It’s been a few weeks since I last blogged. It’s interesting that I’ve still found it hard to keep up with blogging even though I’m in UK lock-down (i.e. I’ve still got masses of other things to do!). I’ve adjusted well to being back in the UK, although I think the amazing weather we’ve had over the last three weeks has been a big factor in this, because it meant I’ve not missed the North Carolina weather as much, and I’ve been able to maximise time in our garden. Allan and I were saying that we don’t think we’ve spent as much time in the garden ever. We spend most of the weekends out there, and we’ve been having lunch breaks and early evening time in the garden most days too. For readers from the US, you have to realise these longer stretches of good weather, (and of course long stretches of time where I’m not commuting) are not something we’re used to in Scotland!

After a few weeks of being very tired from the move back to the UK and adjusting my mindset to the disappointment of realising the US part of my Fulbright is over, actually, I’ve settled back pretty well. Some of this is because in a normal working week at the University of Edinburgh, I usually work from home one day a week. This means I have a dedicated space to work and so while working at home all the time is not what I’m used to, I have at least found ways of working at home that are effective and productive in the past. Now I share the challenge with many folks of staying motivated, ensuring I stay well mentally and physically, and adjusting to what this might mean for my future work.

I’m doing some of my usual work for the Institute for Academic Development (PhD supervision for 3 students, responding to queries about some core work, and attending a few strategic meetings), but mostly I am still on my Fulbright. I said in an earlier blog, I was fortunate I’d finished my teaching and also gathering my research data. I spent some time over the last few weeks doing grading for Elon University students, and now I’m focusing more on my data analysis for my research. It’s been good to have some zoom catch up meetings with the wonderful Masters in Higher Education students and faculty – that’s helped with the adjustment to being home, but still being in touch.

My Fulbright research has looked at student and faculty perspectives on what faculty do to build relationships with students in the early days of meeting students in a class, and also what faculty do to help students build relationships with other students. The faculty respondents have also been asked some questions about their relationships with other faculty. I was hoping for responses from 100 students and from 10 faculty for this phase of the research, but in fact I received 156 student responses and 19 faculty responses to the survey, which is great. I plan to try to match those numbers when I seek responses from students and faculty at the University of Edinburgh in the autumn. One of the questions asked students to think of a professor with whom they have built a good relationship and it asked them to use three words to describe their professor. Typical responses might say ‘caring, intellectual, mentor’, or ‘enthusiastic, challenging, friendly’. However, my favourite response so far was ‘junior Jedi warrior’! One person when asked their nationality responded ‘Embarrassed American’. I just love these creative and funny responses, which always make doing data analysis much more fun. In the spirit of co-creation a couple of students from my class on co-creation and partnerships are going to join Peter Felten and I to analyse the data and perhaps co-write some presentations/publications.

In a bid to stay mentally and physically healthy, I’ve been trying to make the most of my exercise hour during lock-down by going around our local nature reserve, Lenzie Moss. It’s basically an old peat bog surrounded by some nice birch and deciduous woodland and there’s some duck-boarding at one point. I’ve taken to getting up at the normal time for work if I were going to the office in Edinburgh (6am) and instead of showering, breakfasting and heading for the Edinburgh train, I get up, walk around the Moss (50 minutes), come back, shower, breakfast and I’m at my desk before 8am. I’ve always been a lark, being more productive in the morning,

but I also recently read the book by Allan Jenkins (Observer Food Monthly Editor) called ‘Morning, how to make time’ and he makes even more arguments for getting up early. The Moss at 6am has the advantage of virtually no other people and chances to see deer, buzzards, bull finches, thrushes, blackbirds and masses of other bird life, as well as the dawn light on the Campsie Fells.

I’ve also been reading a lot, enjoying gardening (I’ve never been more glad to have a garden and realise we are very fortunate), baking bread – note on the photo of the dough proving, the use of a Southern US tea-towel 🙂 , and doing lots of craft. Craft includes a craft hour I have with 2 of my nieces on a Saturday morning on WhatsApp video, where one of us teaches the others to make something new (we send each other a list of requirements during the week before). It’s a great way for us all to stay in touch and be creative. We’ve made upcycled notebooks, a 3d rainbow, a set of paper and card shelves, mosaic pictures and a felt bookmark. I’ve also been knitting lots, enjoying some jigsaws and keeping up with my US and UK book groups online. Books and craft photos can be found on my creative projects page.

Doing a Fulbright Scholarship from home / Star spangled banter by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0