Shard #8 Introducing The Baking Academic

Good to be back

Well, it has been a while… and so I thought we could go on a little detour together. In Shard #5 I shared about the ‘Dignity of Doing’ and how baking is a therapeutic activity for me. It does not have to be a special occasion, baking bikkies, bread, sweets, cakes satisfies all the senses and calms the soul (well it works for me). The best part is though that it is something that can be shared with family, friends and colleagues. Sharing something that nurtures and brings joy is very special. Breaking bread together implies a shared experience that goes beyond eating.

The well-rounded academic

When I first heard the term the ‘well-rounded academic’ I indeed thought there was a connection to body figure and felt I fitted right in ??. I have since discovered that well-rounded refers to an academic’s portfolio, balanced between learning & teaching, research and engagement. Lindgreen and Di Benedetto (2020) explain this succinctly in their editorial How to balance like an academic.

What do these things have to do with each other? Well, I love word plays and connections and, in my head, I went from well-rounded to baking, then the baking academic and then a song kept playing in my head, ‘All you knead is love’. Corny, but I like it. Anyway, The Baking Academic (TBA) is now a sideline of The Shard Nurse and I hope we can have some fun together exploring the world of baking and baking allegories. Don’t worry, my allegories will be neither political or moral, they aim to convey some ideas in academia and nursing in a fun way. And yes, I will share recipes…

Teaching is like baking

It struck me that learning and teaching is a bit like baking and so I wrote in my reflective PhD diary about the Babovka Principle. This principle can be applied to both theoretical and clinical practice, and the insights come from my current PhD research on Professional Wisdom. I will explain the Babovka Principle in the next Shard with The Baking Academic.

Just as a teaser, the photo below shows one large and some smaller Babovkas. Are you intrigued? Well, make sure you follow up and read my next blog post.

The different stages of baking and making

But in the meantime, while teaching first-year student nurses about healthcare and the professions I realised that our scaffolding of knowledge and content can be described around baking cakes.

First, we help students understand the importance of following a recipe, measure ingredients, mix them in the right order and then bake for the required time. We show them how to determine when the cake is baked through and make sure they let the cake rest before taking it out of its form. They can now go on and bake a basic cake without our help. Then we teach then how to make variations of the same basic cake, add fruit, flavours, nuts and spices. They can now make the basic cake more interesting. The next step are decorations, they are confident with making a great cake and now the fun can begin – colour, texture and creativity. The top level is when we show students how to put these cakes and decorations together to build up multi-tired cakes, like a large wedding cake.

Surpassing the teacher-baker

They have now become proficient bakers and can deal with any cake requests/needs, and we proudly see their yummy creations become better than our own.

Your turn now

Have I made you want to go and bake something? Do you have some bananas looking a bit sad on the kitchen counter? Try this banana bread recipe that works for me every time. A good basic one to start with. Enjoy. Australian Banana Bread Recipe

Next time – the Babovka Principle explained, and one of my own adapted recipes to try.

Reference (sorry, hanging indent does not seem to work)

Lindgreen, A., & Di Benedetto, C. A. (2020). How to balance like an academic.?Industrial Marketing Management,?88, A1–A5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.03.002

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