Postcards on Pedagogies

University of Glasgow: Carole MacDiarmid, Nathalie Tasler, Sarah Honeychurch

University of Washington | Bothell: Jody Early, Georgia Roberts

The Postcards on Pedagogies project was set up to see if it could be a useful and productive way to generate insights into pedagogic practices across the disciplines and contexts we work in. The idea emerged from the early brainstorming discussions about possible collaborative projects on pedagogy and looking at the list of possible types of writing.

After gauging interest from the group, an initial set of guidelines was shared and the first postcards sent out using a basic homemade WordDoc Template. Replies came in in this format and also through an open Remixer tool. Any postcard received got a reply and for weeks 2, 3 and 4, a specific prompt was sent out. The formats proved challenging in different ways and this is certainly something to work on and develop.

Carole: I wanted to see if I could kill two birds with one stone: take part in a collaborative project using an innovative format (postcards) and also see if it can generate insights into pedagogies for a potentially larger project down the line. Working with English for academic purposes teachers /lectures who have students from a range of disciplines, it’s important that our practices are informed by practices and expectations learners will encounter. How to connect with academics across universities is always a challenge and I was looking for an accessible way in. The roller-coaster way it started and the changing formats and demands on peoples time meant it was less collaborative as a group than I’d initially thought it might. But there is lots to learn from the process of setting up, guidelines provided and formats and tools to use, to what extent it actually can contribute to knowledge exchange.

If you’d like to see the initial guidelines at the beginning of the project, please feel free to adapt:

AcWriMo 24 postcards intro guide