HEA STEM Teaching Biology and Psychology in Higher Education
- Date: 10 Jan 2012
- Start Time: 10:00 am
- Location/venue: Keele University Sustainability Hub, Keele University, Staffordshire, England, ST5 5BG
A workshop event from the Higher Education Academy
for occasional university teachers and lecturers
Cost: Free (but availability is limited so book early)
This one-day workshop event is designed to cater for the specific needs of biologists and psychologists who are
• associate lecturers,
• visiting lecturers and other visiting HE practitioners,
• occasional HE teachers,
• post-docs who teach,
• academic-related staff who teach,
• post-graduates who teach,
• hourly-paid lecturers, or
• anyone else without a permanent academic contract seeking to develop and improve teaching skills.
Workshop Outline:
The day will commence at 10am and finish at 4pm. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Initial plenary session:
• Welcome and Introduction from HEA Discipline Leads, Dr Nathan Pike (Biosciences) and Dr Julie Hulme (Psychology).
• Interactive Lectures from guest expert teaching practitioners on the modes and methods of teaching the biological sciences and psychology in Higher Education.
Break-out sessions:
• Separate workshop sessions for bioscientists and psychologists designed to address key discipline-specific issues in teaching and learning.
Closing plenary session:
• Discussion of break-out sessions and closing remarks.
Sorry bookings have now closed for this event
If you have any questions please email
Dr Julie Hulme (Psychology) at julie.hulme@heacademy.ac.uk
or
Dr Nathan Pike (Biological Sciences) at nathan.pike@heacademy.ac.uk
Contact email
Post event information
Forty-eight delegates, including postgraduates, researchers, and other occasional university teachers in psychology and the biosciences from across the UK attended this free, one-day HEA STEM workshop at the Sustainability Hub, Keele University.
The day started with an informative and humorous introductory talk from Anne Tierney, a bioscientist and teaching specialist from Glasgow University, who spoke about “what I wish I had known when I first started teaching”. There were lots of hints and tips, including the use of an anonymous card system to record students’ thoughts in class such that the cards could be read out by other students to avoid embarrassment and anxiety. Anne also provided a reminder that it’s ok to say “I don’t know, let’s find out!”.
Anne’s talk was followed by a session entitled “How do I know I’m doing a good job?”, led by Professor Lin Norton, a psychologist and National Teaching Fellow from Liverpool Hope University. Lin encouraged us to use checks on student learning, student feedback, and reflective practice, to evaluate and develop our own teaching practice, and provided links to lots of resources to help us to keep improving in the future.
The delegates then split into two concurrent discipline-specific break-out groups. The psychologists started the afternoon with a workshop about inclusive teaching, led by Dr Julie Hulme of HEA, in which we were introduced to some of the specific issues associated with diversity in psychology students, and encouraged to think of ways to ensure that our teaching is accessible to all. The golden rules were to listen to students, and never to make assumptions! The psychology delegates were then involved in a session on “how to engage psychology students”, led by Dr Patrick Tissington, an occupational psychologist from Aston University, who specialises in teaching enormous groups (up to 850 students!). Pat reminded us of the importance of being enthusiastic about our subject, as well as using online resources and technology to help keep students interacting with tutors and each other.
The bioscience break-out sessions were led by Anne Tierney and Nathan Pike. The first session focussed on the issue of providing effective teaching and learning in the unique contexts of the laboratory and the field. Working in small groups of three to five persons, bioscientists identified the unique challenges that arise in various field and lab scenarios. They then reconvened as a single large group to report on these challenges and on the solutions that are available to overcome them. The second bioscience session dealt with the effective use of technology in the delivery of teaching and the shared experience of learning. Via very lively discussion sessions, areas of best practice and practices best avoided were both identified.
For the last session of the day, everyone gathered in plenary once again for a session which involved an energetic discussion of issues that had arisen through the day, and signposting of resources which would be useful in both disciplines, including information available on the HEA website. Delegates were also informed that all the speakers had very kindly agreed that their materials could be made available on the website after the event, so delegates could revisit and share ideas from the day when they got back to their own institutions.
