A practical Note:
Apart from the logo graphics and name plate above, I'm trying to keep this page as speedy (?), simple and useful (?) as possible. How many times have you found a mildly interesting personal home page whilst browsing the Web and had to wait ten minutes whilst the gigantic image-mapped graphics down-load just to read a considerable amount of inanity and useless self-advertisement? Well, you will not escape the latter here (!), but I hope there'll be no ten-minute wait for the pages to show! Turn off the graphics on your browser if you don't like 'em... I won't be insulted. I do, and it saves a lot of time. But, for those of you who love graphical interfaces, there's a special one I cooked up recently just to add to the bandwidth hogging. Click I Love Graphics to go there now!
I'm a part-time teacher in adult education in the UK, living in Whitley Bay on the Northumbrian coast, right next to the large British city of Newcastle upon Tyne. For those who have never been to Britain (and I highly recommend a visit!), that's in the north east of the country. I guess you could say I have the best of all worlds: the sea not 200 yards from my door, and the wild and untouched countryside a few miles distant. Newcastle's just twenty minutes away too; it has just about everything you might want (or not want) in terms of city life. I live with my partner, Marian, who incidentally is also a teacher. Wanna see my awful photgraph? Then just take a deep breath and click: PHOTO
I've lived here all my life, born and educated no more than a few miles from where I live now; is that a rare thing these days? Everyone seems to move around so much that I seem very stick-in-the-mud by comparison. For more about old 'Whitley', why not try out Paul Trueman's very informative site? Just click HERE to visit it! For somewhere really good to eat out in 'Whitley', just click .... EATING.
The intention of this web page is largely to form a nexus of links to useful information with regard to post-compulsory education in the UK (and elsewhere, where practical) for the benefit of my colleagues, friends and students (confusingly, these categories all overlap!)... plus also some stuff on the subjects I enjoy. If you don't want to read any more and just want to jump straight to the links, then click HERE to avoid more of my rambling! Or:
Go to my Freebies Page (Free Software)
Go to my other Freebies Page (at Fortune City)
Go to my additional free software page at Free Online
Click to go to my other page at GeoCities....
Click to go to my page at FreeYellow....
The logos above, apart from being like an Internet 'test card' for my benefit, also have significance in that they are all connected with educational projects I have been creatively involved with. From left to right, they are:
The APTT (Association of Part-Time Tutors)
A local group I helped found which is all about self-help and information for part-time contractual teachers. This group has its own page. Just click on the link above to go there.
Advanced Studies in CommunityEducation (ASCE)
A new research-based course for the training of adult education teachers that I've recently written, and which is being provided by Newcastle upon Tyne University Centre for Lifelong Learning this autumn. I hope it will bridge the gap into higher education for many teachers and tutors currently working at 'lower levels' of study. If you want more info' on this, E-mail me!
Special Note: I'm also trying to make the ASCE curriculum and methodology internationally compatible (if possible) and would GREATLY WELCOME details on training courses for adult education and/or community education teachers which may being offered elsewhere in the world. Details on:
... would be most useful! Please contact me at my normal E-mail address (as below). I'd also be happy to let you know what I'm up to with ASCE by return. Let's make teacher training better by sharing info'!
The Accent Consultancy
This is now history, but it used to be an independent teaching and training consultancy I was trying to get off the ground with some colleagues of mine. The world did not treat the idea well; riches did not fall at our door! Nevertheless, the idea still exists: and I quite liked the logo! Maybe I'll revive the whole idea some day? Anyone out there worked in a training consultancy and have any advice? E-mail me.
ATACE (Access to Teaching in Adult and Continuing Education)
A course I wrote for an organisation I work for called the
WEA (Workers' Educational
Association, Northern District) some five years ago. Now no longer in my
hands, ATACE allowed a lot of unemployed people with skills and talents to
train as community education tutors for the first time. I've always been
proud of that course!
Wonder what happened to it, dear colleagues.... ? ;-)
You may have guessed that I do a LOT of course design and development work in adult education and training. This is mostly in the field of teacher education and computer training (PC's). I have a long and successful history of this, and do take commissions: just get in touch! For my qualifications, click here: Bob's Qual's
Adult education in the UK is, I suppose, a curious fish when viewed from abroad. I work for multiple organisations, teach a dozen different courses, and have four main subjects (music history, philosophy, computing and teacher training). I actually work more hours a week than many full-time teachers do, which puts a whole new perspective on the term 'part-time', but I enjoy (most of) my work, finding it stimulating and socially useful. Organisations I work for regularly can be found in their own section on my links page (go there NOW).
I'm interested in research into the epistemology of assessment in adult education, and hope to work toward a doctorate in this in the future. Just recently I finished a BA Hons dissertation on the subject of "Epistemological Problems in Competency-based Education and Training" which some may find of interest (I studied at Sunderland University). You're welcome to download a copy from HERE . Those downloading should be aware that my work is copyright academic material and the usual onus on citation/referencing applies if quotes from this are used in your own writings or web pages. Copies of documents which quote me would be much appreciated.
The useful links mentioned above are also available by clicking here:
Bob's Links Page |
Also I'm keen on hearing from others who may have interests similar to mine (hopefully the above gives a broad hint as to what these are!).
Please E-mail me on:
Or why not leave a message for me? Just click HERE!
Go back to the top of this page
This page was hastily created at Whitley Bay, Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.
The content of all material on this page is copyright of Bob Groves, 1999,
including all the typo's
You are visitor number
to my page today (Got nothing better to do?)
Last messed with sometime recent, and as far as my calendar shows that's 25/5/2000