Alan Mortiboys – staff and educational developer

Alan Mortiboys has extensive experience working in education and staff development, both in the UK and abroad.

For the past 30 years he has worked in Educational Development in Higher Education. Most recently he was at Birmingham City University as Professor of Educational Development, leading the Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme for academic staff.

He now works independently providing staff and educational development for professionals in education, medical and other public sectors.

His publications include ‘How to be an Effective Teacher in Higher Education’ (Open University Press, 2010) and ‘Teaching with Emotional Intelligence’ second edition, (Routledge 2012).

Courses

Courses offered include:

Inspirational Teaching

This session investigates what can transform a good teaching session into an inspirational one. Once you are sure of your subject knowledge and can use a variety of teaching and learning methods effectively, there are other aspects of your teaching which you can develop which can enhance the learning experience of your students.

Practical Ideas for Effective Classroom Management

The focus of this session is on both how to prevent and how to manage those kinds of situations where a lecturer perceives the behaviour of students to be disruptive and likely to prevent effective learning and teaching taking place. The session also considers how to maximise students’ engagement in classes.

Helping Students to Learn from Feedback

The feedback that a student receives on their work has been shown to be a key influence on their achievement. It can also contribute significantly to student satisfaction.

The value of feedback for students depends to some extent on the frequency and quality of the feedback that is offered to them. However, little attention has been paid to the student’s role in the feedback process. If students can be given guidance on how to seek, receive and handle feedback, they can be more ready to make full use of feedback in their development. It is essential that students take an active role in relation to feedback.

The session looks briefly at what makes for quality in feedback and moves on to focus on what the teacher can do to help students to become more actively involved in the feedback process.

How Lecturers Can Use Active Listening Skills to Enhance Their Students’ Learning

The lecturer’s use of active listening skills can be as important to effective teaching and learning as the use of other communication skills such as explaining and asking questions. However, active listening skills are often overlooked.

Used well, active listening skills can assist you in:

Getting an accurate picture of students’ understanding
Developing good relationships with students
Enabling students to express and articulate their thoughts fully and thereby to improve their learning.

For more details of any of the above courses, email: alan.mortiboys@btinternet.com