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Issue One January 2001 P L A N E T Aims: The project seeks to promote interdisciplinarity and values awareness and critical thinking in environmental Higher Education, especially in environmental science/studies and geography. Available resources: Teaching and learning resources are available for free download, as html pages, on the above website. ‘Hertfordshire Integrated Learning Project (HILP)’ University of Hertfordshire Subject Areas: environmental studies, geology, chemistry, law, computer science, business and management studies, mechanical engineering, music, applied social work, history, english. http://www.herts.ac.uk/envstrat/HILP/ Contact: m.hall@herts.ac.uk Aims: HILP aims to enhance staff and student perceptions of skills development, and has as its focus the integration of skills development into the academic curriculum. Available resources: Resources include a graduate skills menu, descriptors for graduate skills, skills support materials, tools for mapping and tracking graduate skills and transdisciplinary case studies for problem-based learning. ‘TRIADS - Tripartite Assessment Delivery System’ University of Liverpool (collaborative with the University of Derby and the Open University) Subject Areas: Geography, geology, medicine, veterinary science http://www.pcweb.liv.ac.uk/apboyle/triads/index.html Contact: apboyle@liv.ac.uk Aims: To improve the quality of students’ learning by promoting a ‘learning outcomes led’ approach to curriculum design and assessment. Available resources: Free demonstration of question styles are available at: http://www.derby.ac.uk/assess/newdemo/newdemo.html ‘Skills Development: The Management of Change’ University of Newcastle upon Tyne Subject Areas: Architecture, chemistry, computing, geography, history, tourism http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ADU/hefce/ Contact: i.h.nixon@ncl.ac.uk Aims: To identify strategies that can facilitate changes in the curriculum to promote the development of students’ skills. Available resources: Web-site links to relevant resources, publications and case studies at the above address. ‘SEED: Science Education Enhancement and Development’ University of Plymouth Subject Areas: Geography, geology, environmental studies http://www.science.plym.ac.uk/departments/seed/ Contact: bchalkley@plymouth.ac.uk Aims: To develop, document and disseminate good practice in Science teaching and learning. The programme consists of a series of projects in areas such as lab-work, field-work, graduate teaching assistants and computer-aided learning. Available resources: Learning and teaching handbooks on computer based assessment, developing employer links and fieldwork in the sciences, are among some of the resources available to download free, in pdf format, from the web-site above. ‘Staff Development in the Earth Sciences’ University of Southampton Subject Area: Earth Sciences http://www.soton.ac.uk/~ukgec/ Contact: h.king@plymouth.ac.uk Aims: To identify current best practice in teaching and learning and to promote its widest possible dissemination, take-up and implementation. Available resources: A Staff Handbook to Support Earth Sciences Learning and Teaching in Higher Education available free from the above address or download, in pdf format, from http://www.gees.ac.uk/Resbook.pdf ‘GNU: Geography for the New Undergraduate’ Liverpool Hope University College Subject Areas: Geography http://www.hope.ac.uk/gnu/ Contact: cs.maguire@ulst.ac.uk Aims: To develop a first year undergraduate seminar programme to teach personal, interpersonal and transferable skills within a geographical context, and to assist the successful transition to undergraduate studies, particularly for non-traditional-entry students. Available resources: Tutor and student guides to a seminar programme on various skills themes. Tutor guides provide enough information for tutors to run seminars. ‘IMAGE: Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education’ University College London Subject Area: Geology http://www.ucl.ac.uk/geolsci/edu/ugrads/image.htm Contact: p.meredith@ucl.ac.uk Aims: The project aims to develop essential skills applicable to geoscience education, primarily under the subdivisions of mathematics and fieldwork. Available resources: web-based computer-aided learning resources available for use on the web-site above include geo-mathematics revision topics and fieldwork (tailored to UCL courses). Summary of FDTL As seen, there is a large corpus of teaching and learning resources that have been made available through the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL). Most material is available for downloading from the listed websites or by getting in touch with the named contact person. Most of the available resources are free of charge. The Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) Q: What specific projects has the HEFCE Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) supported? A: Not unlike the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning, the Fund for Teaching and Learning Technology has supported a whole host of projects. Within the disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences four projects were funded. An annotated list of these is provided below. ‘UK Earth Sciences Courseware Consortium (UKESCC)’ University of Manchester Subject Area: Earth Sciences http://www.man.ac.uk/Geology/CAL/index.html Contact: ukescc@man.ac.uk Aims: to develop, produce and distribute high quality interactive courseware for use in Earth Science teaching and learning. Available resources: hybrid Macintosh/Windows demonstration CD-ROM containing examples of the 21 courseware modules available can be ordered from the web-site. The UKESCC project has now become a commercial venture and the available learning resources are chargeable. However, the National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences has all 21 courseware modules for use at the Centre’s library. Please contact sgaskin@plymouth.ac.uk if you would like to visit and experiment with the software. 22
Issue One January 2001 P L A N E T ‘Centre for Computer Based Learning in Land Use and Environmental Sciences’ University of Aberdeen http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/ Contact: CLUES@abdn.ac.uk Aims: To enhance the quality of learning and increase the effectiveness of teaching in subjects relating to land use and environmental sciences within UK Higher Education through the application of computer-assisted learning (CAL) and other appropriate information technologies (IT). Available resources: CLUES products include CAL courseware and selfteaching tutorials. The web-site also contains a useful, annotated Directory of Resources for Computer Based Learning in Land Use and Environmental Sciences ‘Geotechnical Computer-aided Learning’ University of the West of England http://geocal.uwe.ac.uk/ No longer running Aims: GeotechniCAL’s objective is the appropriate use of information technology for the teaching and learning of geotechnics. Available resources: the web-site contains an index of computer-assisted learning packages for geotechnical engineering. Some of the resources contain “live” online material developed using open Internet standards. ‘GeographyCAL® UK Computer-assisted Learning Consortium in Geography’ University of Leicester Subject Area: Geography http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/cti/tltp/ Contact: vg5@le.ac.uk Aims: To specify, develop, test and deliver a library of high-quality transportable resources in the form of computer-assisted learning (CAL) modules. Available resources: CAL modules in human geography, physical geography and geographical techniques. Q: What was the funding councils Computers in Teaching Initiative(CTI) about? A: The Computers in Teaching Initiative spanned the ten years of the 1990s. The aim of the CTI was to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education through the use of appropriate technologies. This has successfully been achieved in the disciplines of Land Use and Environmental Sciences, Geography, Geology and Meteorology through the CTI Centres for these subject areas. Up until January 2000, the CTI Centre for Geography, Geology and Meteorology was based at the University of Leicester and directed by Geoff Robinson (now the C & IT senior advisor to the Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences). The Subject Centre for Biosciences has taken up the baton for CLUES, the CTI Centre for Land Use and Environmental Sciences, where the former director Simon Heath is now advising as a Subject Specialist. Many excellent learning and teaching resources were produced as a result of the CTI. These include a web-site for the Geography, Geology and Meteorology CTI (http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/cti/) containing a catalogue of geographical software, providing information on over 100 software items. Additionally, an information gateway provides an index of on-line Geo- Information resources for university staff and students: this will soon be subsumed into the Subject Centre’s own Information Gateway which spans a much wider community. The development of GeographyCal® courseware (see above) involved over 130 academics and has proved to be an immense help and resource for the teaching community. However, January 2000 potentially marked a turning point in the provision of support for learning and teaching in Higher Education, and the CTI centres came to an end. However, they left behind an important legacy of involvement, commitment and encouragement. Q: If the CTI Centre for Geography, Geology and Meteorology is no longer in operation, who is serving the need to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in Higher Education through the use of appropriate technologies? A: In January 2000, the HEFCE set-up a Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), consisting of 24 Subject Centres, a Generic Centre and a Technologies Centre (GEES). The Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences is committed to integrating C&IT into learning and teaching in Higher Education as part of a wider remit. For more information on the LTSN National Subject Centre for GEES refer to an earlier article in this edition of PLANET. Q: Are there any projects across Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences that have been successful in securing funds to improve provision for disabled students? A: Yes, the Geography Discipline Network (GDN) (see above) provides learning and teaching resources for the three disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and is based at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. The GDN has been awarded money to provide guidance on learning support for disabled students undertaking fieldwork. The project will run until June 2001. The main aim of the project is to identify, promote and transfer the principles and good practices of how to provide learning support for disabled students undertaking fieldwork and related activities. It is the intention of the project managers to produce a series of six guides for use by relevant departments. Contact: mhealey@chelt.ac.uk. or visit http:// www.chelt.ac.uk/gdn. Q: How can I access and benefit from the above learning and teaching initiatives? If one of the projects above covers your subject area and interests you, do contact the project leader and/or visit the website addresses listed above and obtain copies of the project resource outputs. If there is a learning and teaching topic that you are wrestling with, (such as the introduction of C&IT into your course or developing your students’ employability and skills training), then again you will probably find it useful to obtain the resource outputs from some of these projects. While many of the initiatives have now come to an end, there it is still a need to continue disseminating and deploying their resources. The Subject Centre is keen to assist with this process. And a last word……if you are in need of help on any learning and teaching issue, then contact the LTSN National Subject Centre and use the register of expertise. We hope to hear from you! Steve Gaskin and Helen King National Subject Centre sgaskin@plymouth.ac.uk hking@plymouth.ac.uk This article has in part drawn on a feature first published in Educational Developments 1.1 (Jan 2000), published by the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA). YOU to Review! The National Subject Centre holds an archive of new learning and teaching software and texts, in part supplied by John Wiley & Sons. If you are interested in reviewing any of this material then please contact the Subject Centre on 01752 233530 (jgill@plymouth.ac.uk). We will then commission a review that will be published in a future issue of PLANET and on the Subject Centre’s website. 23
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