A whole year to better yourself… what a wonderful opportunity. I’m doing a philosophy class at the moment, and there’s nothing like a roomful of people with crazy opinions to argue with!

If that doesn’t float your boat go and do something that you’ve always been interested in but never pursued – what’s on your non-fiction shelf?

MyBoyfriendIsAPirates last blog post..Before and After

Now, if I were just going for my own edification, I’d do some folklore classes, maybe more writing classes, etc.

I now have a pretty good idea which institution it is. Back in my wayward youth, I was a tutor there–Miss Betty has an amusing story about it from those days.

I’ll put you in touch with my old boss, who knows more about frittering away study leave than any other human being on the planet. (Just kidding)

The words stick in my throat, but how about an MBA there? Useful in later starting a science-based business, maybe. Not useful in learning any actual business skills, because those are bollocks. But useful to know the jargon when you submit a business plan to a bank or something.

headbang8s last blog post..One man’s belief.

PS: If I had a year off paid, I’d probably do the best parts of what I usually do, only for the benefit of people who could not otherwise afford or have access to that. Sadly, if I had stayed in private secondary school teaching, this would have been my sabbatical year, too. Sigh…

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I know – I’m no help at all.

we_be_toyss last blog post..Brief Candle

In the end you may have added value to your Dept., making you an asset and giving them reason to keep you on. You’ve also added to your teaching portfolio and you can retain the IP rights of the material so it goes with you if you choose to leave.

That said …. the most useful thing to me would be something like a management bootcamp. Probably not a full-on MBA, but not a “dealing with difficult people” seminar either – something in the middle. You think that the lack of teaching instruction for academics is bad? Think about the rest of it. It’s the only profession I know of where you’re judged on one set of criteria (research ability, papers published, whatever … ) and then you’re set a completely unrelated set of duties – manage a small team of people, work through collegial processes, manage budgets and resolve disputes, and yes, learn how to use pedagogy in a sentence and sound like you know what you’re talking about.

But with that said, I wouldn’t do that either … metal fabrication would be my choice. I want to be able to stick to pieces of metal together with electricity. Mostly putting old cars back together. As a plus, you could make gigantic tetanus-causing sculptures in the back yard!

Agness last blog post..October 10 In A Row

Now, perhaps something along the lines of learning the ins and outs of the commercial publishing process, or a course targeted at fostering the writing skills and scientific knowledge you already have into, say, science journalism — that might be an option. You don’t need to be taught to write (and in fact I doubt most people actually can be taught to write), but you could be taught the mechanics of writing for a particular type of market.

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