Sting in the tail or tale of an award
Arti Kumar University of Bedfordshire
The context/situation/challenge
You wouldn’t think that winning a National Teaching Fellowship should present much of a challenge in itself, but I felt keenly the responsibility of undertaking a meaningful project and using the funding appropriately in relation to the NTF award. Shortly after I heard about my NTF (September 2005) I had my book proposal accepted by the publisher Routledge, and the Higher Education Academy endorsed that writing this book as my NTF project was acceptable.
Characteristics of the situation that engaged me in an immersive way
Writing the book proposal was quite an experience to start with, as I had written ‘grey literature’ previously but never an entire book as sole author. I was amazed by the detail required at this preliminary stage, even though the book may never come to fruition. I had to know my subject in depth and the writing style to adopt, and I had to research the market (why readers would want this, who the competitors might be, establishing my own credibility, etc.). I had to work out the structure - chapter by chapter content within a coherent sequence. It was important to communicate this clearly and convincingly as the proposal was to be assessed for its viability by a few different reviewers, and I was not to assume the reviewers would be familiar with my topic or in sympathy with the concepts I wished to promote.
Once the publisher’s editorial board had considered reviewers’ feedback and approved my proposal, the real work of writing began – and every Monday for several weeks I was immersed in the tasks associated with getting the book together: reading and researching, drafting, refining, sourcing some of the content, clearing permissions, learning to use Endnote for accurate referencing.
Forms of learning / personal development / change that emerged from the situation
This experience confirmed and enhanced my self-understanding. For instance I struggled to plan the content of chapters within a structured sequence because I could see so many connections between the aims and topics. Seeing patterns and links within a big picture comes fairly easily to me, but articulating them in a step-by-step approach is difficult. I developed the discipline to do this so that readers would follow my lines of reasoning – but only time will tell if I have succeeded! – or rather the reviews and feedback will tell, and I am both excited and daunted by this!
I enjoy learning, reading and absorbing information – so it was a great temptation to soak up lots of input like a sponge. I learned much that was new and tangential to my main subject, but had to school myself to focus and provide the output within a set timeframe, to meet critical self-allocated deadlines. When I found myself slipping behind time I enlisted the help of a ‘critical friend’ who is much more organised than I could ever be – I asked him to pester me for copy at the end of every week or two. Knowing that he was waiting to read what I had written was a useful spur. He also turned out to be great at organising my references – what a godsend!
I discovered that my editor was in New York and she was not going to provide support or feedback on my manuscript as I was writing it. Initially I was seeking such reassurance from colleagues, but I soon discovered that their conflicting feedback was in some ways holding me back - I just needed to be self-reliant and get on with the job. I bought time out every Monday for a period of nine months in order to write from home, but the stop-start nature of my writing experience was the most negative aspect, and one which I could have resolved earlier by planning to use blocks of time to focus on writing. However while I could in principle ‘buy time out’ it proved more difficult to obtain total release from particular demands of my job.
Words/concepts/feelings to describe the immersive experience (what I learned)
- Self reliance – using my own resources and prior work
- Consolidation of material within a coherent book structure
- Steep learning curve
- Confidence in my writing skills – but also
- My need for reassurance
- Techniques to come unstuck when feeling de-motivated
- Gratitude for support, guidance and contributions
- Self motivation and discipline
- Researching, using the internet
- Communicating with publishers, marketing and production staff
- A sense of achievement
- Managing work-life balance (difficult evenings and weekends!)
Principles and lessons that can be drawn from this story.
Immerse students in conducting their own inquiries and research, and de-mystify what ‘research’ might mean. It is more fun to be challenged with critical questions, and creative tasks which involve ‘finding out’ – with an important and relevant end-goal in mind – rather than to ‘be told’. This is all about enabling students to develop information literacy and data appreciation skills – to ‘teach them to fish for the rest of their lives’ rather than to ‘give them a fish for one supper’.
‘Just do it’ is also a good phrase to describe learning opportunities that require students to act outside their comfort zone. Tutors need to set ground rules which state that ‘there is no failure, only feedback that is the raw material for developing skills and knowledge’ – and draw students into a ‘safe-risk zone’ where they do not lose self-esteem. Progressive opportunities to change behaviours, against explicit externally-set criteria, can bring about a sense of achievement which in itself can enhance motivation and confidence.
Students need support when they ‘get stuck’ – and that support can be set up in many different ways, including social learning, collaborative group work projects, personal or group tutorials, mentoring, etc. Curricula can include some explicit interventions to encourage students to make the best use of support – finding a balance between structure and freedom, and between self-reliance and external sources of support and guidance.
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