(written before The Open University began its extensive voluntary severance programme in 2018, but with a few relevant additions in italics...) It's déjà vu all over again... I had a bad case of déjà vu this week, as the universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth and Sunderland announced job cuts. I went through this at Reading in 2010… Continue reading Redundancy in universities
Category: teaching
Harassment and sexual misconduct: discussing the unthinkable
Issues of power and consent in higher education: as harassment advisor and from the other side
The agony of marking
It's that season, yet again. For UK academics, term has ended, and coursework marking has begun. Soon to come: marking dissertations, followed by marking exams. I gave up marking when I moved to The Open University in 2011, as there it's done by the associate lecturers (aka 'tutors'), so all that was left for me… Continue reading The agony of marking
On sleep and nightmares
So, subconscious mind, get used to it: I'm still an academic, but I'm not going back to the Day Job, ever!
Stages of withdrawal
It's an odd process, this retiring business. Last week, I filled in the form stating how I want the percentage allocation of the lump sum and the pension to be managed, and posted it: that felt like a very serious step. But there are all sorts of other, tiny, steps happening and it seemed like… Continue reading Stages of withdrawal
Traitor to the cause? Why I wrote a MOOC
After I handed in my notice, I could have let things wind down gradually. The Open University requires a long notice period, six months, but unlike brick universities it doesn't have just a couple of days in each year on which you are allowed to go, so I could pick my time. However, I delayed this… Continue reading Traitor to the cause? Why I wrote a MOOC
The travelling academic (1)
I'm republishing here something I originally wrote for my department's newsletter, in 2015. It's about another side of being an academic: the travelling. I'm at the career stage at which I'm lucky enough to be invited to give lectures - public ones - in interesting places. But I want to preface my travel account… Continue reading The travelling academic (1)
The times I taught well
Some students love the way you teach: others don't. That's just a fact, and if you're going to survive the end-of-module evaluations, you'd better accept it. I've been thinking again about teaching after an exchange with one of our MA students last week. He was mildly concerned that he wasn't taking many notes from the… Continue reading The times I taught well
When to go and what you’ll miss
When are you going to retire? Have you thought about it yet? And what will you miss the most? First, the 'when'. If I didn't go now, when would I go? 65, on a full pension? Or even later? At the moment, I find it hard to imagine why anyone would want to go on with… Continue reading When to go and what you’ll miss
The retiring academic 