There’s no ‘I’ in Team – but there is in Coniston!

Earlier this summer I took part in the Coniston PGR trip as part of the PGCARMS programme.  This is an advanced transferable skills module which focuses on team skills and collaborative working.  This may seem a strange choice given that my doctorate in Education is essentially a solo endeavour, but that’s exactly why it appealed to me; doctoral research can be isolating and pretty lonely at times, so I jumped at the chance to do something interactive, learn new skills and to meet new people, and of course spending a week in the beautiful Lake District was also a bonus!

At Coniston we were split into two teams and each day brought new challenges, from paddle boarding to rock climbing to navigating our way back from the village pub in the pitch black at night which definitely tested our skills as a team!  Each activity had a collaborative element and at the end of each day we were asked to reflect on what we had learned about being part of a team.  We also had a session on the different Belbin team roles and reflected on our own Belbin profile and how it fitted in with the others in our team.

Academic Keepie-Uppie

Much like keeping a ball in the air without using your hands/arms, it can feel like it requires constant effort and concentration to stay up-to-date with the latest research literature in your area.  In this post we’ll look at some of the useful tools that are out there to help make this that little bit easier.

Keeping up-to-date is a lot easier and quicker if you have a solid foundation for your understanding of the literature.