How to Get Loads of Marks

This time I'm joined by Stephen Taylor, Learning Technology Lead at Regents University London — and as he puts it, his job is less "IT support fixing your laptop" and more "driving instructor teaching you to actually use it." We dig into the difference between "edtech" and proper ped tech (technology with the science of teaching behind it), why a lecturer reading...

In this episode I’m joined by Andy Cook. Freelance Content & TV producer, director, trouble shooter and all-round problem-solver. Andy has spent 15 years making everything from A Place in the Sun to Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and Eat Well For Less. (even the occasional dog show). We talk about the high-pressure world of short-deadline TV, the art of leading a team you’ve only just met, and ho...

Alex Fell has been teaching English as a second language for over a decade, working with everyone from business professionals to university students across multiple continents. In this episode, he shares some of the insights he’s gained from 11 years in the classroom—like how managing expectations can be more important than mastering grammar, why learning a language has more in common with going t...

Something a little different in this episode. We hear from executive fitness coach Asher Kennedy. After transforming his own physique and mindset despite a demanding career, Asher founded LevelONE Coaching to help busy professionals achieve remarkable fitness results without extreme measures. In this conversation, Asher shares insights on how to prioritize workouts effectively, straightforward nut...

Piers is a regular guest on the podcast and as his day job he helps students improve their study skills are Escape Studios. In this episode we talk about the idea of retrospectives and how they can be useful in both creative projects and everyday life. Sometimes it turns out we are a lot smarter after the fact.

With over a decade of experience working in a wide variety of sales organisations, Tom Parker combines technical expertise with real-world, quota-carrying experience. Tom has built an impressive track record of helping B2B start-ups and SMEs achive sales excellence. Tom’s industry knowledge (along with a first-class network of partners) makes him a valuable resource. He was generous enough to shar...

This is a bit of a bonus episode. I decided to see what an LLM could tell me about the uses of LLMs. Claude was happy to oblige so I took his parts of the conversation and ran them through elevenlabs . Then I recorded my bits and edited it together. It's a little shorter than my usual episodes as the AI voice can be a little grating, however I think there were some interesting points mentioned...

Andrew Griffith is a man of many hats, but all of them hang on the same sustainable business rack. Passionate about making a tangible impact on the world, Andrew simplifies the complexities of carbon jargon and advocates for supportive environmental policy. His work isn’t just about finding solutions—we already have many of those—but about bringing people along on the journey to a greener future....

Jamie Qiu is managing director and founder of Studio Zao. An innovation consultancy that focuses on helping the people in organisations and ecosystems to innovate faster and more productively. He has experience in both, having formerly worked at EY, but then leaving to found Studio Zao. We talk about how to be "interpreneurial", (entrepreneurial, but inside a large company) and we discuss how perh...

I was lucky enough to get to know Thibau ‘T’ Grumett as a student. He caught my attention because he was trying to build a cryptocurrency index fund before the rest of the world knew what a bitcoin was. Since then he has been very busy writing a book. "The Money Bible" is a handbook for your financial life and it's the sort of book I wish I had when I was younger, but I'm glad I...

In this episode Chris is joined by Philip Allin. Co-founder and CEO of Overtone. Overtone is a company that is training computers to evaluate the quality of online content. This means he is perfectly placed to talk about the most recent shift in "content creation", generative AI. Chris and Philip talk about various AI concepts, including the "information density" of content, th...

In this episode Mike Gulvin visits from Pearson College's Business Ethics course. We look at the extra steps needed to take an argument from descriptive to philosophical.  Whether it be automotive design or organ harvesting, Chris and Mike discuss the ways in which you can explain not just that something is wrong, but perhaps WHY it's wrong.   There is a reference to the Chevy Corvair at some poin...

Cajiten teaches a long list of topics at Pearson College, all focused around two main topics of economics and sustainability.  Our conversation covers everything from fixing world energy markets, to saving money on lasagne at the local Waitrose, to disposing of nuclear waste.   While we do touch on a few technical issues the general points we cover are more "ways of thinking" which can b...

Blayne is Head of Talent Development at Pearson College London. Leading our Workfit Programme, Guaranteed Internship Scheme and MBM Executive Coaching Programme. Alongside his leadership role Blayne teaches People Management and Leadership to Undergraduate Students at the college. In this podcast we discuss the best way to find and benefit from internships.  The growing role of Linked in and...

Back by popular demand, Piers Veness returns to the virtual studio bring with him Richard Allen.  Piers and Richard are both part of the study skills team at Pearson College.   In this episode we talk a lot about the reasons WHY academic writing sounds the way it does.  Since understanding the reasons behind the rules can help us know when to bend them.  

Dave Farley  is co-author of the Jolt-award wining book - " Continuous Delivery ", and more recently " Modern Software Engineering ".  He is the host of the Continuous Delivery YouTube channel and an all round clever bloke.   In this episode Dave talks about how some of the ideas he has promoted in software engineering can be applied more generally in any projects that are dealing w...

Dr Roxanne Stockwell is the Principal of Pearson College London (PCL), and responsible for its strategic direction and academic leadership.  Originally a graduate of the University of Sydney, she has worked as a corporate lawyer, in theatre management, and for the past 20 years in Higher Education. She was previously a director at BPP, with responsibility for its teaching, learning and innova...

Chris Wares is the librarian at Pearson College.  In this conversation we cover what to read, how to find things to read, and how to get the most from your reading.  

Professor Newton is the Director of Learning and Teaching for the Swansea University Medical School. Phil teaches Neuroscience across a variety of programmes. But he also teaches on evidence-based education as part of an online MSc in Medical Education.  This gives him a unique perspective on learning from the inside out.  In this episode we talk about how you can take the latest finding...

Iro Konstantinou heads up research at Pearson College, as well as being heavily involved in research herself.  Personally she is also one of the people who helped me when I made the shift from business to teaching.  She is a master of research methods.   Since a lot of students will be taking on big projects this term, we talk about how best to start, how to pick a topic and how to...

Carl Clare is a full time Senior Lecturer and Course Leader at Leeds Beckett University.  However he marks papers at Pearson College and is ALSO an external examiner for Ulster, Liverpool Hope, Salford and Manchester Met.   So if anyone knows about marking papers...it's Carl Clare.   We chat about the things that we look for when marking, and crucially the rational behind our thinki...

Since we are halfway though a term in a very "interesting" year, we probably could all do with some tips for dealing with being anxious or overwhelmed.  Chavi does not disappoint, In this episode we discuss some of the reasons that you don't have to worry about baking sourdough bread, excellent practical tips for coping with anxiety and some road safety tips for when you want to perform an aw...

Back by popular demand, Piers Veness returns to the virtual studio to share some tips.  In this episode we try to stay fairly focused on techniques for starting assessments.  However we also cover some points around learning from feedback and not getting paralysed by self inflicted pressure.   Piers is the study skills tutor at Pearson College London.  He also teaches on the se...

Something a little different this week.  Two of my ex-students come into the studio to discuss the things that they learnt during their time at uni.  We cover everything from hacking Linked In to oil shocks to the protective power of Lycra.  It's a good one!  Barney and Oliver were both full time students, however if you are an apprentice you may find the podcast "Apprentice Ta...

Deputy Dean Elizabeth Miller joins us for a chat about research and references.  What is a good source?  How should you find/use sources?  And what does Rihanna have to do with the Australian climate?