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Issue One January 2001 P L A N E T The emphasis on the development of a more active-learning-based approach was helpful because it coincided with my interests and observations that this method is able to engage students’ attention and increase their learning effort. However, the workshop also increased my awareness of a nagging thought that the demands to improve one’s teaching come on top of other increasing demands on one’s time and budget, such as research and administration. The organisers and other participants ensured that the workshop was a very valuable and enjoyable experience. Uwe Dornbusch University of Sussex u.dornbusch@sussex.ac.uk Other comments: “Realising that much quality help and advice is available to me in many different forms”. “Meeting and talking to staff and delegates. The feeling of common experiences / challenges and resultant camaraderie. Being involved in such a well planned / organised event with enthusiastic people”. “Meeting colleagues in similar circumstances but from different institutions – opportunities to share and exchange and support. The positive and supportive nature of the experienced leaders”. Geological Society of America: Summit 2000 Reno, Nevada: November 9-18 The Geological Society of America’s mission is “to be a broad, unifying society that fosters understanding of earth systems, supports its members and addresses human needs”. As stated in the conference programme “these values are embedded within the activities of the Summit 2000 meeting, which provides a forum for scientific debate, a venue to meet with our colleagues, and an opportunity to discuss the challenges in earth science education and share a public voice on current issues that challenge our science.” (For more information about the Society visit its web-site at http://www.geosociety.org/). Helen King and Lawrie Phipps attended the conference (partly subsidised by the LTSN National Subject Centre for GEES), in order to promote the Centre’s activities, seek out possible international collaboration opportunities, and to investigate the state of play in Geoscience learning and teaching in the USA. From left to right: Lawrie Phipps, Helen King and Roger Suthren at GSA 2000. Over the four day period of the conference, almost 100 presentations took place on education and educational research as well as poster sessions, organised discussions and meetings covering a range of educational topics. Discussions were not restricted to the teaching of Geology; Earth Systems Science is a major feature of learning and teaching in the USA and includes interactions within and between the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere, therefore fully embracing geography, earth and environmental sciences. Some of the information, resources and examples of interesting practice gathered at the conference will be disseminated via the Subject Centre’s workshops and other activities in the coming months. One of the most exciting new developments showcased and discussed extensively was the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education (DLESE) http://www.dlese.org/. This new, Federally-funded initiative has many parallels with the Subject Centre’s own Information Gateway project - Tellus. Discussions between the Subject Centre and DLESE staff were very positive and further collaborative work will be actively pursued. The issues of metadata standards and interoperability across the two projects were discussed and an exchange of ideas and views will be set up electronically in the near future. Contacts were reinforced with the National Association of Geosience Teachers (NAGT) http://www.nagt.org/. This is a USA-based organisation but with many overseas members and it also embraces a broad definition of Geoscience. Many NAGT members are also involved with the International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO) http://reaction.psc.sc.edu/cse/igeo.html and these two bodies provide excellent opportunities for international collaboration. So, if you are interested in developing overseas contacts in Geoscience Education, do get in touch with the above organisations or contact the Subject Centre in Plymouth. Helen King and Lawrie Phipps* National Subject Centre hking@plymouth.ac.uk (*now at LTSN Technologies Centre, York) 16
Issue One January 2001 P L A N E T Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) Annual Conference, Manchester Conference Centre: 21-22 November 2000 “Staff and educational developers have tended to work collaboratively to promote and share ideas and good practice with the aim of improving student learning.” (Rakesh Bhanot, Chair: SEDA Conference Committee). The work of staff and educational developers has expanded considerably over the last few years to become involved in strategic and policy issues as well as research and development in higher education learning and teaching. This broadening was reflected in the annual conference which was attended by educational developers, learning technologists and senior lecturers, as well as staff from several Subject Centres. The conference was preceded by a workshop day targeted at educational developers and Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) staff. The workshops proved to be very useful in supporting the work of LTSN staff and the day also provided a further opportunity for discussion and networking between different Subject Centres. Many excellent workshops were run during the main conference. Perhaps the two most pertinent were ‘How do teaching and learning projects develop the new developers?’ run by Carole Baume (Director of the TQEF National Co-ordination Team) and David Baume (Director of the Centre for Higher Education Practice, Open University); and ‘New Professionals as Expert Learners’ run by Martin Oliver (UCL). Both of these workshops explored the development and future roles of the ‘new generation’ of educational developers, including learning technologists and project staff from learning and teaching programmes such as the Fund for Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL) and the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) and the LTSN. Further information on the conference and other SEDA activities can be found at their web-site: http://www.seda.demon.co.uk/ SEDA Associate Fellowship The GEES Subject Centre is delighted to announce the award of SEDA Associate Fellowship which was presented to Helen King at the conference reception. This award is part of a professional accreditation scheme intended for those who support lecturers, support staff and their institutions to enhance the quality of the student learning experience, through the professional development of staff who work in higher education. C&IT in Fieldwork Conference University of Leeds, 29th November 2000 The new LTSN National Subject Centre is building on the work of the former Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI) Centres and is keen to promote the use (where appropriate) of learning technologies. One of the most interesting and controversial current issues is how best to use technology to support fieldwork. For this reason the LTSN National Subject Centre for GEES recently held a one day conference on fieldwork teaching using C & IT. The conference was hosted by the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, fifty delegates attended representing the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences community as well as staff from cognate disciplines such as biosciences and archaeology. The conference aimed to demonstrate good practice and provide a forum for some of the issues raised by the use of C & IT in fieldwork. Six pieces of work were demonstrated ranging from the small-scale implementation of software within a department to large-scale development of software suites available to all Higher Education Institutions. In his keynote address, Tom Franklin of the LTSN Technologies Centre, spoke of the importance of C & IT in the curriculum and accessibility in the design of these resources. A prevailing theme throughout the day was that technology is a tool, which can be used as an important enhancement for fieldwork teaching but should not be used as a substitute for the real thing! Proceedings of the conference will be available as a version of PLANET in the near future. Software for Earth Science Teaching and Learning Twenty-one fully indexed CAL modules developed in UK Universities with TLTP funding covering most aspects of Geology and several aspects of Environmental Science and Physical Geography. Web and application based versions available for Macintosh and Windows, also free demo CD-ROM and low-cost scheme for students to buy all the modules on one CD-ROM. See the website for details www.man.ac.uk/~ukescc UK Earth Science Courseware Consortium Department of Earth Sciences University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL, UK ukescc@man.ac.uk Tel: 01625 612896 Fax: 01625 613997 “My fieldcourse doesn’t need updating, I’ve been running it for thirty years’ Bookwinner The winner of the ‘Name Badge Draw’ at the C & IT in Fieldwork conference was Richard Teeuw, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Hertfordshire. Richard receives a John Wiley book of his choice. So, the next time you attend a Subject Centre event remember to return your name badge! HF (2000) 17
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