Browsing by Author "Merry, Kevin"
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Item Open Access Changing teaching practice: The evolving purpose of the teacher in higher education(University of Wollongong, 2021-10-11) Gonzalez, Prue; Mueller, Beate; Merry, Kevin; Jones, Colin; Kelder, Jo-AnnIn this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise while maintaining strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical selfreflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations and explore ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.Item Open Access Developing emotionally intelligent teaching approaches in online learning(Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 2021-07-01) Merry, KevinThis ‘on the horizon’ paper discusses the evaluation outcomes of a pilot Emotional Intelligence Skills Training (EIST) workshop, intended as a resource to support teachers’ enhancement of student engagement in online distance learning(ODL)settings. Sixteen HE teachers participated in a pilot of a new EIST workshop which explored topics including; 1) recognising and managing emotions in oneself; 2) recognising and managing emotions in others’, and 3) using emotion. Evaluation was conducted using focus groups. Feedback revealed that, in addition to raising awareness of the need to better recognise and manage students’ emotionsin online environments, participants felt that EIST supported the development of more positive relationships with students and enhanced engagement. EIST could play an important role in supporting academic staff to better engage students in ODL settings.Item Metadata only UDL and the Social/Emotional Aspects of Learning: Embedding Mental Wellbeing is Everyone's Business(All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 2024-09-24) Davies, Rachel; Merry, Kevin; Allman, ZoeThe emotional aspects of learning are important but sometimes neglected elements of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This paper discusses a multi-faceted project to embed mental wellbeing at De Montfort University, Leicester, a UK university with an established UDL policy. The project encompassed the development of teacher training to consider student variability in emotional responses to learning; the provision of tutor resources to support the embedding of learning about wellbeing within the curriculum; and approaches to sharing practice across the campus. This paper argues that academic staff are key players in the support of students’ mental wellbeing and that a whole organisation approach, rather than a narrow focus on the provision of mental health support services, is an effective route to improving students’ mental wellbeing.