(no subject)
I finished my morning bit of writing, but didn't get back to it later. Learning intervened.
What I'm doing over the next couple of months is refreshing and updating my teaching qualifications. If it all works out, I'll have an ANU certificate at the end and maybe (hopefully) be a Fellow of the HEA. The Fellowship would be extremely handy, and the certificate covers material I've already studied, but not for 16 years.
The real reason for more study (because it's forever since I've done any study, right?) is that the university learning environment has changed so very quickly and radically these last few years that I feel I need a refresher. The university offered their full instruction for early career teachers free, and was happy to include me in the eligible people (they prioritise according to who has most need when the class is too large, but it wasn't too large and so I wasn't bumped off). Today was the overview module, where we worked through understanding the government role and the industry structure and the legal and policy situation.
This is where I sadly discovered that I still enjoy these things. I really like finding ways of doing good jobs within an environment, rather than fighting it. This is why I was recruited by the public service lo, these many years ago and I why I did the advisory bit elsewhere.
No-one expects this understanding of me now, so I'd put it aside (except for occasional days when I read government papers because they're calming) and forgotten how fun it is. It isn't always fun, of course. Some aspects of it are pure nightmare, but I'm afraid I enjoyed it when we were given a list of government agencies that impacted our work. I instantly put together a history (for I used to work in a previous incarnation of one of them) and set out to examine how they impacted various part of the university.
I shouldn't admit to owning this part of my brain. Writing friends have a tendency to look right past me (and not to even ask about my work history) when considering policy and project matters. Writers, as a group, don't see me in this light. I don't know why.
I'm grateful to my new boss for thinking of me and pushing me gently towards the HEA, for my mind is refreshed now and I can go back to the writing quite happily. (and for those friends who didn't realise just how warped my brain was, you have my sympathies.)
Coming up in a few minutes, the next guest for WHM!
What I'm doing over the next couple of months is refreshing and updating my teaching qualifications. If it all works out, I'll have an ANU certificate at the end and maybe (hopefully) be a Fellow of the HEA. The Fellowship would be extremely handy, and the certificate covers material I've already studied, but not for 16 years.
The real reason for more study (because it's forever since I've done any study, right?) is that the university learning environment has changed so very quickly and radically these last few years that I feel I need a refresher. The university offered their full instruction for early career teachers free, and was happy to include me in the eligible people (they prioritise according to who has most need when the class is too large, but it wasn't too large and so I wasn't bumped off). Today was the overview module, where we worked through understanding the government role and the industry structure and the legal and policy situation.
This is where I sadly discovered that I still enjoy these things. I really like finding ways of doing good jobs within an environment, rather than fighting it. This is why I was recruited by the public service lo, these many years ago and I why I did the advisory bit elsewhere.
No-one expects this understanding of me now, so I'd put it aside (except for occasional days when I read government papers because they're calming) and forgotten how fun it is. It isn't always fun, of course. Some aspects of it are pure nightmare, but I'm afraid I enjoyed it when we were given a list of government agencies that impacted our work. I instantly put together a history (for I used to work in a previous incarnation of one of them) and set out to examine how they impacted various part of the university.
I shouldn't admit to owning this part of my brain. Writing friends have a tendency to look right past me (and not to even ask about my work history) when considering policy and project matters. Writers, as a group, don't see me in this light. I don't know why.
I'm grateful to my new boss for thinking of me and pushing me gently towards the HEA, for my mind is refreshed now and I can go back to the writing quite happily. (and for those friends who didn't realise just how warped my brain was, you have my sympathies.)
Coming up in a few minutes, the next guest for WHM!