Allan Johnson

Making the Most Out of Experiential Learning: 5 Things That Work for Me

Posted on November 10, 2012July 7, 2013 by Allan Johnson in Teaching

Over the past several years I have experimented with experiential learning in my teaching: how it’s presented, how it’s managed, and how it’s evaluated. This semester I have rolled out a full-scale experiential learning component for my module on the Twentieth-Century British Novel–and this has only come after a great deal of trial and error. For this part of the module assessment, students are required to write an essay reflecting on one of the several experiential learning activities taking place over the course of the semester. In this essay they must first identify how they understood one specific aspect of a text we studied before the experiential learning activity, and then how their understanding of that aspect changed or was modified after the activity. This type of critical analysis demands a great deal of self-reflexivity from students, but I have been extremely pleased with how the work has gone so far. In previous years, students haven’t so easily taken to the challenges of self-reflexive thinking, but there have been five key lessons that I have learned along the way:

1) Explicitly introduce the goals of experiential learning

It is often students–rather than faculty boards or senior colleagues–who are most resistant to innovation in learning and teaching. Students generally begin university with a clear preconception of what learning will entail (e.g. read book, listen to lecture, discuss in seminar, write essay), and breaking from this anticipated course of learning can quickly create confusion or concern. This confusion is an issue that I address head-on. When introducing experiential learning assignments or activities, I very explicitly explain the goals and objectives. ‘We are working on recognizing that the literature we study doesn’t exist in a vacuum–it is still being molded and changed by our perceptions of the world around us. As we begin to recognize how our daily lives impact upon our understanding of literature, we not only become stronger readers of literature, but stronger readers of everything that surrounds us.’ This big-picture overview really does help students to understand how experiential learning fits into their programme as a whole, and what they might hope to get out of it.

Continue reading “Making the Most Out of Experiential Learning: 5 Things That Work for Me” →

#IsItOK? What I’ve Learned from the Paralympics

Posted on September 1, 2012July 7, 2013 by Allan Johnson in Observations

Hannah Cockroft wins T34 100m (Photo credit: ian_fromblighty)

I have never been a big fan of televised sport, so I was not terribly disappointed that I contended with a number of pressing publishing deadlines and a heavy teaching assignment during the Olympics. I did watch the opening ceremony with delight and did happen to see the cycling event as it sped through Kingston upon Thames, but in all honesty, my knowledge of the games was largely confined to what I learned from friends’ texts about favourite Olympians.

But that was until last night, when I found myself gripped by the Paralympic men’s wheelchair basketball. It was absolutely astonishing to watch, and certainly more exciting than the games of basketball I have seen in the past. I stayed for repeats of Hannah Cockroft’s 100m victory (that was surely the clearest win in sporting history, right?) and the downright incredible five-a-side blind football game. Claire Balding’s majestic coverage of the events added to the enjoyment, and I will certainly be following the coming days with an unexpected new interest.

Yet the most exciting part of my night’s viewing was what came next, Channel 4’s The Last Leg. Fronted by comedian Adam Hills, it’s a typically irreverent roasting and roundup of all things Paralympic, which has no problem discussing disability honestly and humorously. I appreciated it for demonstrating how to speak about disability without being patronizing, and, indeed, how to laugh about disability in sensitive and appropriate ways, just as we would about anything else. Continue reading “#IsItOK? What I’ve Learned from the Paralympics” →

7 Things This Academic Learned from the World of Brand and Design

Posted on August 31, 2012September 9, 2013 by Allan Johnson in Observations

Design library, reorganized by topic — Design library (Photo credit: juhansonin)

I spent a postgraduate gap year working for the brand and design agency Ingenious Rapport, first in business development and then shortly after as Creative Account Manager. In addition to working with some extraordinary colleagues (indeed, some leaders in the field), I had the opportunity to work on thrilling accounts, including a major UK bank, government agency, and several popular restaurants. The experience was as eye-opening as it was edifying. From thinking about how to use super high-speed personalized printing to promote books and cars, to tracking down someone who could make me a giant illuminated sign in 48 hours, my days were filled with extraordinary (and often extraordinarily fun) commissions. I also learned a bit about print and digital design, social media, and the business world in general through the process, all of which has contributed to my approach to teaching, research, and academic practice.

Design does matter. It was fascinating to see the design process take place. A key part of my job was to meet with clients and figure out what it was they needed and how they wanted their brand to be communicated through print and/or digital media. I then translated that into a brief for the designers, who would take it from there. Serving as the intermediary between the designers and the client, I was often right at the centre of debates between design and practicality, between function and form, and I took one important thing away from this: people choose to spend their time with the objects that intrigue them most. This doesn’t just apply to advertising and websites, but to everything around us. And, because of this, I have maintained my interest in design and typography into my academic life. Is it something to become obsessive about? Perhaps not. But using BlairMdITC rather than Times New Roman for a syllabus is a simple detail that can make a difference to how your ideas are viewed, understood, and remembered. Continue reading “7 Things This Academic Learned from the World of Brand and Design” →

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