Approximately 20 people attended the event at the University of Leeds
to discuss a range of issues relating to personal transferable skills
taught through the medium of practical work. After a introduction and
welcome by Professor Ian Hughes, Co-director of LTSN Bioscience there
were the following sessions
Dr Allan Jones, University of Dundee.
Allan set the scene for the day. He gave an introduction to the generic
skills that one may wish to consider in relation to practical work and
a number of issues to think carefully about. Using a case study he illustrated
how he had embedded personal transferable skills into laboratory practicals.
Prof Ian Hughes, Co- Director LTSN Bioscience University of Leeds.
Ian described some work that he had done investigating the skills that
employers desire in graduates and whether degree courses provide an opportunity
to learn/develop them. Initially he identifed the employers that take
on pharmacology and biology graduates before listing the skills that the
employers require. Ian surveyed 370 recent pharmacology graduates and
presented some interesting needs vs provision analyses derived from this.
The presentation also addressed the best places (within the curriculum)
to teach personal transferable skills and emphasised the importance of
adequate skills mapping
Sharing
experiences of developing Personal Transferable Skills
Delegates were asked to divided into groups and were given
35 minutes to develop a strategy to enable students to develop a particular
skills.
The
strategies produced by the delegates (as pdf)
Dr Maureen Dawson, Manchester Metropolitan University
Maureen developed the idea that the scientific method is similar to Bloom's
Taxonomy of Learning, and so can be used as a framework for teaching and
developing problem-solving and other skills. She highlighted the roles
of practical work and discussed case studies of practicals used to develop
PTS. The value of projects in developing problem-solving skills was stressed.
Dr Jonathan Weyers, University of Dundee
The presentation introduced some of the issues relevant to the assessment
of PTS and outlined some form-based schemes before explaining how these
methodologies faciliate the assessment of PTS. Jonathan discussed three
situations: an essay marking scheme, assessing practical skills and assessing
a poster.
Dr Jackie Wilson, LTSN Bioscience
Jackie drew the attention of the delegates to the Practical
Compendium. The Compendium is an on-line collection of practicals
and related material with the aim of promoting and sharing good practice.
Jackie demonstrated how people could access the compendium and donate
material.
Continuing the
discussion - an introduction to the Special Interest Group (SIG)
Dr Allan Jones, University of Dundee
Allan
introduced the Special
Interest Group (SIG): Practical Work in the Biosciences. The SIG has
a number of aims including facilating informed discussion on important
aspects of practical work and collecting and disseminating good practice.
Delegates were encouraged to visit the website and contribute to the work
of the SIG.
