00: Checking materials for tomorrow's classes.

11.00-1200: Visits from students with assorted academic questions.

12.00: Working on new paper that I'm writing with Simon for Progress in Physical Geography. I hope to get this submitted by the end of this month, so "working on PIPG paper" should feature prominently in the November FEC Diaries!

12.15-12.40: Student visitors with academic queries/problems

12.40-1.20: Working on PIPG paper

1.20-1.30: Helping a student
.................................................

6pm-8pm: Thinking and learning. One part of my job comes under the general heading of "scholarship". That includes a variety of activities where I'm studying or researching my subject area not for a specific piece of teaching and not for a specific ongoing research project but as part of the constant process of keeping up with the discipline or exploring possible new directions for teaching and research. It's time where I learn things and think about things. It includes getting information and inspiration from readings or other sources, and playing around with the ideas and information I come up with. So when I put "Thinking and learning", it probably means I've been reading about something with a connection to Geography in a way that could be counted as work if I had to charge by the hour but could equally be counted as personal or professional academic development. In FEC terms it comes under the blanket term "scholarship"... so next time I write "2 hours scholarship" you'll know what I mean!

8.00-8.30: dealing with a few more e-mail and WebCT teaching-related tasks, and setting up some meetings for assorted administrative tasks over the next week or two.

Looking back at the day, it turns out (as usual) that I remember doing things that I didn't record - mainly conversations with colleagues about day-to-day admin and teaching issues today. On balance, it's been a rather unsatisfactory day: I didn't spend as much time as I wanted on my current Big Job of writing the PIPG paper - partly because the afternoon was taken out my a non-work commitment and by evening I was too tired to get down to it... oh well, try again tomorrow!

Summary for the day:
Teaching formal contact - 1 hour
Student individual meetings - 1.5 hours
Teaching preparation - 1 hour
Research and writing - 1 hour
Scholarship - 2 hours
General admin - 0.5 hours
TOTAL formal work - 7 hours

Four FEC Diary Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:07:00 +0000

For a few weeks each year the University gets all staff to report on how their time is broken down between different tasks. The next four weeks are "Full Economic Costing Diary" weeks. I always struggle to remember, when I fill in the form at the end of the week, exactly exactly how I spent all my time, but to help me do that this time around, of course, I have this blog. So, expect a more than usually thorough account of what I'm up to for the next few weeks. The trouble is, of course, I always get so busy I don't have time to keep a note of it all. Still... we'll see.

"Reading week"

noreply@blogger.com (petergknight) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:37:00 +0000

The first 6 weeks of the autumn semester are among of the busiest times of year for me, which explains why I haven't been finding many moments to update this blog lately! In response to what was becoming an unbearable workload a few years ago we introduced a "reading week" in week 7 which gives the students a chance to catch up on their reading, and gives us a chance not only to catch up on marking and other teaching-related tasks but also to keep up with some of the other activities that we can't find time for during the busy teaching periods. So, today being the first day of the reading week, here's my list!

Tasks for the week include:

Respond to requests from Bath Spa University, where I am the "External Examiner" in Physical Geography, for feedback on their recent course developments, exam papers, etc.

Respond to a request from the Quality Assurance Office at Keele for commentary on the final report of an Internal Quality Audit of the School of Economics and Management at Keele, which I chaired earlier in the year.

Respond to a request from the Geographical Association for information about any corrections that need to be made to the text of my book "Glaciers and Glacial Landscapes", as they are planning to do a new printing of the book. (I take this to be good news, as it must mean that they have sold out of the first printing but are still selling copies!)

Get on with writing a paper that the editor of "Progress in Physical Geography" has asked that I submit before the end of November. I've been held up throughout the last couple of months by teaching-related work, and I need to spend a lot of time on this paper to get it into shape.

Attend the Keele Geography exam-board meeting where we confirm all the exam questions for the January exams.

Attend the Keele Geography Courses Management Committee where we organise the running of the courses.

Receive (I hope) and start to study the "self evaluation portfolio" that is being produced by the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy as part of the Keele Internal Quality Audit that I will be chairing later this month.

Meet with assorted students about their coursework, dissertations, personal difficulties, etc.

Mark 14 1st-year tutorial essays

Mark 40 2nd-year tutorial tests

Prepare teaching materials for week 8

Reorganise and update "Subglacial etc..." research group web pages

Try to get down to finishing off an experiment that is currently running in the Low Temperature Lab.

Try actually to do some reading!