News Archive 2003
Archive of News Items from 2003
Please note that this is an archive of past news items and therefore some entries may no longer be accurate.
- December 2003 - The Plagiarism Advisory Service web-site (funded by the JISC) is a service that aims to raise awareness of plagiarism in the academic community and offers an online Plagiarism Detection Service.
- December 2003 - Please view our survey of staff opinion on enhancing graduate employability
- December 2003 - Presentations from Enhancing Student Employability (A South-West Regional Conference sponsored by ESECT, LTSN-GEES and the University of Plymouth)
- December 2003 - The Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching an Enriched Resource (FILTER) project
- December 2003 - A Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed & Aspiring Lecturers in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES)
- December 2003 - VLE Practitioner Survey
- December 2003 - Call for Contributors - PLANET Edition 12 (January 2004)
- December 2003 - Virtual Learning Environments and the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Presentations from the one-day conference
- November - Call for Papers for the Higher Education Sessions at the International Geographical Congress, Glasgow, August 2004
- November 2003 - FREE!! LTSN-GEES Departmental Workshops (October 2003 to July 2004) - Request One Now!
- November 2003 - Virtual Learning Environments and the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, An LTSN-GEES one-day conference
- October 2003 - On-line Assessment and Feedback (OLAAF) - an event sponsored by LTSN Bioscience and LTSN-GEES
- September 2003 - A CALL FOR PAPERS! - Planet Special Edition On Teaching And Research
- September 2003 - Please view our survey of staff opinion on enhancing graduate employability
- September 2003 - Enhancing Student Employability (A South-West Regional Conference sponsored by ESECT, LTSN-GEES and the University of Plymouth)
- June 2003 - Planet Edition 10
- May 2003 - LTSN-GEES Small-scale Project Funding 2003
- May 2003 - Widening Participation: Meeting the 50% Target - Wednesday 14 May 2003
- May 2003 - PLANET 6 - call for submissions
- May 2003 - LTSN-GEES Residential Conference - Call for submissions
- April 2003 - PLANET Special Edition on Education for Sustainable Development
- April 2003 - HELP Conference - April 7th 2003 Universities UK, London
- April 2003 - A Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed Lecturers 2003
- April 2003 - Overseas Fieldwork in HE - A National Conference - Wednesday April 2nd, Geological Society, London
- February 2003 - PLANET Edition 5
- February 2003 - Forthcoming Conference - Time to reflect? Promoting reflection among students and staff
- January 2003 - Ecological Project Compendium - An Invitation to Contributors
The Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching an Enriched Resource (FILTER) project
FILTER aims to encourage and enable the use of digital images in learning and teaching in UK Further and Higher education. FILTER provides an easy to use image-rich database of learning and teaching resources (tutorials, Web pages, PowerPoint slides, etc) and supporting materials along with detailed descriptive records. The resources have been developed by practicing educators and are designed for use by the novice as well as more technically able practitioner.
You can browse tutorials & case studies in the FILTER database. Of particular interest to the GEES disciplines are:
Earth Sciences
This virtual field trip has been developed to support the teaching of Sedimentology within a second year Geology module. A "visit" starts with the field site as seen from space and ends up examining the sediment using a petrological microscope.
Geography
Fluvial Geomorphology - A web based learning resource for level 2/3 undergraduates which includes over 150 colour images; time lapse aerial photography and VR panoramas.
The FILTER database contains a number of casestudies and tutorials from other subject areas.
You can also browse the FILTER database for images (Images may be used for non-profit, educational purposes).
A Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed & Aspiring Lecturers in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES)
Date: Monday 24th May - Tuesday 25th May, 2004
Venue: Hornton Grange, University of Birmingham
Organisers: Learning and Teaching Support Network Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (LTSN-GEES).
Workshop Description
This residential workshop aims to help newly appointed, or aspiring, teaching staff in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) learn about and evaluate a range of approaches, methods and resources for learning, teaching and assessment in these disciplines. By being discipline-specific the event will complement any generic-based institutional courses that delegates are attending or have taken. It will also provide an informal opportunity for delegates to meet and share experiences with other new GEES staff from other institutions. To date, more than 100 GEES academics have attended this popular event.
Workshop sessions at the event will include (subject to demand):
- Fieldwork
- Learning outcomes and assessment
- E-learning
- Supervising research students
- Lecturing
- Resource-based learning
- Laboratory classes
- Small-group teaching
- Integrating skills development
- Linking teaching & research
- Work-based Learning
Who Should Attend?
Anyone in Geography, Earth or Environmental Sciences who has started teaching in HE in the last three years and who would like to develop and improve their teaching whilst extending their continuing professional development. We also welcome aspiring lecturers (e.g. postgraduates, GTAs) to attend as well.
What is the Cost?
As this event is being heavily subsidised by LTSN-GEES, delegates will only be asked to pay £50, which will include one nights B&B, a conference evening meal, lunch on both days and teas and coffees. Delegates are however expected to meet their own travel costs.
How do I register?
We advise you to register early as we have a limited number of places that are subsidised. The full programme, venue details and an online registration form for this residential workshop for recently appointed & aspiring lecturers in GEES in no longer available. The deadline for registration is Friday December 19th 2003 (the deadline is earlier than anticipated this year, due to logistical commitments with the venue).
VLE Practitioner Survey
Please fill in this short questionnaire (now removed) that will contribute to the Fieldwork Education and Technology group of the LTSN-GEES pedagogic research and fieldwork programme. The project investigates the relationship between C&IT and fieldwork education as used in the undergraduate curriculum in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Call for Contributors - PLANET Edition 12 (January 2004)
The editorial board of PLANET welcomes material of interest to academics and support staff in the fields of learning, teaching and assessment across the three disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, for the January 2004 edition. Generic submissions from other disciplines and submissions with an international dimension are also invited.
Type of Contributions
Brief research papers, notes or short communications, case studies of learning and teaching practice, annotated web-links, software and book reviews, forum commentary, and letters to the editor commenting on an article previously published in Planet.
Deadline for submissions Monday, December 1st 2003
Call for Papers for the Higher Education Sessions at the International Geographical Congress, Glasgow, August 2004
The International Network for Learning and Teaching Geography in Higher Education (INLT) is collaborating with the IGU Commission on Geographical Education (IGU-CGE) and the Higher Education Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-HERG) to run two sessions on Thursday 19th August and a further session with the RGS-HERG on Friday 20th August.
Please note that this call for papers is entirely separate from the recent call from Alistair Robinson for the IGU-CGE Symposium.
We are inviting 150 word abstract proposals for papers (20 min slots, 15 min presentation, 5 min discussion), which address the theme of the relevant session. Please email your proposal to the relevant convenor before the deadline of 30 November 2003.
The details of the sessions are as follows:
- 'Pedagogic research in geography in higher education' Thursday Morning 19th August; Convenor: Mick Healey (Gloucestershire)
- 'Employability for geographers' Thursday Afternoon 19th August; Convenors: Pauline Kneale (Leeds) and Brian Chalkley (Plymouth)
- 'Towards UN Decade of Education for Sustainability 2005/14: Implications for higher education' Friday Morning 20 August; Convenor: Martin Haigh (Oxford Brookes)
Format of the Abstracts
- Word processed in English and saved in .rtf format
- Font: Arial 12 point
- Maximum of 150 words
Each abstract should be accompanied by personal details of all authors:
- Name, Forename, Title (Prof, Dr, Mr, Ms etc)
- Post
- Institution
- Address
- e-mail address
It is a condition of acceptance of an abstract that the author (in the case of multiple authored papers at least one author) registers for and attends the IGU Congress for the relevant day and makes their presentation in English.
On-line Assessment and Feedback (OLAAF) - an event sponsored by LTSN Bioscience and LTSN-GEES
Date: Tuesday 21st October, 2003
Venue: The Robbins Conference Centre, University of Plymouth (Plymouth Campus)
Costs: Free of charge.
Why is this meeting important?
Assessment needs to be effective, efficient and support student learning. The use of on-line assessment, linked to effective immediate feedback offers the prospect of more efficient and effective use of staff time AND improved feedback to students on how to improve future learning. This meeting will examine general issues of assessment and feedback and look in more depth at experiences of using two on-line authorware systems - QM Perception and TRIADS. Opportunities will be available for delegates to present posters on their own work and try out examples of both authorware systems.
On-line Assessment and Feedback (OLAAF) - an event sponsored by LTSN Bioscience and LTSN-GEES
Date: Tuesday 21st October, 2003
Venue: The Robbins Conference Centre, University of Plymouth (Plymouth Campus)
Costs: Free of charge.
Why is this meeting important?
Assessment needs to be effective, efficient and support student learning. The use of on-line assessment, linked to effective immediate feedback offers the prospect of more efficient and effective use of staff time AND improved feedback to students on how to improve future learning. This meeting will examine general issues of assessment and feedback and look in more depth at experiences of using two on-line authorware systems - QM Perception and TRIADS. Opportunities will be available for delegates to present posters on their own work and try out examples of both authorware systems.
A CALL FOR PAPERS! - Planet Special Edition On Teaching And Research
Types of Submissions
Given that linking teaching and research and pedagogic research are issues that are currently central to the national HE agenda, LTSN-GEES are planning a special edition of Planet on Teaching and Research. We are therefore calling for short papers and/or good practice summaries (<2000 words) that address the issues of linking teaching and research and/or undertaking pedagogic research.
The edition will include papers on the LTSN-GEES pedagogic research programme, which aimed to raise the pedagogical effectiveness of fieldwork in the GEES disciplines. We would also like those who presented papers at the LTSN-GEES conference on Teaching & Research in Warwickshire to contribute as well. Finally, we welcome submissions from anyone else who would like to disseminate their work on these themes to a wider GEES audience.
Guidelines for Contributors
Full guidelines for contributors can be found here
However, for this special edition, all papers should make explicit how the article relates to the themes of linking teaching and research and/or undertaking pedagogic research. All papers must also be accompanied by an abstract.
Deadline for Submissions
We hope to disseminate the special edition of PLANET to the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Community early in the Autumn Term 2003. Therefore, the deadline for submissions is Friday September 19th 2003
It's official, but not quite yet - there are ten Planets in the solar system!
Planet Edition 10 is now close to completion. The anniversary edition will be disseminated to departments and individuals in late June. The edition contains feature articles on:
- Role Play & VLEs
- Geomorphological Ice-breakers
- European Field Courses
- Team Teaching and Action Learning
- Geographers into Teaching
- Student Induction
- Website Accessibility
- LTSN-GEES small-scale projects
- and much more!
We hope that you find the 10th anniversary edition interesting, thought-provoking and useful
LTSN-GEES Small-scale Project Funding 2003
This year funding will be focused in the area of learning and teaching at the taught postgraduate level
Up to £15K is available in total (normally in the range of £2K - £5K for individual projects).
Widening Participation: Meeting the 50% Target - Wednesday 14 May 2003, 10:00-4.00pm, Lyngford House Conference Centre, Taunton
A joint LTSN Economics / LTSN-GEES Event
Parallel workshops include:
1. Diversity and Student success - To reach the 50 per cent target, HE will need to recruit students who have not chosen the A level route. This workshop will explore the issues for academic staff seeking to build an HE programme upon the previous academic experience of these students.
2. Working in schools with younger age groups - Students' aspirations can be set before they embark on their GCSE courses and so WP practitioners often target school students in years 8 or 9. This workshop will explore the issues that arise from working with pre-16 students in schools.
3. Flexibility, Accreditation and work-based learning - This workshop will explore the interface between study and employment and will consider the ways in which traditional HE provision might adapt to accommodate the needs of new learners who are in employment.
4. Teaching in summer schools and master classes - Academic staff can help to enrich and extend the curriculum in schools through offering summer schools and master classes. This workshop will draw on the experience of academic staff who have already engaged in these activities to identify some ideas for good practice
It's official, but not quite yet - there are ten PLANETS in the solar system!
The 10th issue of PLANET, the LTSN-GEES publication, will be in departments soon
With almost 100 feature articles and over 300 contributors to date, plus a mailing list in excess of 2500 copies, the 10th issue of PLANET is clearly cause for celebration.
So, if you have a short paper or a case study of good practice in learning, teaching and assessment, then why not submit it to PLANET? Or if you have a pedagogic project/event to advertise, then please get in touch. We would be delighted to hear from you.
The deadline for the 10th anniversary edition is May 1st 2003.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
LTSN-GEES Residential Conference - June 30th and July 1st 2003, Royal Court Hotel, Warwickshire
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!!
The LTSN-GEES residential conference 2003 planning team are calling for papers, posters and good practice summaries that relate to the event's themes - linking teaching and research and undertaking research into teaching (pedagogic research).
How can you contribute?
- Papers (and accompanying abstract) - You may wish to present a short paper (10 minutes) on day 1 or day 2 of the programme relating to the conference themes.
- Posters (and accompanying abstract) - You may wish to produce a poster to inform other delegates of what you are doing at your institution with respect to the conference themes.
- Good Practice Summaries (and accompanying abstract)
- You may wish to produce a brief good practice summary to inform other
delegates of what you are doing at your institution with respect to the
conference themes.
PLANET Special Edition on Education for Sustainable Development
It is now more than ten years since 180 governments at the Rio Earth Summit committed themselves to the quest for sustainable development. Since then, there has been an increased understanding of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability as well as its environmental basis. The Rio summit, through Agenda 21, identified a wide range of strategies for achieving sustainability. One of the key policy areas, of course, being education. Within HE, although there are now a few degree programmes with 'sustainability' in the title, the main torch-bearers continue, of course, to be the three GEES disciplines. However, the great majority of UK students will not encounter sustainability anywhere in their degree programmes. And, this is despite a decade of initiatives and projects intended to 'green' the HE curricula. In pursuit of a revised and realistic sustainable development agenda for HE, Universities UK and the Standing Conference of Principals (SCOP) have recently met to set-up a new group for sustainability in HE, chaired by Michael Driscoll, the VC of Middlesex University.
This LTSN-GEES special edition of PLANET on education for sustainable development (ESD) is therefore timely. The aims of the publication are to raise awareness, amongst GEES academics and others of a number of initiatives and developments in the field of ESD. Contents include:
- ESD in the UK: progress since Rio
- Curriculum 2000 and ESD
- ESD and Teacher Education
- Challenges for HE in teaching ESD
- Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability (HEPS)
- e-learning and ESD
- Professional Practice and ESD
- The contribution of NGOs in ESD
- Greening the HE curriculum in Sweden
- Delivering ESD programmes in Russian HE
- An Australian perspective on ESD in HE
Multiple copies of this special edition have been distributed to all GEES
departments.
HELP Conference - April 7th 2003 Universities UK, London
Higher Education Learning Partnerships to meet the needs of students and employers in the land based sector
The HELP conference is a unique opportunity for those working in the land based sector to contribute to and learn from ongoing action research in learning and teaching. The conference brings together three higher education projects, each of which are based in land, rural and environmental subject disciplines. Invitations are being issued to all HE and FE providers in these discipline areas.
The Conference aims to:
- Develop a better appreciation of the political, industrial and academic issues which are currently impacting on Higher Education.
- Provide practical solutions for academics to address national agendas - such as widening participation, employability, and enhancing progression and retention
- Highlight good practice from each of the projects as well as lessons learnt.
- Provide opportunities for other projects or participants to share their related work and experience.
Organised by Three FDTL Projects:
- Real World at the University of Newcastle and University of Sunderland.
- Professional Scholarship Programme (PSP) at Harper Adams University College and Writtle College.
- Student Progression and Transfer (SPAT) at University of Plymouth and University of Ulster.
Overseas Fieldwork in HE - A National Conference - Wednesday April 2nd, Geological Society, London
A collaborative event between LTSN Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) and LTSN Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (in association with the Royal Geographical Society with the IBG)
There are some important questions that need to be considered by academics running overseas fieldwork in all subjects. This conference provides a unique opportunity for a wide-range of practitioners from a variety of different disciplines to network and collaborate on issues relating to the running of overseas field programmes. So, if you've ever wondered how other disciplines deliver overseas fieldwork and what they do, this is your chance to find out and learn from their experience!
Overseas Fieldwork in HE - A National Conference - 2 April 2003
A Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed Lecturers 2003
"Well worthwhile. Lots of practical tips and ideas for implementation"
"The sessions had clear objectives, concise content and (the delegates) had time to reflect more deeply on the issues"
"The huge diversity of teaching methods covered….and dividing into small groups in each session"
"Top notch!"
These comments are typical of the responses to the LTSN Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences' workshop for recently appointed lecturers held in May 2002.
This LTSN-GEES two-day residential workshop will take place in 2003 at Hornton Grange, the University of Birmingham, on Monday 19th May - Tuesday 20th May.
The aims of this workshop are to help newly appointed teaching staff (and postgraduates/GTAs who are aspiring to be lecturers) in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) learn about and evaluate a range of approaches, methods and resources for learning, teaching and assessment in these disciplines. By being discipline-specific the event will complement any generic-based institutional courses that delegates are attending or have taken. It will also provide an informal opportunity for delegates to meet and share experiences with other new GEES staff from other institutions
The event is being subsidised by the Subject Centre for GEES and delegates will therefore be charged only £50 (which covers all hospitality). There is a limit on the number of places available (30) and applicants will be treated on a first-come, first served basis with, in the first instance, a restriction of one member of staff per department.
Ecological Project Compendium - An Invitation to Contributors
In 2003, The British Ecological Society will launch an innovative on-line resource for lecturers and others teaching ecology in Higher Education. The project will compile examples of good practice in student-centred learning across the breadth of the discipline.
Examples of successful ecological practical exercises are currently being sought for inclusion in this exciting new project. Each project will be peer-reviewed prior to publication on the BES website.
For further details on this initiative, including instructions for authors, please visit the BES website.
PLANET Edition 5
PLANET Edition 5 is now available. The edition contains feature articles on using and embedding C&IT in the curriculum, using online teaching resources, recruiting the right students to GEES courses, spotting and dealing with problems associated with group-work and its assessment and the scholarship of teaching. Plus, a wide array of shorter articles on educational activities, developments and projects.
Work Related Learning Swapshop - February 26th 2003
LTSN Bioscience, LTSN GEES (Geography, Earth & Environmental Science) and the Real World project are co-hosting a cross disciplinary Work related Learning Swapshop. The aim of the swapshop is to provide an opportunity for practitioners across the two disciplines to share their teaching practices in work related learning and develop a wider view of the variety of ways in which the context of work can be introduced to students. Short presentations (10-15 minutes) in an informal, supportive setting allow sharing of practices and also stimulate discussion of ideas.