Tell us a bit about you and your background!

Hola! My name is Aleix (pronounced A-lésh, for those of you wondering) and I joined Student Learning Development in 2022. I’m originally from Spain, although I have lived in Scotland for nearly ten years! In Spanish, we say that someone is not from where they’re born but from where they graze, (or live, in non-figurative language) —‘no eres de donde naces, sino de donde paces’— and so I must surely be Scottish on some level by now… I have a background is in both Spanish and English Studies, and I first came to Scotland to pursue postgraduate studies in English. Besides language and literature, I am very interested in identities and how they are constructed through the ways we speak, the stories we tell and who we interact with. This was broadly speaking the topic of my Ph.D., which studied the representation of gender in anthologies of short stories by women.

What is your job and what does it involve?

My job title is Peer Learning Facilitator. I lead SLD’s Peer Learning Team, a new group within the department made of Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and Student Interns responsible for supporting and helping University grow its peer learning provision. We will soon be making another post in which we explain in more detail what do we mean by peer learning and the different forms it can take. Suffice to say, for now, that peer learning is about students taking ownership of their education, seeing other students as valuable learning resources, and helping each other to succeed in their University journey. We work both within SLD and in partnership with the Schools to create, strengthen and facilitate spaces where students across the University can come together and take an active, collaborative approach to their studies.

What are your favourite aspects of your job and your biggest passion project?

While supporting peer learning across the University is a massive endeavour (the University of Glasgow has over 30.000 students!) it is also an incredibly interesting project full of joys. For one, I get to think deeply about different ways of learning and of strategies to empower students to shape both their experience in higher education as well as that of their colleagues. I also need to have conversations about innovative learning and teaching methods with staff across the University and I learn a lot about the different practices and exciting initiatives that take all over the institution. But perhaps the most exciting thing about my job is the way in which it speaks to my interests in collaboration and identity. I believe that peer learning is a powerful tool to not just help students succeed, but also to connect them to each other, solidify their academic identity and enhance their sense of community and belonging.

Outwith work, what are your favourite things to do?

I enjoy cycling, reading, watching films, and cooking, not necessarily in that order. I am a fan of oats and strong believer that porridge with banana, pear (and/or blueberries) and peanut butter is one of the peaks of human civilisation. As a curiosity, I once entered the World Porridge Championship, which takes place in Scotland, with precisely this recipe, but the judges did not rate the dish nearly as high as I do… I also love animals and I have a dog called Núvol (Catalan for ‘cloud’) who lives with my parents in Spain and an indoor cat called Ziggy who lives with me here in Scotland. Even though they would surely hate each other, I dream of bringing them together one day.

Before you go, what’s your one tip for succeeding in study/university/research/the workplace?

As someone who has spent virtually all of his adult life linked with one or other university, I have strong views on how to best approach research and study in order to ‘succeed.’ However, I believe even more strongly that University is not the place for someone to tell you how you should do things, but the place where you find out what works for you and what doesn’t. Also, although you can pass or fail courses, the University should also feel like a space where you get to define what success means and how it looks like for you. In this sense, one of the best things a student can do is to take some time regularly to think about these questions: what is good for me?, what do I want to get out of this? Doing so can give you a sense of purpose and direction which will determine how you spend and organise your time and resources.    

Written by Dr Aleix Tura Vecino, Peer Learning Facilitator