Greetings from ISSOTL 2015

Peter Draper writes: 

I am writing from Melbourne, where I am attending ISSOTL 2015 – the conference for the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Boy was that a long flight! Heathrow to Dubai, and then a long leg from Dubai to Melbourne.  Australia is enjoying lovely spring weather as the UK spirals into the gloom of winter.  How can that be right? Since I have been here, Hull have moved up to 2^nd place in the championship (hooray), Hamilton is in third place in the USA Grand Prix (boo), and Australia have beaten Argentina in the rugby (who cares?).

Colleagues in my writing group,
busily crafting a paper in the Australian style!

ISSOTL is the most important annual international conference for the scholarship of teaching and learning and this is the second one I have attended.  On Wednesday I will be delivering a paper with Professor Patrick Crookes, an old pal who currently works at Wollongong University but did his PhD in Hull many years ago. Way back in the 80s Patrick and I were charge nurses on adjoining wards in Beckett Wing, St James’s Hospital, Leeds.

The conference actually starts on Tuesday evening but I’ve got her early to participate in a writing workshop.  For the past few months I’ve been working with an international team of colleagues from Northern Ireland, the USA, Canada and Australia to draft a paper on the scholarship of work based learning.  Our team consists of two geographers, an English literature professor, a couple of teacher educators, one other person who works in health, and myself.  It will be good to contribute to an international paper on learning and teaching, but I am also interested in the way the writing workshop is being run.  I hope we will be able to use the model as part of the Fast Track in learning and teaching.  Don’t forget to book your place.

Our workshop began at the Glen Erin Winery about an hour north of Melbourne, site of an excellent conference venue.  And yes, after a full day of writing I did participate in a glass or two, but only to advance the scholarly cause, you understand!

Today, the writing workshop continues, but this time it’s just round the corner at RMIT University.  But first I need to find some better coffee than the rubbish they serve in this hotel.  The Victoria Market round the corner looks promising.

I’ll be in touch through the week and let you know how the conference is going.

Pete