I suppose it’s inevitable – but after my first week at Nottingham, it’s all been a bit of a culture-shock after being at Warwick for so long. I don’t think it could have been a more different learning experience. The other students in our group are all from very different and very interesting backgrounds – some with no teaching experience at all some with many years. Most of us are interested in the Skill4Life/ESOL/literacy areas, and some students are hoping to teach Art & Design, English and Maths. We met our four very different tutors – Mark Dale who is (unfortunately for us) moving on from academia to the challenges of being Principle at a local college. Anne O’Grady who is also running the course and from the sound of it has an interesting perspective from the commercial sector. Chris Atkin who has a special interest in rural education issues. And (I can hardly belive it) Kathryn Eccelstone who is a guru of adult education and a prolific author. It’s always strange to meet in the flesh authors you have read in the past – but at least there’s a better chance of me remembering them! Talking of meeting people who I’ve read, on Thursday, I stayed-on to attend Professor Mike Sharples’ inaugural lecture on “Extreme Learning” (if interested my personal notes available above). Remembering my many fellow students’ names was also made easier thanks to Mark Dale’s lesson – which unexpectedly was taken outside to enjoy the last of the day’s Autumnal sunshine. Everyone’s played that “ice-breaker” game where your small group forms a circle, throwing a ball to each other whilst calling out the appropriate name. It cleverly uses verbal, listening and kinaesthetic learning styles with repetition to help names stick. Mark’s version brought this game to a whole new level with 37 in the large circle on the grass and four balls being thrown simultaneously. It was a challenge! Not least to prevent the balls from landing in the nearby lakes - but I think after a few minutes most of us remembered each other’s names! It helped also that there are no similar names or duplicates apart from a ‘James’ (of whom one is “Jim”). We’ve got our full timetable for the term now and all the assessment details. Its gonna be an enjoyable year ahead some of which will be retreading theories that I never thought I would be returning to - like Knowles’ Andragogy; Illeris’s “3 dimensions of learning” and David Wood’s “Scaffolding” learning.