Helping academic staff be successful – added VALUE

A 90-minute workshop facilitated by Peter Goodhew (University of Liverpool and UKCME)

It is frequently said that research competes with teaching for the attention of academic staff, and it often wins because success brings promotion. New staff often have little idea of the range of issues which must be dealt with by a successful academic and have little experience of juggling research and teaching. This is particularly challenging if they are trying to innovate, for instance by adopting CDIO principles for their modules. A course is being developed to help new staff, and their colleagues in support roles, to understand the issues likely to impact on their own careers. Part of this is a virtual environment which simulates a day in the life of a successful academic. I have called it VALUE – Virtual Academic Life in Universities – an Experience. A smaller version of this - VALUE-lite - will be offered in this workshop. The workshop version will be paper-based, rather than PC focused, and will enable all attendees to grapple, for an hour, with a few of the issues faced by a lecturer at the fictional University of Allerton. They will have to make decisions, write to a deadline, find time in their diaries, interact with colleagues but not (as would happen in the full version of VALUE) meet students face to face!

Fifteen minutes at each end of the workshop will be used to set the scene and to share our experiences (successes and failures) of the tasks and challenges.