David Tree
@davetree.bsky.social
Professor, Drosophilist, philosopher, poet, bacon lover, bringer of happiness to millions
I forget, isn’t there an institution other than universities which is supposed to foster an economy which generates jobs for educated individuals?
August 17, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I forget, isn’t there an institution other than universities which is supposed to foster an economy which generates jobs for educated individuals?
The Churchill Arms. Kensington. Good Thai food.
June 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The Churchill Arms. Kensington. Good Thai food.
Nice! It’s also like Improv: lots of “yes, and”-ing!
May 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Nice! It’s also like Improv: lots of “yes, and”-ing!
I'd just see that as a challenge!
May 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I'd just see that as a challenge!
A6 Depends which challenges you're talking about. Enormous class sizes are a problem but the challenge of falling recruitment and reduced student attendance is an opportunity to focus on those that're in the class. What a downer at the end of an excellent chat: sorry! #LTHEchat
May 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
A6 Depends which challenges you're talking about. Enormous class sizes are a problem but the challenge of falling recruitment and reduced student attendance is an opportunity to focus on those that're in the class. What a downer at the end of an excellent chat: sorry! #LTHEchat
This is all the more true as I age! I work out purely so I can clamber into the middle row of a 300 seat tiered lecture theatre....
May 14, 2025 at 7:56 PM
This is all the more true as I age! I work out purely so I can clamber into the middle row of a 300 seat tiered lecture theatre....
Ha, I often tell experienced academics they should try to learn a new musical instrument every so often so they can make dreadful noises and suck and so realise that the subject which feels easy and intuitive to them will be, like their awful trumpet attempts, entirely foreign and new to others!
May 14, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Ha, I often tell experienced academics they should try to learn a new musical instrument every so often so they can make dreadful noises and suck and so realise that the subject which feels easy and intuitive to them will be, like their awful trumpet attempts, entirely foreign and new to others!
A3 probably group as everyone does the solo learning when they're thinking and preparing what to say in the conversation or after when they're thinking about what they've learned. I guess it may not be more efficient but I think learning requires a lot of meandering towards understanding. #LTHEChat
May 14, 2025 at 7:51 PM
A3 probably group as everyone does the solo learning when they're thinking and preparing what to say in the conversation or after when they're thinking about what they've learned. I guess it may not be more efficient but I think learning requires a lot of meandering towards understanding. #LTHEChat
Oh yes, during the session or the next. I'm an awful person, I always timetable a 2 hour session where we do all sorts of problem solving and conversation) where most everyone else does 1 hour lectures) so I build in plenty of time to see where the experience takes us. It's all very jazz. #LTHEChat
May 14, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Oh yes, during the session or the next. I'm an awful person, I always timetable a 2 hour session where we do all sorts of problem solving and conversation) where most everyone else does 1 hour lectures) so I build in plenty of time to see where the experience takes us. It's all very jazz. #LTHEChat
A5 My favourite way to use TBL is to make the application exercise reading a research paper or going through the results of a paper and interpreting them as we go (after the i/tRAT gets them the knowledge required to do so). That's engaging them with the real world of the subject I teach #LTHEchat
May 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
A5 My favourite way to use TBL is to make the application exercise reading a research paper or going through the results of a paper and interpreting them as we go (after the i/tRAT gets them the knowledge required to do so). That's engaging them with the real world of the subject I teach #LTHEchat
A2 Oh, I've learned never to call it formative assessment. Students hate it. They're just learning activities. Any kind of number or score they get out of it needs to be discarded instantly #LTHEChat
May 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
A2 Oh, I've learned never to call it formative assessment. Students hate it. They're just learning activities. Any kind of number or score they get out of it needs to be discarded instantly #LTHEChat
A4 I've never tried different tasks. That's not much of an answer. Sorry! #LTHEChat But with the same task it's always instructive to see how different groups tackle it and I always learn something new about how students learn or approach a problem by comparing different attempts at the same thing.
May 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
A4 I've never tried different tasks. That's not much of an answer. Sorry! #LTHEChat But with the same task it's always instructive to see how different groups tackle it and I always learn something new about how students learn or approach a problem by comparing different attempts at the same thing.
A3 It's both. Everyone learns alone in their own head but then builds on it in conversation. Learning is almost always a dialogue of some kind so it's good to force students into it. Otherwise who knows what's going on in their heads! (Probably planning their next meal as I am!). #LTHECHat
May 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM
A3 It's both. Everyone learns alone in their own head but then builds on it in conversation. Learning is almost always a dialogue of some kind so it's good to force students into it. Otherwise who knows what's going on in their heads! (Probably planning their next meal as I am!). #LTHECHat
I have an internal rule (that I only occasionally break) that I'll only talk for 10-15 minutes before we do something together. Even in a lecture of 100-200 students you can get around a lot of them in a reasonably short time, as long as you don't mind mild climbing injuries.
May 14, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I have an internal rule (that I only occasionally break) that I'll only talk for 10-15 minutes before we do something together. Even in a lecture of 100-200 students you can get around a lot of them in a reasonably short time, as long as you don't mind mild climbing injuries.
A2 most of my teaching uses active learning so students get formative feedback several times in every teaching session. Those smaller activities build to the larger aim of the module. It's like they're doing sudoku or wordle several times a week, only about really abstruse genetics. #LTHEchat
May 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
A2 most of my teaching uses active learning so students get formative feedback several times in every teaching session. Those smaller activities build to the larger aim of the module. It's like they're doing sudoku or wordle several times a week, only about really abstruse genetics. #LTHEchat
Ooooohhhhh, "unconditional positive regard": I like that!
May 14, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Ooooohhhhh, "unconditional positive regard": I like that!
Thanks @santanuvasant.bsky.social! I feel like my stuff is like the Velvet Underground: not many people know about it but those who do are incredibly cool and influential!
April 1, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Thanks @santanuvasant.bsky.social! I feel like my stuff is like the Velvet Underground: not many people know about it but those who do are incredibly cool and influential!