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News Archive 2007

Archive of News Items from 2007

Please note that this is an archive of past news items and therefore some entries may no longer be accurate.

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Funding available from JISC to develop, run and quality assure technology enhanced courses using reused and repurposed learning materials

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) invites institutions to submit funding proposals for projects to re-use learning content; that is projects to develop, run and quality assure technology enhanced courses using reused and repurposed learning materials sourced externally to their institution. Projects will be expected to construct or ‘revamp’ a module delivered largely via electronic means documenting the issues faced in developing and running the course in a case study.

The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12:00 noon on Friday 30 November 2007.
Between 30-40 projects will be funded with up to £25,000 available per project.

The full Circular can be found at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2007/10/reuseofcontent.aspx

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Newsfilm Online User Workshops

What is Newsfilm Online?

This is a collection of 3,000 hours of television news and cinema newsreels taken from the archives of ITN, Reuters and a number of other services. In the near future the resources will be available online in high quality formats for use in teaching, learning and research. They consist of over 65,000 separate clips which can be downloaded and re-purposed in various ways for different contexts, subject to a license agreement.

What are the workshops about and who should attend?

The workshops will provide an opportunity for teachers and lecturers in the community to view the range and scope of the Newsfilm Online collection. The day will also feature hands on activity and discussion, which includes both technical and pedagogical support for using digital video in teaching. There will be examples of how the materials can be used online and how they can be re-purposed for use in different contexts. Exemplars will cover all of the major disciplines and no prior technical expertise is required as this will be covered in the introductory sessions.

When and where?

Contact

If you are interested in securing a place on one of these workshops please email k.j.burden@hull.ac.uk with details of which venue you would prefer to attend. Places are limited.

Kevin Burden
Project Manager
The University of Hull
01482 466731

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New Resource Co-ordinator

Esther Bobek has joined the GEES Subject Centre team (on the 3rd of September) as the new Resource Co-ordinator.  Esther will be responsible for managing the departmental workshop programme, the resource database and the GEES enquiry service.  She can be contacted on 01752 233560 and at esther.bobek@plymouth.ac.uk.

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Siân Evans departure

Siân Evans, the Subject Centre’s graduate placement, left the subject Centre on Tuesday the 21st August.  Siân has been working on a publication and supporting wiki on the topic of staff-student relations and communication.  Both are available on our Student focused publication pages. We would like to encourage anyone who feels they have a case study, idea or related project etc to add it to the wiki pages for other members of the community to read.

If you have any enquiries relating to the work Siân has carried out after the 21st August please email yolande.knight@plymouth.ac.uk.  If you would like additional copies of Them & Us please email susie.bissell@plymouth.ac.uk.

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Has the GEES Subject Centre impacted your work?

The GEES Subject Centre is evaluating which services and resources our communities most value, how they use them and how helpful they find them. If you have used the services or resources available from the GEES Subject Centre we would be very grateful if you could provide us with a few lines on the impact it had on your work.

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Recruitment and Retention - Extended Registration!

The GEES Recruitment and Retention Summer Conference, 12:30pm 25th - 4pm 26th June 2007, Birmingham In association with the RGS-IBG, Geographical Association, Geological Society, Institution of Environmental Sciences and the Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 

Due to popular demand for this event, we have extended the registration for 10 more days. If you do wish to attend this highly interactive, national conference you must complete the registration form by Sunday 17th June, however we advise you to do so soon as we only have a few places still available at the subsidised rate of £150.

This conference may be of particularly use to: First Year Tutors, Admissions Tutors and Heads of Departments, as well as anyone interested in:

Key note speakers include:

There is also an opportunity to attend the Warwickshire vs. Glamorgan cricket Match at Edgbaston Cricket grounds on Sunday, an additional £15, and on the Monday morning we are running, again optional although free, excursions to Dudley museum and Wren's nest. 

GEES Subject Centre residential conference 2007 - Recruitment and retention in the GEES disciplines - 25-26 June 2007

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Accessibility and Inclusive Practice Funding Available

Deadline for bids: Wednesday 30th May

TechDis Higher Education Assistive Technology (HEAT) Funding Programme has funding available for assistive technology to support accessibility and inclusive practice within subject communities or Centres. Anyone working in UK Higher Education can bid and essentially you will be working independently on the project however submissions must be via the GEES Subject Centre info@gees.ac.uk. More infromation about the TechDis Higher Education Assistive Technology (HEAT) scheme.

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New Dissemination co-ordinator at GEES

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our new dissemination co-ordinator Elaine Tilson. Elaine will be responsible for all our publications, including Planet, and the organisation of our conferences (please note, not our workshops).

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Yomping Geographers Put Geography Entrepreneurship on the Map

A team of Yomping Geographers, have put Geography on the map by winning the Grand Final of the Yomping the Nation 2007 entrepreneurial competition in Manchester on Tuesday, 20 March.

Yomping the Nations is a highly sought after national prize for student entrepreneurs in the UK, and operates much like the TV series ‘The Dragon’s Den’.

After winning the local and regional rounds of the competition, Sophie Neville, Jo Tully, Simon Quincey, Alex Wordsworth, Chris Lowry and Charlotte Taylor from the University of Plymouth travelled to Manchester to win the Grand Final, beating 10 other university team finalists from around the UK.

‘We were nervous, but confident’, said Ms Neville, ‘and we were determined to take onboard the advice from the extraordinary entrepreneurs on the judging panel’.

The judges for this year’s competition included eminent entrepreneurs such as John Sandford, KPMG; Andy McDougall, Central Telecom; and Simon Campbell, Erskine Group.

Tamsin Pyne from the Experiential Learning Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth, the main sponsor for the Yomping Geographers team, said “As Geographers the team are adaptable, flexible and resourceful. The broad range of skills developed throughout the degree programme, utilised effectively in the earlier stages of this competition, have produced a well rounded team. Although the team are determined and have a competitive edge they are very down to earth and likeable with an enthusiastic attitude. Whilst being self-assured and resourceful the team are aware of their knowledge limitations and are willing to accept advice from the experts.” Ms Pyne was particularly pleased with the judges’ comments that the Yomping Geographers’ work would have succeeded in the real business world.

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Do your students know what you do?

Here at the GEES Subject Centre we have been looking into students’ perceptions of the GEES disciplines. During this we have found that most students, especially undergraduates, of all ages do not fully comprehend what a lecturer is, or does! When asked “what does a lecturer do?” not a single student referred to the planning, paper work and bureaucracy that higher education demands from lecturers which, depending on your role in the department, may make up the bulk of your work load (highlighted in the Guardian ‘Drowning in bureaucracy’ by S. Kord and D. Wilson on 27/12/06 and then again in the letters section in response to this article) and some don’t even mention research!

This naivety can lead to feelings of resentment e.g. “Why can’t he/she get our coursework back quicker when all they do is give 10 hours of lectures a week?”! To counteract this, we are hoping to capture “A Week in the Life Of… (A lecturer)” to give students a better idea of what the profession involves; this will be featured in our student focused publication. We would be very grateful if any member of academic staff could write 300/400 words, in a diary format, of a typical week – giving fair weighting to all aspects of your job and if possible including things you do outside of higher education/your job. Although this article is to be informative its crucial that the style is not too formal, humour would be welcome.

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GEES Employability Survey

The GEES Subject Centre is running a survey in order to gain a better understanding of the range of employability-related activities undertaken through geography, earth and environmental sciences (GEES) degree programmes across the UK. In addition, we are keen to provide GEES colleagues with the opportunity to showcase examples of good / interesting practice from their department to the GEES UK HE community.

Responses are completely confidential and will be analysed by a consultant commissioned by the GEES Subject Centre. Respondents may also choose to be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

The questionnaire should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. There are four sections:

The survey is available on-line and will close on Friday 5th April 2007.

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e-MapScholar Virtual Placement project needs case studies

The e-MapScholar team are looking for case studies to be used in the new Virtual Placement project.

The project provides real-life problems that can be addressed using geo-information, including data from the Digimap service. To solve these problems learners work on case studies in the context of a simulated virtual organisation. They use online resources, geo-information handling software and data provided via a web site. Learners develop work-related skills such as data handling, problem solving, time management and effective communication and presentation of information.

If you have a data set or scenario that could be used, please contact the EDINA Helpdesk.

The Virtual Placement project was initiated with funding from JISC, and a pilot case study developed: the Nant Carfan Wind Farm Visualisation Case Study. Following evaluation of this pilot, a updated version has been produced for free use within UK HE and FE. This has been developed by the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen and with support from the Higher Education Academy for Geography, Earth and Environmental Science (GEES).

Reproduced from "Newsline from EDINA"

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Digimap goes underground

Digimap will be broadening its mapping portfolio with the addition of data from the British Geological Survey in early January 2007. The geological maps will be augmented by the Lexicon of Named Rock Units, a database of information about all geological units displayed on the maps. The new service will be called Geology Digimap.

More information on Geology Digimap

Reproduced from "Newsline from EDINA"

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The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Buckland House, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
Email: info@gees.ac.uk Tel: ++44 1752 584529 Fax: ++44 1752 584880