Lean teaching

The aim of the session will be to introduce the concepts of 'lean thinking' and to develop an understanding of how these can be applied within a university context. Lean Thinking is a set of concepts and techniques developed mainly from the Toyota Production System, with Just-In-Time being perhaps the most familiar example. This seminar will discuss potential applications of lean thinking to teaching - in particular can we use lean thinking to reduce time spent on 'teaching related activity' outside the classroom, and also provide a better educational experience for our students? Here are two examples of topics that will be discussed. One of the lean principles is 'reduce product complexity' - so should we cut the range of courses and modules we offer? Another principle is 'eliminate waste', so taking this very literally, why do we have four-part feedback forms where three parts go straight to the wastepaper bin? In fact why use paper at all