Can we solve a problem like teaching?

Professor Omar Matar, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Chemical Engineering notes that “members of staff have a finite amount of endurance and certainly the students are in the same sort of boat” in terms of the amount of work that requires feedback. Professor Julia Buckingham, Pro-Rector (Education and Academic Services) agrees, observing that “there has been a move in some departments to actually reduce the amount of coursework, and I think that will help.”

But there is certainly an issue of motivating academics to take teaching seriously. Dr. Tony Field, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Computing, explains why he believes that his department is instead nationally competitive, “I think it’s possibly the mindset. The academics take their work seriously and if we tell them coursework has to be marked properly and within 2 weeks then by and large they do it. I get the impression other departments find it harder to get their academics to do that.”

Indeed, some departments have highlighted a certain culture that exists of academics focussing on their research rather than their teaching duties, often to bring more money into the department. Professor Matar believes that “(academics) have got a lot of research and some administration to do as well as teaching. It’s a fine balancing act.” But Professor MacKinnon, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Physics, disagreed, saying that “Every university says teaching and research have equal weighting. Few academics actually believe that.”

Every university says teaching and research have equal weighting. Few academics actually believe that Professor Angus MacKinnon

Dr. Lorraine Craig, a senior member of staff for Earth Science and Engineering is adamant that this reluctance on the part of academics does not exist in her department, firmly believing that “staff want to see their students learn, progress and get very good jobs at the end of their time here. They look after their tutees and students that they’re supervising and there is that bond - that link.” She also admits that the department is relatively small in comparison to others, acknowledging that, “what works within this department might not work in others.”

Despite the urgency of the Rector’s letter and the aim of departments to improve, many of those questioned claim to already meet the target for a two week feedback turnaround. Professor Berkshire outlines that, “we aim to have essentially 12 days turn around. By and large we achieve it” while Professor MacKinnon reveals that “there are one or two exercises we could probably do faster than (two weeks).” Dr. Craig aims to reduce the department’s turnaround to one week instead, explaining that “if we’ve got a deadline, we work to that deadline. We just change the mindset.”

Further suggestions towards addressing the problems include a formal contract between staff and students, cementing the expectations that a student would have of their department and equally staff of their students. Mentioned last year by the former Deputy President for Education, Jonathan Silver, it has met with some positive comments. Professor Matar suggests that “there needs to be a contract between us and them” and Professor MacKinnon is “not overly opposed” to the idea, but points out that such a system may “lead to unnecessary litigation”.

Add into this mix the impending government cuts and changes to Higher Education Funding and it’s quickly obvious that improving teaching isn’t going to be straight forward or quick. Julia Buckingham was keen to emphasise that there needs to be a cultural change at Imperial which will take some time.