Teaching at University: A Guide for Postgraduates and Researchers

Citation

(2006), "Teaching at University: A Guide for Postgraduates and Researchers", Education + Training, Vol. 48 No. 2/3. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2006.00448bae.001

Teaching at University: A Guide for Postgraduates and Researchers

Teaching at University: A Guide for Postgraduates and ResearchersKate Morss and Rowena MurraySageISBN 1 4129 0296 7

On receiving this book for review I asked a couple of postgraduate research students I know if they would be interested in assessing the text. Their reply – too busy! So, the subsequent observations, I am afraid, are those of someone who first experienced running an undergraduate tutorial some 30 years ago. That said, I can recall enough to know that this text would have been useful. Whether I would have been sufficiently motivated to engage with it is, of course, another matter.

The book is based on the authors’ experience of and supporting postgraduates to become knowledgeable and confident in their teaching roles. While not without useful hints and tips, importantly the book is underpinned by relevant and pertinent education theory and research. Nor are they blind to some of the implications of mass higher education which may mean that a tutorial in a new university is likely involve a fairly large group and thus present a different set of “management” issues to those evident with a small group of three or four.

All aspects of duties that a postgraduate or research student might become involved in are covered from a first lecture, through laboratory practicals, to assessment. A particularly useful chapter deals with supervising undergraduate projects and dissertations. Also included in the range of first teaching activities is “your first electronic discussion” and about which I suspect many experienced higher education (HE) staff are as nervous as a young postgraduate. A slight concern with this particularly theme was the level of attention paid to what some of my colleagues call “lurkers”. Elsewhere, though, and particularly in relation to face-face activity, this issue of participation is generally handled sensitively and imaginatively. My reading of the book a particularly tortuous session with eight students; one of whom was mostly on her mobile, another looked in desperate need of sleep while a third looked in immanent danger of a heart attack. The remaining five contributed fully with a series of “I dunno really” and “Yeah, I suppose so” type utterings. The discussions around participation in Morss and Murray’s text offer a sound underpinning strategy and advice about how to be well, but not over prepared. Unquestionably there are ideas here that I could have used with my “problem” group referred to above.

My reading of this book, therefore, is that there is no need to try to recollect the dim distant past to reach the conclusion that this is potentially an extremely valuable resource for anyone new to teaching in higher education. My concern remains that of engaging postgraduates with such a text in preparation for their first tour of duty. Given the fact that they are trying to do post a postgraduate award and some teaching it is understandable that a barrier may be “lack of time” This would be a shame because the resource offers as valuable insight into the fears, concerns, dilemmas of new teachers and a sound riposte to the “just do it” school of thought.