St Mary’s Academic Contributes to Higher Education Book

Programme Director Anna Lise Gordon, at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham has contributed her ideas on teaching and student engagement to a new book for higher education educators. The book, For the Love of Learning: Innovations from Outstanding University Teachers (Palgrave Teaching and Learning, 2013), is edited by Tim Bilham, Director of Education Research & Development in the School for Health at the University of Bath. It is made up of chapters written by National Teaching Fellows, an award which is given by the Higher Education Academy for those who excel in teaching and learning support. For the Love of Learning explores pedagogical thinking on the most important and current topics in higher education, including student engagement, assessment, internationalisation and employability. Anna Lise, Secondary PGCE Programme Director in St Mary’s School of Education, Theology and Leadership, has written a chapter in the engaging students section, entitled ‘Looking at the mirror in the suitcase: encouraging students to reflect on their professional learning journey’. Anna Lise specialises in secondary education and the chapter focusses on her work at St Mary’s. It has also been further developed for a presentation that Anna Lise delivered at a higher education conference earlier this year that demonstrated the use of creative writing in teacher training as part of reflective learning. Anna Lise said, “The chapter draws on my research and on the work of the excellent PGCE secondary team at St Mary's. It is a privilege to share this more widely and also to read the other chapters in the book to learn from the work of outstanding university educators involved in developing teaching and learning in higher education across the UK.” The book is listed by Palgrave Macmillan, its publishers, as one of its ‘book of the month’ and is deemed an essential read for anyone involved in higher education. Lecturers and students can order the book here.