Structuralism & Post-Structuralism

The inaugural Higher Education in Teaching and Learning conference in Florida has certainly been an eye-opener. There have been some good presentations and also some that haven’t been so good, but what I have seen has helped me clarify a few things in my mind:

• I need to be more proactive in pushing out new ideas to academic staff. Currently there is no easy way for staff to engage with T&L knowledge on a regular basis unless it is provided through 1-2-1 sessions with staff.
• I need to create more opportunities for staff to interact online and learn from each other.
• The 100% student satisfaction rating for the CGArts course at UCA is an incredible achievement. I need to find a means of extracting the building blocks of this achievement and presenting them in such a way that they can be reused by other courses & tutors.
• My research needs to begin by unpacking the term ‘community’ and establish a definition that is relevant to an undergraduate HE course. Is should focus more on the anthropological aspects of ‘what makes a community’ along with the roles and responsibilities of all community members. It should aim to establish a new pedagogical model that clearly sets out the ways in which a tutor can become a community leader / elder. 
• I need to look at Structuralism and Claude Levi-Strauss, whose research aimed to set out the essential structures of communities. I also need to look at Jacques Derrida and the Post-Structuralists  who refuted Claude Levi-Strauss’ argument and accused him of being subjective.