Teacher audit

Name: Iain Coleman

Age: 52

Job: Principal lecturer in biomedical science/teaching fellow, School of Applied Sciences, Wolverhampton University.

Salary: Principal lecturer scale (up to £43,037)

Qualifications: BSc pharmacology (Sunderland), PhD (Aston), PGCert (Wolverhampton), MIBiol, CBiol.

Experience: Teaching physiology and pharmacology at undergraduate and postgraduate level; curriculum development and course management for accredited biomedical science degrees; internal and external learning and teaching research projects; mentoring new staff and founding member of the Learning, Assessment and Teaching (encouraging engagement) Research Cluster. I have always gained a great deal from working with colleagues, in particular with pharmacologists working on projects to develop and embed computer-assisted learning in pharmacology.

Hours spent teaching: This can vary from eight to (unusually) 15 hours, with about an equivalent amount of time spent preparing. Technology has been a real bonus in the classroom, particularly virtual learning environments, which can help engage students in discussions.

Hours spent on red tape: This depends on the time of year, but on average ten hours a week. I'm a final-year tutor so, apart from counselling sessions, I have a number of references to write. Added to that there is curriculum planning and various school and university committees.

Hours spent on research: Fortunately, this is increasing. A combination of internal and external funding, part-time secondment to the University Centre for Learning and Teaching, National Teaching Fellowship funding and the university's success with the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning bid has allowed me to develop a number of projects in learning, teaching and assessment with a focus on encouraging engagement in diverse groups of students. I hope to develop an electronic conferencing platform to allow students to debate biomedical ethics issues.

Teaching bugbear: The odd bit of "social loafing" that some students indulge in during group sessions. I resolved it by taking time to explain to groups, in some detail, the value of team working and establishing an assessment process that reflects an individual student's contribution to the work.

Worst teaching moment: In my first year as a lecturer I arrived in a large auditorium to give a lecture on quantitative aspects of pharmacology, only to find that I had picked up the wrong folder of notes and overhead transparencies.

Best teaching moment: Some nurses on a supplementary prescribing course had difficulty with aspects of antimicrobial action. Out of the blue, I found an analogy that "switched on the lights". Thank heavens for serendipity.

Outside interests: Supporting our local church, amateur dramatics, walking (with several dogs) and following football (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and rugby (Wales) - I'm an eternal optimist.