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Theme 3 - Curriculum development and sequence in Biosciences

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Theme 3 - Curriculum development and sequence in Biosciences

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Theme 3 - Curriculum development and sequence in Biosciences: facing ‘chicken and egg’ challenges (e.g. how to teach physiology: from organ/tissue level, or biochemistry?). How can this best be supported by resources i.e. asynchronous, shared, online content, lab time and assessments?

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This online workshop offers the opportunity for the Bioscience community to “define the fundamentals”: which skills and knowledge do all students need after their first year in an undergraduate degree?

Year 1 (Level 4) undergraduate students arrive with a diversity of backgrounds, supported by objectives to increase access and participation to Higher Education. The pandemic has highlighted disparity between students (both home and overseas) from different backgrounds in terms of their academic qualifications, prior experience and socioeconomic situation.

Level 4 is often a stage of convergence, consisting of shared introductory modules which develop both knowledge of subject content as well as academic skills, followed by the selection of more specialised content modules. With rapid advances in Biosciences (e.g. bioinformatics), we often wish to cover significant breadth early on, whilst ensuring that all students have a strong foundation to build upon.

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Hello, I am Kelly Edmunds, an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Amongst my various roles I am the Programme Director for the Science Foundation Year courses at UEA and the Deputy Teaching Theme Leader for the School of Biological Sciences. I teach across all levels of UG study and organise modules in levels 3, 4 and 6. I look forward to meeting you all during the Workshop Welcome session. You can contact me at k.edmunds@uea.ac.uk or on Twitter @kellyedmunds

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I will be chairing our session under Theme 3 (curriculum design).
At UEA, I currently support a new Degree Apprenticeship programme in Applied Biomedical Science, which is mainly delivered remotely, on a part-time basis. I am also the leader of our Teaching Theme, in the School of Biological Sciences.
You can contact me at a.heppleston@uea.ac.uk

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Theme 2 - Diversity of learning at level 3 (for instance, A-level, BTEC and Foundation Year)

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Theme 2 - Diversity of learning at level 3 (for instance, A-level, BTEC and Foundation Year)

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Theme 2 - Diversity of learning at level 3 (for instance, A-level, BTEC and Foundation Year): how can we ensure that all students are best prepared to achieve at Level 4 and beyond? How can we best engage with our students to ensure that their learning needs are met whilst also allowing the whole cohort to progress?

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Please add any thoughts you have, before, during, or after the theme 2 talks, here...

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I am chairing Theme 2 (Diversity of learning at level 3). I currently work on the Gateway Year for MED students at UEA. I have a background in teaching and managing teaching at level three and experience of teaching foundation, A-level and BTEC.
You can contact me by email at b.gulliver@uea.ac.uk.
On Twitter as @BethanGulliver

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Think Piece: Bio Core Guide: A Tool for Interpreting the Core Concepts of Vision and Change for Biology Majors

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Think Piece: Bio Core Guide: A Tool for Interpreting the Core Concepts of Vision and Change for Biology Majors

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This guide produced in 2014 provides an interesting method of analyzing and interpreting the content of biological science courses.

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If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username

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Threshold concepts at Level 4: can we define an optimal core set of skills and knowledge required for all Bioscience students at Level 4? Do we need to revisit classic introductory classes, such as approaches to data analysis?

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Welcome to our workshop Padlet.
Here you can meet the organising team, the session chairs and speakers.
We have organised the Padlet into sessions with each session section including an introductory 'think piece'. Please do comment on these pieces.
We will be uploading the speakers slides and recordings to this Padlet so that it can act as a resource for us all in future.
Please see the note on privacy and data before posting.

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Easily create surveys and polls to collect customer feedback, measure employee satisfaction, and organize team events.

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Hello, this Padlet is set up so that all additions are anonymous.  In this way you can add to the Padlet without accidentally disclosing your details.
Please do add your name to posts if you would like to, this will add to the discussion.
We aim to keep this Padlet as a resource for workshop participants following the sessions.
We have also set up a 'Welcome' Padlet where you can find out more about the organisers, speakers and participants.  You can find this here.  Please introduce yourself here and add a photo and your contact details if you are willing to be contacted during or after the workshop.
The workshop itself will be recorded within Teams.

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22 April 2022 (Online), 10:00-16:00
Led by the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia
This event is sponsored by the Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS) and is free to attend.

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I am chairing Theme 1 (Threshold concepts at Level 4). I organise two of our Level 4 modules: Evolution, Behaviour and Ecology, and Skills for Biologists I work as the Transitions Officer, Social Officer and Deputy Senior Advisor for UEA BIO and teach all UG levels, from 3 to 6. You can contact me at becky.lewis@uea.ac.uk, or on twitter @becky_c_lewis.

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Dr Sonja Dunbar, Dept of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge @PlantSciSonja

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Overcoming terminology barriers: using primers to promote familiarisation - Dr Sonja Dunbar

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Overcoming terminology barriers: using primers to promote familiarisation - Dr Sonja Dunbar

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When tackling new topics in science, a key barrier can be the subject-specific terminology that is common in this discipline. Encountering unfamiliar terms in lectures, which are often delivered at pace alongside other concepts, can make it more difficult for students to follow the lecturer’s narrative and build a clear understanding of the topic.

I describe an approach where students were provided with self-guided primers to familiarise themselves with key terms in advance of lectures. This approach improved the confidence of first year bioscience undergraduates tackling new topics in plant science.

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Add your details to our Wecome Padlet by clicking on the image below

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Add your details to our Wecome Padlet by clicking on the image below

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Think Piece: Provisional? Do A-level results in biology and chemistry inform 1st year pass rate for biomolecular science students? 

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Think Piece: Provisional? Do A-level results in biology and chemistry inform 1st year pass rate for biomolecular science students? 

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To what extent does your experience match with that detailed here? Feel free to comment below.

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Keywords: university admissions, biomolecular science, programme performance

Abstract

With the constant pressure of performance in league tables and the current economic climate universities have to be more stringent in their choices of who they admit on their courses. This study investigates the correlation between entrance grades and 1st year pass results for biomolecular science students. The aim is to use this study to inform future admissions policy. Approximately 50% of 2009 student enrolments technically faild level 1. However students with A-level biology, chemistry or both did not fail. This paper discusses the reasons for failure and impact of widening participation on programme performance.

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Do A-level results in biology and chemistry inform 1st year pass rate for biomolecular science students?

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Keywords: university admissions, biomolecular science, programme performance With the constant pressure of performance in league tables and the current economic climate universities have to be more stringent in their choices of who they admit on their courses. This study investigates the correlation between entrance grades and 1st year pass results for biomolecular science students.

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Please ask any general comments or questions you may have here.

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Please ask any general comments or questions you may have here.

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Think Piece: Curriculum Design in Higher Education: Theory to Practice

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Think Piece: Curriculum Design in Higher Education: Theory to Practice

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Think Piece: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge

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Think Piece: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge

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Do these definitions of theshold concepts match with your own?

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Hello, I'm speaking in Theme 2: Diversity of learning at level 3
Abstract:
Learning has never been so accessible with the plethora of online material available today, and yet overwhelming when trying to find and evaluate supporting materials which can help 'fill in the gaps' of your learning or help you problem solve concepts.  Widening Participation students often have gaps in digital literacies and the extra time it may take them to browse systems for information is often spent working to support themselves or families (those with caring responsibilities for instance). As scaffolders of education, academics need to create reusable learning objects (3-5 min videos of concepts), a clear path for students to find those objects (clearly labeled folder structures), and a way for students to evaluate which path they need to travel (how to identify strength and weaknesses).  VLEs are often underutilized, as they become storage containers for materials, or visually appealing alternative to websites.  Creating robust, accessible VLEs with stage appropriate concept checking, revealing further materials upon discovering a need for revision at point of need, would help to engage with our students to ensure that their learning needs are met whilst also allowing the whole cohort to progress.

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We have a social space set up for use during the workshop breaks, should you wish to continue discussions or network with others in the workshop. Feel free to make use of this social space as you wish.

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If you need guidance with using wonder.me, here's a quick help video

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A Guest's Guide: Everything you need to know!

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Tailored Blended Learning for Foundation Year Chemistry Students

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Tailored Blended Learning for Foundation Year Chemistry Students

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https://chimia.ch/chimia/article/view/2021_018

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Authors

Shannon Chamberlain School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

Daniel Elford School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

Simon J. Lancaster School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom;, Email: S.Lancaster@uea.ac.uk

Francesca Silve School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2021.18

Keywords:
Active learning, Blended, Just in time teaching, Peer instruction, Student directed

Abstract The chemistry foundation year at the University of East Anglia is a diverse cohort with a wide range of prior educational experience and confidence levels. A flexible learning program combining extensive online materials intended for asynchronous study and face to face peer instruction is provided. Study is divided into weekly topics. Students are directed to take a short introductory quiz at the beginning of the week, feedback on which allows them to tailor the extent of asynchronous learning to their own needs. All students attend a highly interactive synchronous teaching session which utilises active learning to develop their conceptual understanding. The week concludes with a reflective formative test. Measures of student activity on the online platform and audience response technology in the lecture theatre provide a quantitative picture of engagement with tailored blended learning, while semi-structured interviews provide qualitative insight into the student perception.

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Tailored Blended Learning for Foundation Year Chemistry Students

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Shannon Chamberlain School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom Daniel Elford School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom Simon J.

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JISC quick guide on widening participation and personalized learning 

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JISC quick guide on widening participation and personalized learning 

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https://www-jisc-ac-uk.uea.idm.oclc.org/guides/widening-participation#

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Foundational Data Handling Skills - Philip Leftwich

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Foundational Data Handling Skills - Philip Leftwich

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Twitter: @PhilipLeftwich
The traditional skills/statistics module for early-stage biologists introduces high-concept theories such as p-values, distributions and likelihood tests. It may however neglect, or make assumptions about basic data handling and necessary computer skills.
In this brief talk, I outline how to avoid building on a foundation of sand when it comes to data analysis.

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Teaching threshold concepts: The understanding of discipline-specific threshold concepts has been described as transformative, like passing through a portal to new ways of thinking. Is there a value in teaching the idea of these concepts to biology students?

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You can use this handout to think about how you might develop your own OSPE to suit your students and resources. I have amazing colleagues who are trying this with subjects such as chemistry, but also other more surprising disciplines like philosophy!

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Promoting student success through enhancing study skills - Dr Araida Hidalgo & Dr Katherine Hargreaves

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Promoting student success through enhancing study skills - Dr Araida Hidalgo & Dr Katherine Hargreaves

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This talk will explore the skills that are needed for students to be ready to learn.
Considering the range of backgrounds from our biosciences/biomedical sciences students, and especially after the COVID years, it is much needed to ensure all students have the right skills (Independent Learning, Critical Thinking and Assessment Literacy & Academic Integrity) to allow them to engage/enjoy/understand the university level sessions.

Dr Hidalgo is currently Sr Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine and departmental international lead for Life Sc at Manchester Metropolitan University. Through her academic roles as programme leader and external examiner, she has influenced programmes’ content to embed multicultural awareness and digital tools as soft skills to enhance student experience and improve satisfaction, and ultimately, boost graduates’ employability. Her educational role also includes developing and leading academic and study skills sessions to support students, which is part of the strategy to tackle the award gap for ethnic minorities and international students.

Dr Hargreaves is a Lecturer in Microbiology in the Department of Life Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University. Through her academic role as lecturer and unit leader for the Infection Science unit, she is bringing prior experience gained during trainee teaching with the Researchers in Schools programme in secondary school science to engage students and develop independent scholarship, with embedding learning practices to promote equitable learning. She also delivers and designs applied and skills-based student learning in the microbiology laboratory, and is interested in how novel technology and techniques can be brought into teaching spaces to enhance student experiences.

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Hello, Im speaking in Theme 2. I am a Foundation Year Lecturer, Module Organiser, Engagement Officer and co-Chair of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity committee in BIO. I am particularly interested in efforts to resolve the current wellbeing and engagement crisis among undergraduate students.

I will be talking about initiatives we have trialed this year in our Foundation Year course to embed wellbeing sessions into course content. In my view, this has equipped and motivated students to self-direct their metacognition and study skills, at the same time as allowing students to feel connected and improve their soft skills.

Please feel free to contact me: helen.leggett@uea.ac.uk

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Skills-based practical learning - How to OSPE (Objective Structured Practical Examination) - Derek Scott, University of Aberdeen

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Skills-based practical learning - How to OSPE (Objective Structured Practical Examination) - Derek Scott, University of Aberdeen

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Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPE’s) are assessments of theoretical, practical and problem-solving skills at multiple stations which are frequently used to evaluate clinical practical skills (Harden and Cairncross, 1980). Although non-clinical disciplines rarely use this successful assessment style, we have adapted this format to assess a wide range of communication, ethics, numeracy, graphic interpretation and science laboratory practical skills. This approach helps to prepare students for research projects and enhances graduate attributes and employability skills.
This presentation will discuss how we developed this idea to replace large, traditional, all-day practical classes, how the concept was refined over several years, how we overcame resistance from colleagues to try something different, and why student demand has meant its gradual expansion across multiple science degree programmes.
In addition, we will highlight how student partners have been key in helping us deliver these learning experiences more effectively, and how we are helping students use their OSPE experiences to better prepare them for the job market.

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I am a Teaching Fellow in Biosciences at the University of Hertfordshire and I also work as a Scientist TBL Educator at the new medical school in Brunel University London. However following completion of my PhD in 2020, I worked in Medical Writing for a bit prior to returning to Academia. I have a keen interest in teaching, women's health and education focused research.
Email: chinedu.agwu@brunel.ac.uk
Twitter: @cagwu1

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Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education

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Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education

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A document I'll briefly mention in my talk 'Teaching threshold concepts in biology'

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Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education- A Call to Action

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Full paper mentioned in talk.

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Integrated Biology and Undergraduate Science Education: A New Biology Education for the Twenty-First Century? Labov et al. 2010

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Integrated Biology and Undergraduate Science Education: A New Biology Education for the Twenty-First Century? Labov et al. 2010

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If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username

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We will be creating a collection of resources and outcomes from this workshop published by THE Campus. If anybody has any thoughts or relevant expertise that they would like to contribute, we would be really pleased to have additional contributions to make this collections really robust and representative of these topics. Speakers are welcome and encouraged to write up their talk topics and reflect on the questions/discussion, but all attendees can suggest/produce content. Guidance and example THE Campus articles below.
In the interests of accessibility, as Charlie mentioned, video resources are also accepted (guidance below) - perhaps a great opportunity to practice some of the new tools we've been introduced to!
If you have any queries about this, please contact becky.lewis@uea.ac.uk.

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Establishing positive peer relationships is vital for students' self-confidence and well-being and for developing resilience. The benefits of student peer support groups include building effective communication skills, increasing motivation and confidence in their abilities through knowledge exchange and problem-solving.

Opportunities to socialise have changed for everyone in the past two years, resulting in changes in student behaviour. With this in mind, we have embedded a variety of new practices, into our teaching to facilitate student socialising both in person and using digital tools.

How the pandemic has broken down students' natural social bonds

At university, most students live independently for the first time. Many take on part-time work, experience new cultures in a new city and meet people from different social and cultural backgrounds. They may study abroad, engage in overseas field courses or join sports clubs and societies that widen their view of the world.

So when these opportunities for developing vital social skills are disrupted, as happened because of lockdowns, for example, the effect on young adults is profound. Last year, the UK's Office of National Statistics reported that loneliness was highest in areas with high concentrations of young people, aged 16 to 24 years, and the unemployed.

The shift to online or hybrid teaching during the pandemic also removed many social aspects of teaching and learning for students, such as group seminars, pair working in laboratories and tutor groups.

In the second half of the 2021 autumn semester, when asked, our level 3, 4 and 5 students reported knowing very few of their peers. When asked about their support network, not a single level 3 or 4 student reported having formed a peer support group. There seemed to be a level of apprehension, mistrust and anxiety among students that had not been seen before. Left unchecked, the consequence of this would be that students would not reap the benefits of peer support.

But teachers can create opportunities for students to meet and form connections - whether face-to-face on campus or online.

Strategies to support students in building a peer support network

Small group learning tasks

Small group tasks where students work together to achieve a shared objective introduce students to their peers and peer-working. Early in the academic year, assign a discussion task or topic to encourage students to chat to their peers; a specific task or assessment gives an initial discussion topic from which other conversations can follow. Examples of how we have used this approach include:
i) a group assessment task to produce a transcript for a natural history film clip
ii) a seminar held the week after an essay topic is assigned to allow students to discuss their ideas for an essay plan in small groups.

Fun group activities

Fun group activities provide students with peer-to-peer interactions in a less formal environment than lectures or seminars. Such activities can combine learning with a social activity. We organised a student-led trail around our campus. Students participated in groups of their course peers (about six students per group), with on-the-spot tasks along the route. Put on the spot to solve a problem, students worked as a team and started to develop relationships among themselves and with staff, whom they had not had the opportunity to meet until this event. Similar events can work in the lab or during welcome week to add opportunities for students to build these important peer-support relationships.

Social media groups

Students can seem well connected online given the widespread media reports of young people being addicted to their smartphones and computers. However, when we asked students about their support network, because students had not formed a peer support group in person, they also had not developed any online connections with peers. We asked them which social media platform they preferred for communication - WhatsApp - and if they would like to be part of a cohort group chat on this platform. The students felt uncomfortable setting this up themselves, with some being anxious about giving their number to people they didn't know well. In their next lab session, where in-person attendance is highest, we left a sign-up sheet for the WhatsApp group at the front of the lab. Students wrote their phone number without leaving their names to preserve some confidentiality. One student volunteered to create the group chat.

The WhatsApp group made an almost instant difference to the mood in our teaching sessions: the students have in-jokes and have openly talked about the group being useful for both their studies, with timetable information, assessment deadlines and IT issues all shared, and their personal lives through things such as car-sharing and arranging accommodation.

Connect with student societies

When students arrive at university, they are often bombarded with information about the city, the university, their course and the many societies they could join. Understandably, the less "new and exciting" but often more supportive societies can often be overlooked. To remedy this, we offered societies a coffee morning halfway through the first semester. This informal two-hour session offered an opportunity for students to drop in and meet other students who were representing key societies linked to the school of study. The goal was to remind students who might be starting to feel isolated that there are peer-support groups available to them. We made badges for the different societies to ensure that the reps were identifiable and to foster a sense of belonging in the new society members.

A key part of our job is to help prepare students for life after university.

Being part of a supportive community and building meaningful relationships with peers are invaluable parts of a student's resilience toolkit. These can improve student well-being, both at university and beyond.
Kelly Edmunds is associate professor; Helen Leggett and Becky Lewis are both lecturers at the University of East Anglia.

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WhatsApp and campus trails: supporting students in building peer support networks

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Establishing positive peer relationships is vital for students' self-confidence and well-being and for developing resilience. The benefits of student peer support groups include building effective communication skills, increasing motivation and confidence in their abilities through knowledge exchange and problem-solving. Opportunities to socialise have changed for everyone in the past two years, resulting in changes in student behaviour.

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This paper about the Bioskills Guide developed in North America may be useful to prompt ideas about what students need to be successful in the biosciences.

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This paper about the Bioskills Guide developed in North America may be useful to prompt ideas about what students need to be successful in the biosciences.

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There are variants of this for various specific disciplines e.g. the 14 core concepts of physiology https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00114.2020

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If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username

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many benefits for staff and students of learning student names , it humanises the teaching and learning environment and makes everyone feel "seen".

in the same way you would welcome a student into a physical classroom, it is important to greet each student by name as they enter the virtual learning space.

in practical subjects such as biology, where hands-on laboratory work has been prioritised for face-to-face teaching throughout the pandemic, lab sessions may be the only time students engage with peers from their course in-person. To enable this practical teaching to continue, all staff and students have needed to wear disposable facemasks.

This poses another novel challenge. While the students feel they know their lecturers, the lecturers are unable to recognise their students. This means they cannot acknowledge those who participate well in online sessions or identify students needing additional support. The anonymity of online teaching can impair the rare opportunities for constructive in-person interactions.

Allowing students to "label" themselves in this way enables us as educators to acknowledge and focus on individuals, removing the anonymity barrier of the virtual learning space. It helps to create a welcoming and friendly learning space in which students are free to express themselves and better able to learn.
If you found this interesting and want advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered directly to your inbox each week, sign up for the THE Campus newsletter.

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Unmasking the scientist: breaking down anonymity to build relationships when teaching online

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many benefits for staff and students of learning student names , it humanises the teaching and learning environment and makes everyone feel "seen". in the same way you would welcome a student into a physical classroom, it is important to greet each student by name as they enter the virtual learning space.

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https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/using-online-and-blended-learning-tools-teach-data-science-skills

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Using online and blended learning tools to teach data science skills

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Advice on teaching data science skills using online and blended learning tools and resources, by Philip Leftwich