Like some football games, (one of which I am about to watch!) this was a day of two halves. I spent the entire working day formulating learning outcomes in preparation for the revalidation of our whole suite of awards and modules. After a while the mind begins to get the hang of this. What starts as an exercise in semantic arrangements to satisfy academic administrative procedures, becomes a process of defining as precisely and fairly as possible what our teaching, and the student's learning should be able to achieve in a collaborative educational commitment.
And at that point I sense the vocational importance of doing it right - which maybe panders to the perfectionist in me. But 'Do everything in the name of the Lord' is one of Paul's no exceptions statements, and I'm always suspicious when those Christ honouring demands are softened. So yes - here's an opportunity to offer good work as an act of spiritual faithfulness. Dag Hammarskjold warned us, 'in our era the road to holiness necesssarily passes through the world of action'.
It's tiring though - and there's only so much of this you can do well before you mutter, with a different kind of semantic precision, 'ma heid's nippin'! So I came home and before dinner went for a run - that's when you realise how stiff and tight the body becomes stuck in front of a computer, staring into electronic white spaces you are trying to populate with keyboard generated symbols that might eventually win whatever prize is offered for the most original, creative, imaginatively conceived Quality Enhancement Documents!
It's surprising how stiff your legs get after a long stint plonking a keyboard. So I toddled up the park, and took it out on the hill. The hill is the longish steep incline in Barshaw Park (pictured) which I'm trying to run up at a respectable pace as part of my 'personal development plan'. It must be suppressed anger / frustration / euphoria, or a form of middle aged denial, but I did a personal best, set a new 'benchmark', 'gave evidence of progression', 'demonstrated a capacity for self-motivation and personal development'. See! The terminology of Quality Enhancement has multiple life applications.
I wonder what would happen if we sat down and prepared a Programme Specification for Following After Christ. What the learning outcomes would look like, what would be included in the curriculum as relevant and important, what the learning and teaching methods would be, the criteria to be used in assessing progress and performance, the regulations about attendance, participation and commitment to the work of the class.....
Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn of me.....
More interesting still - the admission requirements would be surprisingly open - you'd just have to want to be there, and to learn from Jesus!
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