Practice Makes Perfect
View more documents from davidkhardman.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Practice Makes Perfect
This is my presentation for the 2009 Teaching and Learning Conference at London Metropolitan University, 7th July.
Friday, 3 July 2009
Bad service, UK
This post has nothing to do with academia, except to the extent that I was engaged in academic matters in each situation described. It's just a post where I want to get something off my chest, but I'll try not to do this too often... maybe a separate website is needed (unless I find that someone has already created a relevant site).
Why is the service culture in the UK still so poor? There's no doubt it's improved beyond measure over the past decade or two, and is better than in many of our EU neighbours, but compared to many parts of the US - my benchmark - we still just don't get it. Here are my gripes from this week alone. I'm writing this in the hope, probably vain, that other Brits (or visitors) will either feel inspired to complain or act with their feet about these and other annoyances visited upon consumers in this country.
Saturday 27th June. Starbucks, Stratford, East London. In most coffee houses, including this particular place normally, when you order hot food they bring it to your table. Indeed, many places give you a little flag to take to your table, so that the waiter/waitress can identify where food needs to be delivered. Last Saturday, no chance - my food was left at the counter to go cold. Why create an expectation through your usual practice (table service) and then fail to see it through on one specific occasion?
Wednesday 1st July. Penderel's Oak pub in High Holborn, London - a branch of the Wetherspoons chain. Myself and others arrived early to see the scientist/journalist Ben Goldacre speak at a public event downstairs. Being early, we decided to order food (burgers). We waited 50 minutes before complaining and demanding our money back. By then, the downstairs area was full and so we left without seeing what we had come for.
Thursday 2nd July. 5th floor bar, Waterstones bookshop, Piccadilly, London. An otherwise pleasant visit was spoiled when a waitress came up just after I'd finished eating, and informed me that my window seat - to which I had been ushered - had been reserved for other people who had just arrived early. I pointed out that there had been no reservation notice at the table, and the waitress apologised, telling me that her colleague had neglected to do this. She then told me that I could stay at the table if I wanted to, so I told her I did want to - and stayed, but feeling less happy than I had been previously. Why not either offer me a free drink if I move, or apologise to the other party and offer them free drinks, but without bothering me? Useless, clueless service, that I thought London in particular had moved beyond.
London Underground - tonight, 3rd/4th July. I was late travelling back from Clerkenwell, and getting close to last Tube time. I hopped off at Liverpool Street, expecting that I would be able to catch a mainline train, although I noticed that the tubes were delayed on the line I was leaving, and there was still another train to come. At Liverpool Street there were no mainline trains, so I dashed back to the underground, only to have a functionary tell me there were no more tube trains. I told him I'd just come from the platform and so knew there was one more train. He asked me "You mean the Hammersmith train?" and I said "yes", upon which he let me through -- the fact that he referred to a specific trainline meant that his previous statement was a lie. I was in too much of a rush to challenge him.
I got off the tube at West Ham, where normally you can change for the Stratford tube train. However, all the entrances to the platform had been cordoned off, indicating that the last tube had gone. As I stepped out into the street, however, the Stratford train appeared at the platform that I would have gone to, and then departed. I then spent £10 on a taxi. Another case of the underground staff acting in their own interests rather than those of the customer.
This persistent strain of customer neglect/abuse in the UK makes me sick. We should all complain more. Visitors beware.
Why is the service culture in the UK still so poor? There's no doubt it's improved beyond measure over the past decade or two, and is better than in many of our EU neighbours, but compared to many parts of the US - my benchmark - we still just don't get it. Here are my gripes from this week alone. I'm writing this in the hope, probably vain, that other Brits (or visitors) will either feel inspired to complain or act with their feet about these and other annoyances visited upon consumers in this country.
Saturday 27th June. Starbucks, Stratford, East London. In most coffee houses, including this particular place normally, when you order hot food they bring it to your table. Indeed, many places give you a little flag to take to your table, so that the waiter/waitress can identify where food needs to be delivered. Last Saturday, no chance - my food was left at the counter to go cold. Why create an expectation through your usual practice (table service) and then fail to see it through on one specific occasion?
Wednesday 1st July. Penderel's Oak pub in High Holborn, London - a branch of the Wetherspoons chain. Myself and others arrived early to see the scientist/journalist Ben Goldacre speak at a public event downstairs. Being early, we decided to order food (burgers). We waited 50 minutes before complaining and demanding our money back. By then, the downstairs area was full and so we left without seeing what we had come for.
Thursday 2nd July. 5th floor bar, Waterstones bookshop, Piccadilly, London. An otherwise pleasant visit was spoiled when a waitress came up just after I'd finished eating, and informed me that my window seat - to which I had been ushered - had been reserved for other people who had just arrived early. I pointed out that there had been no reservation notice at the table, and the waitress apologised, telling me that her colleague had neglected to do this. She then told me that I could stay at the table if I wanted to, so I told her I did want to - and stayed, but feeling less happy than I had been previously. Why not either offer me a free drink if I move, or apologise to the other party and offer them free drinks, but without bothering me? Useless, clueless service, that I thought London in particular had moved beyond.
London Underground - tonight, 3rd/4th July. I was late travelling back from Clerkenwell, and getting close to last Tube time. I hopped off at Liverpool Street, expecting that I would be able to catch a mainline train, although I noticed that the tubes were delayed on the line I was leaving, and there was still another train to come. At Liverpool Street there were no mainline trains, so I dashed back to the underground, only to have a functionary tell me there were no more tube trains. I told him I'd just come from the platform and so knew there was one more train. He asked me "You mean the Hammersmith train?" and I said "yes", upon which he let me through -- the fact that he referred to a specific trainline meant that his previous statement was a lie. I was in too much of a rush to challenge him.
I got off the tube at West Ham, where normally you can change for the Stratford tube train. However, all the entrances to the platform had been cordoned off, indicating that the last tube had gone. As I stepped out into the street, however, the Stratford train appeared at the platform that I would have gone to, and then departed. I then spent £10 on a taxi. Another case of the underground staff acting in their own interests rather than those of the customer.
This persistent strain of customer neglect/abuse in the UK makes me sick. We should all complain more. Visitors beware.
Study guides - do students read them?
Whenever I browse the academic shelves in bookshops, I am struck by the proliferation of student study guides. These books are full of advice on time management, writing essays, referencing, analysing arguments, and so on. They usually include numerous exercises that students are invited to engage with in order to develop their skills. In Waterstones yesterday, I saw an addition to this oeuvre, a book advising psychology students about doing their final year projects. Among other things, this advised about all the different methodologies that are open to researchers.
I can't help wondering: do students actually read these books? I find it easy to imagine that students purchase these books because they obviously want to get good grades, but given that it is often something of a challenge to get students to read materials for seminar groups I can't help suspecting that study guides do little more than gather dust. To be fair, even for the most diligent student an undergraduate degree tends to keep them more than busy enough if they do all the things they're meant to do for their modules. Some study guides are thicker than the other textbooks we steer them towards. I'm not dissing the contents of study guides, which mostly seem fine to me. I just wonder whether they really get used (excepting perhaps where such books are required reading on a study skills module).
I can't help wondering: do students actually read these books? I find it easy to imagine that students purchase these books because they obviously want to get good grades, but given that it is often something of a challenge to get students to read materials for seminar groups I can't help suspecting that study guides do little more than gather dust. To be fair, even for the most diligent student an undergraduate degree tends to keep them more than busy enough if they do all the things they're meant to do for their modules. Some study guides are thicker than the other textbooks we steer them towards. I'm not dissing the contents of study guides, which mostly seem fine to me. I just wonder whether they really get used (excepting perhaps where such books are required reading on a study skills module).
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Blended Learning
I have just created two videos (screencasts) that may be of interest to people engaged in blended learning, or trying to persuade colleagues to adopt alternative methods of teaching and assessment.
The first video is Online Tools for Blended Learning.
The second video is about creating multiple-choice quizzes in WebLearn - the virtual learning environment that my university uses, but which is known elsewhere as WebCT Vista.
The first video is Online Tools for Blended Learning.
The second video is about creating multiple-choice quizzes in WebLearn - the virtual learning environment that my university uses, but which is known elsewhere as WebCT Vista.
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