News
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Centre Update September 2011Welcome!Contents
Centre NewsBioscience Teacher of the Year 2012 - call for applications launchedWe are delighted to announce that the Bioscience Teacher of the Year award continues this year, managed by the Society of Biology, with support and sponsorship from Oxford University Press. The Award seeks to identify the UK's leading bioscience university teachers and to strengthen and raise the profiel of teaching excellence in the biosciences. Individuals can be nominated either by self, peer or management nomination using the quick nomination form and the deadline for nominations is 2 December 2011. Further details: http://www.societyofbiology.org/education/hei/competition
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| The Ethics in the Biosciences Briefing is the second in a series of briefings from the Centrewhich bring together references and resources in specific areas of learning and teaching in the biosciences. With resources recommended by the bioscience teaching and learning community, produced by the Subject Centres and Higher Education Academy, CETLs and many other groups and individuals involved in learning and teaching the briefings will be of use and interest both to those with experience and those new to the topic. Each section of the briefing is introduced by an expert in that area and reflects the author’s individual style and preference. You can download the briefing in full (in pdf format) or to request a hard-copy version of the ethics briefing please contact the Centre on heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk |  |
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New short guides
The latest additions to our shortguides series are:
- Small Group Teaching;
- Higher Education Careers - Teaching in the Biosciences; and
- For students, Maths on your Bioscience course
To order complimentary copies of these or other Centre publications (while stocks last!) please get in touch with us by email to heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk or alternatively fill out our Literature Requests form.
Survey prize draw - and the winners are...
Thank you to those of you who completed our survey earlier this summer or sent us comments on the impacts of our activities. The two winners chosen at random to receive £125 travel expenses to support attendance at a Centre or HEA event this autumn were Ruth Grady from the University of Manchester and Vivien Sieber from the University of Surrey.
What else is happening at the Centre
- We recently held our final Bioscience Representatives Forum (on the 6th - 7th September in Birmingham). A report from the event will be available on our website soon.
- We've also recently completed the OeRBITAL open educational resources project. This project has compiled details of over 300 open educational resources (OERs) covering a wide range of bioscience disciplines and topic areas. For further details of the project and to access the resources recommended by fellow bioscientists, please visit the project wiki at http://heabiowiki.leeds.ac.uk/oerbital/
Other activities coming up between now and December include:
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Publication of Volume 18 of Bioscience Education, initiation of Volume 19, and handover of journal production to the Higher Education Academy’s journals team
- A 1-day event on Feedback at the University of Glasgow (October 2011)
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Two or three Teaching in the Biosciences events aimed at postgraduates and new and aspiring teachers (Oct – Nov)
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1 issue of the Bioscience Bulletin
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Liaison with bioscience organisations and external projects
For the latest news on our transition activities, please see www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/news/futurehea.aspx
Update on support for the biosciences coordinated by the HEA in York
We were joined at our recent Bioscience Representatives Forum by Dr Janet De Wilde (Head of STEM) and Dr Nathan Pike (Discipline Lead - Biological Sciences) who joined the HEA in August. Janet gave a presentation outlining how support for biological sciences will be organised within a 'STEM cluster': HEA STEM – the way forward and Nathan, an outline of the HEA's future support for biosciences (beyond the closure of the UK Centre for Bioscience in December).
The bioscience pages within the HEA's main website can be found at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines/biological-sciences
Centre Events
Feedup, Feedback, Feedforward, Thursday 20th October 2011, University of Glasgow
Register now (free of charge) or for further details see www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/events/feedback201011.aspx
Teaching in the Biosciences: an introduction for postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows, Monday 3 October 2011, Cardiff University
This event is designed for Postgraduates and Postdoctoral Fellows with an interest in developing their teaching experience, giving them the opportunity to meet Centre staff and Bioscience Representatives and explore issues in Higher Education relevant to their careers. Further details available at http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/events/cardiff031011.aspx
Please encourage postgraduates and postdocs who teach or aspire to teach to come along (the event is open to attendees from universities and higher education colleges across the UK).
We are currently finalising dates and venues for one or two further events aimed at postgraduates who teach. Look out for further details soon on our website at www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/events/bioevents.aspx
News from the HE Learning and Teaching Community
HEA announces call for departmental grants
A total of £300,000 will be available with a maximum of £30,000 per project. Project duration will be 15 months.
Successful bids will demonstrate team impact across the department, longitudinal impact and will include evaluation and dissemination criteria. The hosting institution will be expected to contribute funds towards the project. The deadline for receipt of bids by the HEA (in York) is midnight on Sunday October 23rd 2011. Projects are expected to begin 23rd January 2012.
For full details please see http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/funding
Events from the HE Learning and Teaching Community
Using Assessment to Engage Students & Enhance their Learning
Thursday 22nd September 2011, AIMS Seminar Centre, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol (BS8 1TD)
Staff can be understandably resistant to introducing changes in methods of assessment and feedback. This is due partly to their uncertainty about the benefits of new approaches and partly because implementing change inevitably results in short-term increases in workload. However, the potential rewards are recurrent and, over time, can repay the investment with interest. Delegates will evaluate the evidence that the approaches explored in the workshop are effective in enhancing feedback and students’ learning – in terms both of increasing their knowledge & understanding and their ability to provide & receive peer feedback.
For further details see www.medev.ac.uk/funding/workshops/262/view_workshop/
Best wishes from all at the Centre
heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk