MA Academic Practice Case Study: Adrian Crookes

Adrian is BA (Hons) Public Relations Course Leader and Senior Lecturer at London College of Communication

Why did you want to do the course?

The course gave me a chance to get an MA related to my teaching practice. I had worked in media environments for 30 years before coming into academia. I had always been interested in education and feel you should understand the profession you work in alongside the subject you teach.

How did you find out about the course?

Initially through the College’s call for academics to sit the PgCert. I enjoyed it so I stayed on to do more units and then the dissertation to complete the MA.

What steps did you take after finding out about the course?

I studied the website and considered the various pathways offered following the PgCert, and discussed this with unit tutors. I was funded to do the course by my college.

What are the highlights of the course?

I thoroughly enjoyed being a student again. I think as an educator it’s really important to experience being a student in a contemporary environment. There were plenty of anxieties along the way and that’s helped me to better understand the anxieties my students have too. It was great also to explore teaching practice with like-minded colleagues.

What are the challenges of the course?

Fitting everything in around the full-time job, and finding some thinking space. I spread the units out over a number of years which helped.

How has it affected your day-to-day role?

It has made me think a lot more about the pedagogies we design and our impact on students day-to-day. I’m much more conscious of the requirements of student learning and I’m more critically aware of my own teaching practice as a result.

How do you think the course will impact on your career?

Already I feel the course has made me a more confident educator, and I hope more qualified to help students contextualise their learning. I received a student teaching award last year and I’d like to think the course contributed to that. My teaching inquiry has also opened up an avenue of research within my own specialist field of PR.

Is there anything you wish you’d known?

How much I would enjoy it. The dissertation group, in particular, became something I looked forward to. It was an oasis in the week where there was time to think about my own inquiry and to support others with theirs.

Any other comments?

I’d just encourage anyone thinking about it to do it.