Interview with Professor Paddy O'Donnell
Paddy O'Donnell
"I received an award for a lifetime contribution to teaching excellence in Psychology. From another perspective - exemplified in the present affection in which the Duke of Edinburgh and Bruce Forsyth are now held - if you hang around long enough, people come to see you through rose-tinted spectacles. One of the advantages of teaching psychology and, in particular, social psychology is that it provides insights into real-life psychology and one proven hypothesis is that things are seen as valuable solely by virtue of age. Obviously, this is truer of the Great Pyramids than of Bruce Forsyth, but the principle holds.
"When I started my career, a "learning outcome" simply meant a pass or fail in the exam, a "student consultation" took place when they visited their GP, and preparing an agenda for the staff meeting meant writing a few items on the blackboard as the meeting opened. Minutes were prepared laboriously using typewriters and tipp-ex and no one ever complained about their accuracy because of the amount of work involved in a revision. Nevertheless, most agenda items were minuted as "discussion ensued." Access to a computer required a 15- minute walk to the basement of the Chemistry Building where punch cards bound in rubber bands were handed over to a computer technician with extreme care so as to avoid spilling them and having to painstakingly reorder the lot.
"My early teaching experience in the Department of Adult and Continue Education (DACE) taught me what a demanding student audience really was. After ejecting a drunk student from my class in the Humanities Lecture Theatre, the offending student managed to find a conveniently located piano nearby and proceeded to retaliate by playing the Moonlight Sonata (rather well). The class spontaneously responded - drowning him out by singing some popular tunes.
"In my own education, I had the good fortune of learning from talented teachers and communicators and people with a genuine vision as to how teaching should be structured and delivered. During my professional career at Glasgow, as well as in my role as Head of Department and later as Director of Teaching, I have tried to create a similar vision and energy. Psychology at Glasgow was one of the first departments in the UK to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the delivery of laboratory experiments and the package my colleagues produced was used throughout the UK. We were early in giving students e-mail access, and again were early into employability where our lead has been widely followed in the UK. More recently, we provide a "blended learning" experience, a combination of face-to-face teaching with extensive use of Web support which is flexible and responsive to student needs. As teachers, we collectively manage the student experience in an open, collaborative way. Our focus on research-led teaching is possible because of the active engagement of internationally recognised researchers in all areas of our curriculum.
"Another psychological insight is the "halo effect" which means that if you hang out with clever, smart and attractive people, others will begin to see you also in this light as you are swept into the halo emanating from their sun. This may be detrimental to your self-esteem, however, since the workings of another psychological mechanism - social comparison - can make you feel hopelessly inferior. Life's yins and yangs. The lesson here is that if you want students to view your teaching positively, then teach, as I have done, as part of a good team.
"Looking at objective indicators, the School of Psychology at Glasgow has consistently been in the top 10 not only in the National Student Survey (NSS), but also in the Times and Guardian League Tables which reflect a combination of teaching and research. This is uncommon in Russell Group universities where there is often a trade-off between research-and teaching-based rankings. In fact, only Cambridge consistently betters us on the research-teaching combination. Our ability to creatively manage the research-teaching link is rare and we have maintained top 10 positions in both aspects of academic achievement.
"I've been told that I have the ability to construct a narrative around whatever point I need to convey. Personally, I see my activity of teaching psychology as follows: Every theory is a struggle against previous chaos (contradictory findings) or an old corrupt establishment (anybody older then you) and is fought by a young hero/heroine (the researcher) equipped with a new set of weapons (brain imaging devices) and a magical vision (new statistical and mathematical techniques), these of course not possessed by the older (out of touch) order. The struggle leads to the instantiation of a new order (a better theory) which then fights off retrograde action from the old corrupt rulers (the established theory and its old supporters in dying gasps try to produce contrary findings). Fortunately, the counter-attack fails and the new theory triumphs. Such narratives are loved by all engaged in academic activity. A clean victory is essential. Students and academic journal editors do not like complexity. Just don't be one of the boring old guys in this narrative. You can rely too heavily on the age-value linkage."