For I consider this blog…

With due apologies to Christopher Smart and his cat Jeoffrey

For I consider this blog.
For my activity has been limited this term.
For I apologise to any readers still left.
For this I perform in ten degrees
For first semester 1 is always busy.
For secondly the university has been re(dis)organised in a truly horrendous way.
For thirdly no one knows who’s who or what’s what.
For fourthly we may be getting there, slowly.
For fifthly my grandfather would have said ‘and so’s Christmas’.
For sixthly, I sigh deeply.
For seventhly I have had significant new teaching with lovely colleagues
For this module has been on the Vikings no less!
For we’ve had a lot of fun (mostly).
For I hope to blog about fancy new interdisciplinary teaching in the future.
For eighthly Orderic Vitalis has been sadly neglected.
For the final conference on the Norman Edge is coming up soon.
For I shall definitely blog that.
For ninthly sometimes there just isn’t time
For sleep and friends and fun.
For tenthly one’s best is never quite good enough
For there is always something else on the list.
For having considered what I have done,
For what myself and others have accomplished,
For we should carry our heads high.
For having neglected the blog I am sorry, but
For now can I sleep?

IMC Leeds 2011 report, III (finally!): how to chair a rebellion and other tales

Yes, yes, the conference was in July and now it’s October, and yes, I’ve been to several conferences since Leeds and no, I haven’t written those up either. A combination of circumstances has meant that my feet have barely touched the floor since Leeds and so not only am I dreadfully behind on blogging, but on just about everything else in life too. Anyway, here is the much promised third installment of this year’s Leeds conference.*

IMC Leeds 2011 report, II: Normans and Norman historians

Tuesday’s sessions continued the Norman theme with the strand ‘Normans, Normandy and the wider Norman world: 911 from a 2011 perspective’, bookended by David Bates and me, a fact which in no small way contributed to the pre-paper jitters of the previous evening. There were four sessions in all, though the third was the subject of an annoying clash and I ducked out to take part in a rebellion or two.

IMC Leeds 2011 report, I: southern Italian Normans

Best Leeds ever just about sums up IMC just gone. If last year was all about ‘good papers, good beer and good company‘, then this year’s IMC continued that theme with better weather and an energy about the place I haven’t felt in a while (and as evidenced by the number of people who joined in the dancing). As this year marks the eleven-hundredth anniversary of the traditional date of the foundation of Normandy, there was a decided Norman theme to parts of the conference and most certainly my session attendance. Well, let’s start with Monday and see how far I get.

Looking forward to … Leeds IMC 2011

July is nearly here, which means the annual International Medieval Congress at Leeds is just around the corner with all its madness. I tried explaining this conference to a modern historian friend who looked frankly terrified by the prospect, both in terms of size and duration, but for those of us made of sterner stuff what can we expect from the programme this year (with its rather episcopally-coloured cover)?

Lux arumque: joy, music, beauty

Yesterday I was late leaving the house. As I pride myself on organisation and punctuality, this was a rare event. Part of the reason lies in a change in my morning listening habits from Radio4 and the horrors of ‘Today’ to whatever is on Radio3 when I wake up. Yesterday, shortly after 7.45am, this piece of music caused me to stand stock still in the kitchen - Lux arumque, by Eric Whitacre.

Time for school

At five years old this blog really should be growing up, socialising with other kids, and starting on the hard pedagogical grind that leads to exams, success (?) and the joys of HE. However, we started there in the first place, so (after gesta’s take) this is my look back…

Five years on

It would appear that On boundaries is five years old. Given my readiness to hide away for periods of time and Reivers’ general unwillingness to communicate through the medium of words, it is a small miracle that we have managed to keep this blog going for a reasonable length of time and contribute to a number of debates, albeit in a small and rather quiet fashion (at times very quiet). Some posts are good, some are not and some are downright rubbish. There are, I think, several pieces which are as relevant now as they were then so to speak, and I want to highlight my selection below.  Reivers is also compiling a list. His will be more amusing, I promise.

A new HE institution in the UK

Various articles on the BBC website and the Sunday newspapers report  the foundation of something called the ‘New College of the Humanities‘ under the mastership of A.C. Grayling whose brainchild it is. The college intends to charge fees of £18,000 per year for courses in humanities subjects, along side ‘professional skills’, mainly relating to business and government. Aside from Grayling, there are thirteen other professors, including Richard Dawkins, Nial Ferguson, David Cannadine and Linda Colley (the only woman), plus some ‘convenors’ (two out of the three listed are women) who will be in charge of the subject areas and teaching staff (not listed). Degrees will be validated by the University of London

It goes without saying that I have some major problems with this set up. I don’t believe in for profit education.* Universities are not nurseries for training graduates for prospective employers in job-specific skills. Distinguished does not mean inspiring, or even effective, on the teaching front. More contact hours does not mean better teaching. How will these degrees prepare students who wish to go on to do research? How much teaching will these distinguished professors actually do?

I shall watch developments here with interest and probable unease. At the moment, and I should be honest about this, I’m struggling to say or think anything sensible due the power of instinctive gut reaction based on strong political sensibilities.

*I may be wrong about this point, but it seems that only part of the college is governed by a charitable trust as suggested by a post by someone listed as A.C. Grayling on the Student Room:

We have set up a charitable trust alongside the College to raise money in order to make as many places free or affordable as possible.

Feedback: what it is and what it isn’t.

It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to feedback, especially if, like me, you work in an institution that pushes all or most of its assessment to the end of the course. The students want feedback on essays; we want (or have to ask for) feedback on our modules through student surveys. Guy Halsall has been talking about this problem, mainly from an institutional and policy level; I want to talk about practicalities as I have come to realise (along with just about every other academic in the country) that students don’t seem to understand what the process involves, so here is an open letter to any passing undergraduates.