Apple for the teacher?

Had to collect some student feedback on my module today, using the standardised questionnaires.  This process is a perennial source of amusement/offence/general bewilderment for academic staff.  It's very hard not to take comments personally.  Over the years and at various institutions (not necessarily my current one) I have known staff to cry, hit the bottle, construct voodoo dolls, consider a change of career, etc. - all based on  the odd throwaway remark made on the questionnaires.

Someone has even written a paper on it:
Lindahl, M.W. & Unger, M.L. (2010) Cruelty in Student Teaching Evaluations. College Teaching, 58 (3): 71 - 76

To paraphrase from the comments made on a colleague's recent module evaluation: "He thinks he's IT you know - he SO isn't."

Or on one of mine after I'd spent hours devising classroom based activities and interactive sessions to stimulate and excite:
"Sometimes it seemed like Carol couldn't be bothered to lecture to us - we had to do lots of work in class to fill the time".

At least today's were fairly positive:

Interesting topics covered- long term conditions
An interesting subject area
Lecturer very knowledgeable about the topic
Beneficial to talk about careers related, journals, etc.
A lot of help in extra sources available on topics in a practical way
A chance to practice presentation skills to increase confidence
Explained well - well supported with appropriate research

Can't believe it's the last week of term already

Can't believe it's the last week of term already.  Still lots to try to get finished. Some recent highlights:

Been marking student assignments on the module I run on our MSc Health Psychology programme. Students have to write a case study of a hypothetical person who has a chronic health condition, describe the psychosocial issues they face, then choose and justify a self management intervention that will help them with these issues. Students can choose any condition they wish. Diabetes, HIV and arthritis proved the most popular choices this year.

I've also been writing new modules for the degree restructuring that's currently taking place for next academic year, including: clinical and counselling psychology, applied social psychology and professional skills for psychology graduates. I'm particularly keen on the last of these but finding an assessment strategy that will work for such a large group of students (its a mandatory module) will be a bit of a challenge.

In the last week I've drafted ethics submissions for projects with external collaborators, on the experience of volunteering and of monitoring one's fertility. I'm hoping that dissertation students and/or placement students will work on these in the next six months to a year.

I've also just submitted a research paper on PCOS to a journal - please please PLEASE don't let it be rejected... and have decided to write a blog entry as an excuse to digress from the very long NHS form I have been struggling with...

Enjoyable student discussion, and some frustration too.

One hour plus meeting today with student on MSc health psych about his dissertation plans, and a piece of coursework he is about to attempt on my module M99PY Self management of chronic conditions.

Very interesting dissertation proposal on an aspect of caregiver burden in home-based care for dementia.
Good case study plan too - choosing a self management intervention for type 2 diabetes.

We had a very productive discussion - just wish I could spend an equal time with all the students I teach but the numbers mean that it doesn't bear thinking about.

Meanwhile have been writing a draft training programme in motivational interviewing for a public sector organisation - more later if we win the bid - and giving a two hour lecture to undergraduates on the discursive defense of threatened identities.  We were 'discussing' two key papers:

Horton-Salway, M. (2001) 'Narrative Identities and the Management of Personal Accountability in Talk About ME: A Discursive Psychology Approach to Illness Narrative.' Journal of Health Psychology 6, (2) 247-259
Willott, S. and Griffin, C. (1999) 'Building Your Own Lifeboat: Working-Class Male Offenders Talk About Economic Crime.' British Journal of Social Psychology 38, 445-460

...or rather I should say I was talking about them.  Only two students had actually read a paper in advance of the class, so the seminar discussion fell rather flat.  I think I may also have offended one student with my reply to her question: "What is the exam on? Are we having a lecture on the exam?"

I asked her how many lectures she'd had on the module and her exasperated response suggested that she knew what I meant but dared not say out loud (That the exam is on the topics covered in the lectures we've been having all year - or did you think I just turned up and lectured because I'd nothing better to do...?).

I fear I may have compromised my student satisfaction scores...

Oh and gave feedback to a PhD student who is champing at the bit to submit for ethical approval of her next research study (apologies for the horse metaphor Felicity)

Drafty today

I've spent much of today reading undergraduate students' draft copies of their individual research dissertations.  This is one of the rare instances where students get to revise their work following tutor feedback, prior to submitting to be assessed.

I deal with these in the order that I received them - those who got the draft to me sooner are the first to get their feedback. I've done these:

People's responses to facial disfigurement 

Locus of control, age, exercise activity and body image perception

and have yet to read these:

The subjective experience of self harm

Using an analysis of the subjective experience of opiate addiction to inform treatment programmes

Birth order effects and empathy

Gang membership