Centre Update June 2011
Contents
Centre News
As you may know the withdrawal of funding for Subject Centres by the HEA means that the UK Centre for Bioscience will close at the end of December 2011.
Between August and December 2011 the UK Centre for Bioscience will undertake a limited programme of activities and will support the transition to a new organisational arramgement that will see subject-specfic support coordinated from the HEA in York. As well as facilitating the transfer of the valued resources collated and developed with your support over the last decade, the following activities are planned for autumn 2011:
If you have contributed to resources or publications produced by the Centre then we may contact you about their transfer. We would ask that you respond quickly and positively to these requests in order that your contributions and resources can continue to be available for the benefit of the bioscience learning and teaching community.
For the latest news on the changes, please see www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/news/futurehea.aspx
 Congratulations to Hannah Grist and Kimberley Stirk - Student Award winners 2011
We are delighted to announce the winners of our 2011 Student Award. Hannah Grist (University of Aberdeen) is our postgraduate winner and Kimberley Stirk (University of Exeter) is our undergraduate winner. The winning and runner-up entries are available to view on our website at www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/funding/essay/award11.aspx
Our thanks go to BBSRC for their sponsorship of the Postgraduate prize.
This year we asked students to tell us about "The pluses and minuses of maths on my bioscience course" and we received some very interesting insights into how bioscience students view maths. These will be collated into a new Short Guide for students "Maths on your bioscience course", which will be available soon.
Do you have an Educational Resource to recommend to our Discipline Consultants and Learning Technologists?
The discipline consultants working on our OeRBITAL project have been busy scouring Open Educational Resource (OER) repositories and networks, and the collection of Open educational Resources for Bioscientists Involved in Teaching and Learning wiki is building nicely. Can you help us expand the collection further? If you have encountered Open Educational Resources (see the OER Infokit description) which you feel are worthy of promotion to other bioscientists please share these with us and the wider teaching community by visiting the Suggestions box of the wiki. Also, please tell your colleagues about the wiki and encourage them to contribute too. For more information please see the OeRBITAL Project Wiki or contact Chris Taylor, OeRBITAL Project Officer via c.d.taylor@leeds.ac.uk
Centre Events
 Effective Learning in the Biosciences 2011
Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July 2011, Edinburgh
This international conference will focus on how we can inspire all bioscience students to realise their full potential. Delegates will have the opportunity to discuss their experiences, identify common challenges and share effective practice. The Conference programme will include: keynote lectures; interactive presentations; short presentations; hands-on workshops; and posters.
An outline programme for the conference is available from www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/bioconf/outlineprogramme.aspx
For further details about the conference and how to register go to: www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/bioconf/
News from the HE Learning and Teaching Community
Media-Enhanced Feedback: Case studies and methods
The case studies were developed to support the Media Enhanced Feedback and Using Technology to Enhance Feedback events and bring together accounts of innovative practice by academics and developers in UK higher education in using emerging digital media technologies to provide engaging and effective feedback to students. Whilst the papers here highlight six apparently distinct technologies, they also demonstrate how such technologies can be adapted to address the particular requirements and situations of staff and students. Each case study is accompanied by a more practical document intended to help readers move from a theoretical interest to one in which they can design and implement media-enhanced feedback to suit their own needs.
The booklet can be downloaded as a pdf from http://ppp.chester.ac.uk/images/4/43/Middleton-Media-enhanced_feedback_proceedings-final.pdf
HEA publishes further details of academic support and services for 2011-12
The HEA has released a paper outlining details of support services from 2011-12. You can download the paper from the central HEA website at www.heacademy.ac.uk/aboutus/plans
Vacancies at the Higher Education Academy
The HEA is seeking Academic Associates to deliver and develop support for learning and teaching in a variety of areas. Expressions of interest are invited, please visit the central Academy website at www.heacademy.ac.uk/aboutus/associates for further details. This is an ongoing process so there is no deadline for EOIs.
Events from the HE Learning and Teaching Community
Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase Event
Friday 16th - Sunday 18th September 2011, FSC Margam, Port Talbot, Wales
This National Teaching Fellowship Project funded by the HEA invites you to attend and contribute to a showcase event to share and exchange ideas and practice with regards to using technology such as Geographical Information System (GIS), geotagging, digital storytelling, social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies to enhance fieldwork learning.
The event is limited to 25 places which will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Limited funding is available to support attendance/participation at this event. Early career practitioners are encouraged to attend and apply for supporting bursary(s).
If you are interested in potentially contributing to/attending this event, e-mail a title and short abstract (~200 word) outlining the activity you wish to demonstrate by 15th June 2011 to Dr Katharine Welsh k.welsh@chester.ac.uk or Professor Derek France d.france@chester.ac.uk
For more information, please check the project website for updates http://www.enhancingfieldwork.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @fieldwork_ntf
TIS International Conference - Internationalisation of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher Education: Exploring New Frontiers
Thursday 16th June - Friday 17th June 2011,
University of Warwick, Coventry
The increasing internationalisation of universities around the world provides both opportunities and challenges, in what are sometimes radically different teaching, learning and assessment contexts for both home and international students as well as staff. This international conference seeks to move beyond the rhetoric of internationalisation to examine some of the more complex issues and questions for practitioners, researchers, students and for those working in transnational or non-Anglophone contexts.
For further details and to register please visit www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2011/academyevents/16_17_June_TIS
Ecology of a Whole Campus Approach to Creativity
Monday 27 Jun 2011 10am - 5pm, University of Warwick, Coventry
The conference brings together some of the key thinkers about creativity in education: Ron Barnett, Institute of Education, University of London; Jonathan Bate, University of Warwick; Jonothan Neelands, University of Warwick; and Rob Pope, Oxford Brookes University. Workshops, case studies and panel discussions will showcase the contribution to the debate of Warwick's Open-space Learning in Real World Contexts project which aims to develop and embed new forms of creative pedagogy associated with workshop practice and collaborative learning in flexible learning spaces. The Conference will enlist participants in identifying future directions and action.
For further details and to register please visit www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/projects/osl/calendar/?calendarItem=094d43ed2c9d4fb3012d9a70525b7564
Higher Education Academy Annual Conference
Tuesday 5th - Wednesday 6th July 2011, East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham
The 2011 Higher Education Academy conference "Changing Practice - Changing Times", explores challenges and changes to the sector over the next five years. There are five main sub themes: Models of Change, Internationalisation, Postgraduate Provision, Institutional CPD Frameworks and Changing and Developing Practice in Student Engagement. The conference aims to:
- disseminate and showcase evidence informed practice from the sector
- facilitate the discussion and debate of pertinent issues relating to the student learning experience
- provide networking and professional development opportunities for participants
Further details and conference registration is available from www.heacademy.ac.uk/eventsandnetworking/annualconference
Online Learning and Teaching Seminar: A TRUE TEST OF TEACHERS - BEYOND THE ONE DAY
Tuesday 28th June at 10am
Live internet broadcast by Prof. P.K. Rangachari (approx one hour) on: http://uob.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=a898de6c-07b3-4d27-a904-f986ea35a3f4
Educational enterprises are intrinsically optimistic since they attempt to alter the status quo preferably for the better. Students either through their own volition or the urging of others (parents, society) enroll in programmes to improve their lot. But the 3 parties (students, teachers and society) often have differing expectations which leads to tension. Eminent teachers through the ages and from diverse cultures (Ibn Sina, Tagore, Montessori, Pestalozzi, Binet, Dewey) have recognized the value in making students autonomous enough to function well without constant supervision.
But our fact-ridden world poses special problems. This is amplified in universities where knowledge is not only transmitted but produced. A sensible balance needs to be struck to preserve student-centred teaching in our standards-based world. The best we can do for our students is to provide them the skills, attitudes and exuberance to survive and flourish in uncertain times. We should in a sense, nourish, nurture, provoke and stimulate “educato-blasts” that can thrive in any environment. We must prepare our students for the “longue duree”. Manipulating outcomes to achieve “victories” (the one day model) may be colourful and noisy but puerile. For additional information see http://www.ltsn-01.ac.uk/event/6058/view/
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