Teaching Crisis: Dr Erin Baumann at TEDxUCD

Dr Erin Baumann is a University College Dublin (UCD) lecturer in the UCD School of Politics and International Relations, and her TEDxUCD 2014 talk is entitled 'Teaching Crisis'.

In her TEDxUCD talk, Erin who describes herself as a 'News Junkie', observes how news reports of a crisis, such as crises in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, draws people's attention, it strikes at our emotions, it makes us feel.

But, crises are often short lived, at least within the news cycle. The crises that pervade the news and social media today are rarely ever the same crises that pervaded the news last month.

The concepts that pervade university lectures this year, however, are more often than not the same concepts that pervaded lectures 10 years ago. Details change and new research brings forward new ideas, but the crux of what lecturers hope to teach generally remains the same.

This exposes a dichotomy that is at the core of the crisis in higher education today, how do you teach long-term ideas in a world of short-term information ?

In her TEDxUCD talk Erin explains how she has challenged this status quo in terms of how teaching is undertaken in universities and how she strives to make her classes more relevant, useful and stimulating for her students.

Dr Erin Baumann is a lecturer in UCD's School of Politics and International Relations and an expert in foreign policy analysis and the politics of post-Soviet states.

Before moving to Ireland to pursue her graduate studies at UCD in 2007, Erin worked in the energy industry in Washington DC and as a political aide on Capitol Hill.

She has also completed degrees at Georgetown University and the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University in Washington DC.

In addition to her research on foreign policy and political decision-making in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, Erin has a keen interest in civic education and teaching innovation.

During her two years as a teaching fellow and a lecturer in UCD's School of Politics and International Relations, Erin has undertaken a study of third-level pedagogy and used a variety of alternative teaching methods in an attempt to bridge the divide between classroom learning and real world knowledge. The results of this work feed into her current research on civic education, civil society, and democratic practice in transitioning states.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)