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Digests of GEES Subject Centre activities

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GEES Subject Centre Digest: January 2005

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

From LTSN to the Higher Education Academy

News and information on planned activities by the Higher Education Academy can be found on the Higher Education Academy website. The GEES Subject Centre is now the shortened format of our official name, the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences.

New GEESers

In recognition that her work involves far more than a Manager for the GEES Subject Centre, Helen King has recently been promoted to the new job of Assistant Director. We have also recently welcomed two new members of staff to the Subject Centre: Part-time Administrative Assistant, Jane Dalrymple and full-time Dissemination Co-ordinator, Wendy Miller.

Planet 13

The latest issue of Planet was circulated at the beginning of December. This included feature articles on career planning, PDP, GIS and employability, fieldwork, CPD for academics, and an analysis of external examining in GEES subjects. This, along with past issues, can be accessed in full text from the Planet page of the GEES Subject Centre website. A special issue on Planet will be published in Spring 2005, on Learning and Teaching on Master's Programmes in GEES subjects. Contributions for future issues are welcomed and can be emailed to planet@gees.ac.uk

Events

The GEES Subject Centre Annual Conference 2004 was held in July 2004 at Warwick, on Widening Participation and Employability: new opportunities for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The two days consisted of key note speakers, workshops and paper presentations from participants highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing staff, the growing expectations of all stakeholders in higher education in the UK and the new demands that this places on the GEES community. The majority of these presentations and those of the Keynote speakers are available for download as Powerpoint slides from the GEES Subject Centre Annual Conference 2004 webpage.

In September 2004, a conference on Enhancing the Campus through Student Project Work was held in Bristol in association with HEEPI (The Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement) and the Engineering Subject Centre and The Centre for Education in the Built Environment. Participants had the opportunity to hear of some innovative projects in the area and a chance to discuss and share experiences with colleagues.

Reports of both of these events can be found in the latest edition of Planet and on the Past Events webpage on the GEES Subject Centre website.

Entrepreneurship Project

A large amount of generic material has been produced by the Higher Education Academy to support staff in embedding the development of entrepreneurship skills into the curriculum (all available on-line on the Generic Centre webpages for Teaching Entrepreneurial Skills). In addition, ten Subject Centres have been awarded funding to develop discipline-specific resources. The GEES Subject Centre's Entrepreneurship Project aims to develop related curriculum resources with the emphasis very much on skills (such as creativity, team building, risk awareness) and subject­relevance, rather than on setting up businesses per se. A workshop to pilot materials was held during January in Leeds, with both staff and students from GEES disciplines. Outputs will include: a set of case studies from GEES graduate entrepreneurs; a resource pack of examples of curriculum exercises (available from April 05); and a departmental workshop framework for the GEES Subject Centre workshop programme (to run from Sept 05). We still welcome examples of exercises which develop entrepreneurial skills. These might be anything from 5 minute lecture breaks or 1 hour tutorials to week long field projects or entire modules. Please see GEES Subject Centre Entrepreneurship Project webpage.

Centres for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETLs)

The successful CETL bids were announced on 27 January, and include 4 with direct subject-based relevance to the GEES disciplines. These include: spatial literacy in teaching (University of Leicester [lead institution], University College London and the University of Nottingham); active learning in geography, environment and related disciplines (University of Gloucestershire); experiential learning in the environmental and natural sciences (University of Plymouth); and education for sustainable development (University of Plymouth). There is also another CETL to be funded at Kingston University related to education for sustainable development. The GEES Subject Centre will be working with these on activities such as preparing conferences, workshops, staff guides and other forms of dissemination and embedding. Further details of the above CETLs.

Small-scale Projects

Grants for small-scale projects in GEES disciplines for 2004/05 have now been awarded. The following have been successful and will be carried out over the forthcoming year. A briefing meeting has already been held for all the new project holders, who are:

For more information see our Small Scale Project Funding 2004-05 webpage

The next round of small scale project funding will be advertised shortly after Easter 2005.

Resource Database: call for case studies

The Resource Database now contains over 550 high quality learning and teaching resources. If you have an example of practice of teaching, learning and assessment practices in GEES in higher education which may be of interest to others in GEES departments, then please consider submitting it as a case study to the GEES Subject Centre. If something you want is not on the Database, contact our enquiry service (info@gees.ac.uk) and we'll see if we can help.

GEES Subject Centre Forthcoming Events 2004/5

Alongside the programme of Departmental Workshops held on request throughout the UK, other events planned for 2005 include:

20 April - Scotland Regional Network meeting, Edinburgh

21 April - The Inclusive Curriculum, Coventry in collaboration with GDN and HERG

11 May - GIS in teaching and learning. University of Leicester

23/25 May - Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed & Aspiring Lecturers in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) . Birmingham. Closing date for registration: 18 Feb 2005

9/10 June - GEES Subject Centre Annual Conference. Belfast

Further details of events will be sent when available to all Departmental and other GEES Contacts by email, and advertised through JISCMAIL lists.

Creativity in Earth & Environmental Sciences / Studies: call for interest

The GEES Subject Centre has set up an informal interest group to stimulate discussion around the role of creativity in disciplinary learning and practice with particular reference to the 'Earth Science, Environmental Science & Environmental Studies' QAA Benchmarking statement. This discussion will be part of a pilot process initiated by the Higher Education Academy's 'Imaginative Curriculum' project. The purposes of this part of the project are to: (1) gain a deeper understanding of our own practice; (2) think of ways of inspiring students to come to university to study our disciplines; and (3) influence the next generation of benchmarking statements.

The current Benchmarking statement suggests that Earth & Environmental Scientists need to be creative thinkers for various reasons including: working with incomplete data; using different ways to visualise or represent the data (e.g. maps, diagrams, models); thinking about the Earth as a complex set of systems; and working in a variety of scales (nanometres to thousands of kilometres; seconds to millions of years). If you would be interested in joining the interest group and / or would like to offer examples of teaching creativity from your practice, please contact The Subject Centre - Tel 01752 233 530.

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LTSN-GEES Digest March 2004

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Events

One event has run so far this year and many more are lined up for the next few months (see overleaf). "Overseas Fieldwork & Cultural Exchanges in HE: Student Support & Safety", held at the RGS-IBG in January, was the second workshop run by LTSN-GEES as part of the Area Studies Network project. The event went extremely well with a good number of delegates from a wide variety of disciplines. Copies of the PowerPoint presentations from the event are available.

As well offering the opportunity to share good practice, the event included many discussions including the need for more information and training on safety in the field. A small working group is currently following up this issue and more information will be provided as it comes available.

Small-scale Projects in Taught Postgraduate Level Learning & Teaching

The three projects funded this year (as listed in the October 2003 edition of GEES Digest) are going well. To further enhance their work and to share issues, ideas and practice, a 'swap-shop' is being held at the University of Northampton on 10th June. Further details will be made available on the LTSN-GEES web-site shortly.

Support for External Examiners

The LTSN is leading a substantial research and development programme aimed at improving the support given to external examiners. The project will inform the development of an external examiner support and enhancement function for the HE Academy. Further information about the project can be found on the LTSN Generic Centre web-site.

LTSN-GEES will shortly be conducting a brief on-line needs analysis to ascertain what discipline-based support would be of interest to external examiners in geography, earth and environmental sciences.

HE Academy

As you know, the ILTHE and LTSN will be becoming part of the new HE Academy in 2004. A new web-site has been set up for the Academy and includes the latest news and information.

Centres for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETLs)

HEFCE has invited bids for recurrent and capital funds to establish Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Bids are welcome from both HEFCE-funded higher education institutions and directly HEFCE-funded further education colleges with at least 500 full-time equivalent higher education students. Through the existing LTSN Subject Centres, the Generic Centre, ILTHE and NCT the Higher Education Academy can support HEIs in developing a bid and details are available within the HEFCE invitation (see sections 46 to 49). The Academy has drawn up Terms of Engagement that provides more specific advice/support details. Further information and FAQs can be found on the Academy web-site.

Any CETL-related enquiries for LTSN-GEES should be directed to Helen King (h.king@plymouth.ac.uk Tel: 01752 233 532; Fax 01752 233 534)

Resource Database

The Resource Database now contains over 450 high quality learning and teaching resources. Do use it and encourage your colleagues to take a look! If something you want is not on the Database, contact our enquiry service (info@gees.ac.uk) and we'll see if we can help.

LTSN-GEES FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2004

March 23 Embedding Personal Development Planning (PDP) in the GEES Curricula
University of Leeds
(Deadline for registration 12th March '03)

March 24 Research in Teaching & Learning - Getting Started
Collaborative workshop with LTSN Physical Sciences, London

May 24-25 Residential Workshop for Recently Appointed & Aspiring Lecturers in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES)
(Registration is now closed)

June 8 Workshop for Support Staff in GEES
University of Gloucestershire

June 10 Learning and teaching at the taught postgraduate level Swap-Shop
University College Northampton

July 5-6 LTSN-GEES annual conference: "Widening Participation & Employability"

Other related events
March 19-20 Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences Annual Conference
RGS-IBG, London

April 2-5 HERODOT European Geography Learning and Teaching Network Meeting
In association with LTSN-GEES. Sofia, Bulgaria

August 21-23 International Network for Learning and Teaching in Geography (INLT) meeting
Glasgow

August 21-28 32nd International Geological Congress (including sessions on Higher Education)
Florence, Italy

If you would like information or resources on learning & teaching in geography, earth or environmental sciences, or would like to know more about our activities and services contact us.

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LTSN-GEES Digest October 2003

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Teaching and Research

The link between teaching and research in higher education is currently a key issue in the sector. Over the last year, LTSN-GEES has been involved in a project to collect and disseminate case studies of practice in linking teaching and research. Some of these case studies were presented at our first annual conference in the Summer.

A second outcome of the project was a discussion essay written by the LTSN-GEES project leaders, namely our Senior Advisors Mick Healey (Geography), Jennifer Blumhof (Environmental Sciences) and Neil Thomas (Earth Sciences). This essay is now available for comment on our web-site and we welcome any contributions to the discussion.

Quality Enhancement in Scotland

In September 2003, LTSN-GEES attended a meeting in Edinburgh between Subject Centres and SHEFC to discuss how we might support the Scottish quality enhancement agenda. The two enhancement themes for this year are 'Assessment' and 'Responding to Student Needs'. GEES departments based in Scotland are encouraged to contact us to discuss how we might work together. Activities might include departmental workshops, contributions on these themes to our Resource Database, PLANET, annual conference etc.

Widening Participation (WP) and Employability

These two themes are currently key issues in higher education. LTSN-GEES is concerned with the learning and teaching aspects of widening participation, including managing student diversity in the classroom and supporting the first year experience. We would welcome any comments on the impact of WP on learning and teaching or suggestions on how LTSN-GEES might provide support. During this year we will be gathering resources for our Database, and will also be including WP as one of the major themes for our annual conference.

LTSN-GEES is currently addressing the employability of its graduates through two funded projects:

Work to date has included a staff survey, a student survey (underway), the development of an employability audit for use in workshops, a regional employability conference, and gathering of material and case studies for an Employability Guide. This work will be continued this year and will be extended to include a national event on Personal Development Profiles.

Small-Scale Projects: Learning & Teaching at the Taught Postgraduate-Level

The following three projects have been funded under this programme and commenced this Autumn. A good practice swap-shop will be held in 2004 to further support resource gathering in the area of taught postgraduate level learning and teaching.

Resource Database

The LTSN-GEES Resource Database now contains over 450 high quality learning and teaching resources. Do use it and encourage your colleagues to take a look! If something you want is not on the Database, contact our enquiry service (info@gees.ac.uk) and we'll see if we can help.

LTSN-GEES FORTHCOMING EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

EVENTS

Coming Soon:

Departmental Workshops: Up to 25 free workshops will be available this year.

21st October 2003: On-Line Assessment and Feedback (OLAAF), Plymouth. Sponsored by LTSN Bioscience and LTSN-GEES

18th November 2003: Virtual Learning Environments in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Coming in 2004

Date TBC - Area Studies Network event: Safety & student support on fieldwork and international exchanges

Date TBC - Good practice Swap-Shop: learning and teaching at the taught postgraduate level

Date TBC - Professional Development Workshop: Personal Development Planning (PDP)

5-6th July 2004: LTSN-GEES annual conference: "Widening Participation and Employability"

The following topics are also being considered for national events this year:

HE Academy

As you will know, the ILTHE and LTSN will be becoming part of the new HE Academy in 2004. A new web-site has been set up for the Academy and includes the latest news and information: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk

New Premises for LTSN-GEES

We have now settled in to our new offices in Buckland House on the main campus at the University of Plymouth. Our phone numbers & email addresses are the same, our new postal address is given below.

 

If you would like information or resources on learning & teaching in geography, earth or environmental sciences, or would like to know more about our activities and services contact us.

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LTSN-GEES Digest January 2003

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Resource Database

The new LTSN-GEES Resource Database is now up and running. To access it follow the link from the LTSN-GEES Resources web-page (http://www.gees.ac.uk/resource.htm). The next few months are intended as a consultation period, and any comments on the layout and usability of the database are very much welcomed. There are already many resources available on the database but its population is an ongoing process that we encourage members of the GEES communities to get involved with.

Departmental Workshops

On 14th and 15th November, we ran a two day residential training event for potential workshop facilitators, at Hornton Grange, University of Birmingham. The first day was run by Chris Rust, Head of the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, and took the form of a workshop on 'How to Run Workshops'. The second day focused on the development of the workshop materials, and both old and new discipline-based workshop facilitators worked together with the LTSN-GEES team to discuss the various topics. As a result of this training event, we now have over 30 departmental workshop facilitators who are currently lecturers in UK geography, earth and environmental science departments. Further details on departmental workshops, including registration information will be circulated to all departments with the forthcoming issue of PLANET and will also be available on our web-site.

PLANET Special Edition - Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): Ideas for Learning and Teaching in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

This fourth special edition of PLANET was circulated in December 2002. 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. Hard copies are still available or you may download a pdf version from our web-site.

Employability Project

The employability project is starting to get underway with the appointment of a full-time researcher for one year. Interviews were held in October and the successful candidate is Dr Sharon Gedye currently of Edgehill University College. Sharon will be starting in February 2003 and we are very much looking forward to welcoming her to the team. Although her work will be focused on supporting Brian Chalkley's National Teaching Fellowship, there are many synergies with the LTSN-GEES employability project. More details of the project will be available in the next issue of PLANET, due out at the end of January.

Area Studies Network

The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies has launched its new Area Studies Network which aims to bring together colleagues with an interest and expertise in the teaching of area-related subjects. This network is being run in collaboration with five other Subject Centres of which LTSN-GEES is one. LTSN-GEES will be supporting the sharing of Area Studies-related resources, and has provisionally arranged a first workshop for 3rd April that will focus on overseas residential field courses. Further information on the network can be found at http://152.78.89.51/network.aspx and details of the workshop will made available through the LTSN-GEES web-site and mailing lists shortly.

Improving Provision for Disabled Students Projects

The projects to be funded under the HEFCE 'Improving Provision for Disabled Students' are due to start in January 2003. Those that LTSN-GEES are particularly involved with are:

LTSN-GEES FORTHCOMING EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

February 2003

26th: Work-related Learning Swap Shop, Leeds. In collaboration with LTSN Bioscience and the Real World FDTL project.
http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/events/registration/realworldreg.htm


April 2003

3rd (provisional): Area Studies workshop: Undertaking Residential Field Courses Abroad; details to be confirmed.

7-11th: EGS-AGU-EUG Joint Assembly, Nice. (Provisionally) LTSN-GEES will be hosting a Geoscience Educators networking meeting, details to be confirmed.

28-29th: CHES Annual Conference, Birmingham.


May 2003

12th: HERG Fieldwork Practice and Scholarship workshop, Leeds.


June 2003

30th - 1st July: LTSN-GEES two day residential event: "Teaching and Research", Warwickshire.

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LTSN-GEES Digest September 2002

Events

In April, we held our second swap-shop to support the Earth Science, Environmental Science & Environmental Studies (ES3) Learning & Teaching Guides project. This event was held north of the border in Glasgow and attracted an excellent range of examples of practice for us to share. Many of these will be incorporated into the new guides (due out in 2003) as well as being included in our new Resource Database.

Our third Residential Workshop for New & Recently Appointed Lecturers ran successfully in May, at Horton Grange, University of Birmingham with around 20 participants. As usual, the participants found it really useful to get together with colleagues from other institutions and share ideas, problems and solutions, and many found it an excellent complement to their own institutionally-based courses for new staff.

We are now about two thirds of the way through our 'Enhancing the quality of fieldwork through pedagogic research' programme and the projects are starting to come up with some encouraging results. In May, we ran a workshop on Qualitative Data Analysis to support those project members who wanted to enhance their research skills. The workshop was very successful and the participants left feeling much more confident in working with qualitative data.

Projects

In addition to our pedagogic research project, we are also investigating examples of practice in Linking Teaching and Research. The project is funded by the LTSN Generic Centre and we are one of 5 Subject Centres currently involved. The main aim is to identify, record and disseminate case studies of the way individuals, course teams and departments within geography, earth and environmental sciences enhance the learning of their students by developing the links with their research and to promote ways in which individuals and departments in our subject communities can maximise the benefits for students of these linkages. The project is currently in the case study-gathering phase, these will be published on our web-site and will go towards supporting the development of a workshop.

We have also recently received funding from the Generic Centre to support the development of our Employability Strategy. This project will be considerable enhanced through synergies with National Teaching Fellowship holders Brian Chalkley (University of Plymouth, Department of Geographical Sciences & Director of LTSN-GEES) and Pauline Kneale (University of Leeds, Department of Geography) who are also working on graduate employability. The initial stages of the project will involve gathering data and resources with a view to developing guides, workshops and other support materials for the disciplines.

LTSN-GEES is involved in one project funded by the LTSN Development Fund tranche 2: Developing Inter and Multi-disciplinary Coverage for Area Studies. This is being led by the LTSN Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics & Area Studies. We will be involved in promoting the network to relevant members of our disciplines and will be running a workshop for 'GEES Area Studiests' in 2003.

There are currently 11 projects funded through our own Small-Scale Learning & Teaching Projects programme. They are due to complete early in 2003, at which time we will also be advertising our new round of funding.

International Liaisons

Although the great majority of our work is focused on the UK, there is much to gained from sharing ideas, practice and issues with our colleagues overseas. In July we co-convened a conference at Moscow State University on Education for Sustainability. This conference provided an interesting opportunity for experts in this topic to get together. Papers from this conference, together with other relevant articles, will appear in a special edition of Planet due out around Christmas.

Also in July, we were invited to a forum in America to discuss Geoscience Learning Research. This event, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and held at the Johnson Foundation's Wingspread conference centre, involved geoscientists, cognitive scientists, chemists, physicists and biologists who are at the forefront of their field in terms of research on learning. A formal report of the meeting is to be produced and will be made available on our web-site as well as that of the conference convenors.

Enquiry Service

This service is now up and running and is providing us with many opportunities to seek out new resources. If you would like some information or resources on learning & teaching in geography, earth or environmental sciences, or would like to know more about our activities and services contact us at:

LTSN-GEES
Room 509, The Money Centre Tel: 01752 233 530
University of Plymouth Fax: 01752 233 534
Plymouth PL4 8AA Email: info@gees.ac.uk

FORTHCOMING EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

We are currently planning our full programme of events and activities for the 2002-2003 academic year, here are some examples:

October 2002

Call for Papers - PLANET Edition 5
The editorial board of PLANET are now seeking contributions for the next edition, due to be disseminated in January 2003. The deadline for submissions is Monday October 21st 2002. For information on submissions and a guide for contributors please click here.

November 2002

Departmental Workshop programme
Our list of topics for the departmental workshop programme will be advertised in the autumn and departments will be invited to apply for events to run from January to July 2003 (this programme is to be repeated each academic year).

Departmental Workshop Facilitators' Training Event
We are planning to consolidate and develop our national programme of departmental workshops by enhancing the accompanying resources and by providing a training opportunity for staff who would like to become LTSN-GEES workshop facilitators and join our existing team. For more information on the departmental workshop training please click here.

January 2003

HEFCE Improving Provision for Disabled Students projects due to start. Several bids have been submitted to this fund which have a focus in one or more of the GEES disciplines. We will publicise the successful bids on our web-site as soon as they are announced.

June 2003

LTSN-GEES two day residential event: 30th June / 1st July, The Royal Court Hotel, Coventry
The theme, outline programme (including wine reception and barbecue!) and invitation to contribute for this event will be advertised through all the usual channels shortly.

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LTSN-GEES Digest April 2002

Highlights of our recent and forthcoming activities

LTSN-GEES has co-ordinated a variety of events over the last two months, including a workshop entitled "Time to reflect? Promoting reflection among students and staff" (built on the outcomes of one of our small-scale projects); a conference on "Student Transition and Retention in GEES"; the first swap-shop for earth & environmental sciences to support the production of learning and teaching guides in these disciplines; and the Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences (CHES) annual conference. The second learning &teaching guides swap-shop will take place on April 29th in Glasgow. For further details and/or to register, please contact Marianne Hall (m.hall@herts.ac.uk).

The third LTSN-GEES two-day Residential Workshop for New and Recently Appointed Lecturers will take place in 2002 at Hornton Grange, the University of Birmingham, on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 May. The workshop aims to help newly appointed teaching staff learn about and evaluate a range of approaches, methods and resources for learning and teaching in the GEES disciplines. By being discipline-specific the event will complement any generic-based institutional courses that delegates are attending or have taken.
The event is being subsidised by LTSN-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. If you have any questions about this event please contact Steve Gaskin, e-mail: sgaskin@plymouth.ac.uk, Tel: 01752 233535). For full details about the programme, and to register (by Monday 6th May) visit: http://www.gees.ac.uk/newlect.htm

Planet is published twice a year and is distributed to all HE departments in the UK who teach geography, earth and / or environmental sciences, and all educational development units in those institutions. The fourth edition will be published in June 2002. If you are interested in submitting an article to a subsequent edition, please contact the Editor, Steve Gaskin (s.gaskin@plymouth.ac.uk, Tel: 01752 233 535). The latest special edition of PLANET, on the new Special Education Needs and Disability Act (SENDA), has recently been circulated throughout the community. All editions of Planet are also available for free download from our web-site (http://www.gees.ac.uk/planet/).

Two bids have been submitted to the LTSN Development Fund tranche 2 in collaboration with other, cognate Subject Centres (the outcome of selection process is expected to be announced in May):

For further information on any of these or any other of our activities contact us.

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LTSN-GEES Digest November 2001

LTSN-GEES had a busy and successful first year of activities. The annual report for the academic year 2000-2001 will shortly be available on our web-site together with our strategic plan for 2001-2004 (at http://www.gees.ac.uk/about.htm).

In October we ran a national conference on "Special Education Needs and Disabilities: Implications of New Legislation and Guidance for HE Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences". The key presentations from this event will shortly be available on our web-site (http://www.gees.ac.uk/senda.htm) and a special edition of Planet is to be produced containing keynote presentations, bullet point information and guidance, and examples of practice.

Issue three of Planet is currently being edited and will be available in January 2002. The second special edition: "Case Studies in Problem-based Learning from Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences" will be sent to all departments in November. All editions of Planet are also available for free download from our web-site (http://www.gees.ac.uk/planet/).

The deadline for the second round of LTSN-GEES funding for Small Scale Learning & Teaching Projects is Friday 9th November. More information and a pro forma can be obtained from our web-site or by contacted us at the address below. Details of the projects funded under the first round can be found on our web-site (http://www.gees.ac.uk/Projects/projs01.htm). Once completed, the outcomes of these projects will be made available to all GEES departments in the UK.

LTSN-GEES has recently been awarded funding under the LTSN Development Fund for two major projects:
Enhancing the Educational Effectiveness of Fieldwork in Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences. The funding will be used to support educational research in this area, and to disseminate the results to our communities. Further information will shortly be available on our web-site at http://www.gees.ac.uk/pedresfw/pedresfw.htm).

Guides to Support Learning & Teaching in Earth and Environmental Sciences. This project aims to enhance the resource base on which the LTSN National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (LTSN-GEES) can draw, by supporting the extension and transfer of geography-based staff development guides and associated workshop materials to meet the needs of the earth and environmental sciences communities.

Helen King, LTSN-GEES Manager

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LTSN-GEES Digest July 2001

At the end of its first full operational year LTSN-GEES has many successful activities to look back on and many more to plan for. Our External Evaluator (Prof Harold Silver)'s end of year report was extremely encouraging and he summarised his views of our work as 'overwhelmingly positive' and has underlined that 'the benefits clearly reach out into all three subject communities'.

A recent piece of good news is the success of both of our two bids to the LTSN Development Fund. These projects will run for the next 18 months or so and will involve many members of the GEES communities, further information will be made available on the web-site shortly:

Other Forthcoming Activities

Members of the communities will shortly be invited to work with LTSN-GEES in support of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT) FILTER (Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching - an Enriched Resource) project.

A second round of GEES Learning & Teaching Development Projects will be announced in October. Individuals and groups will be invited to bid for funds to support both learning and teaching developments in the three disciplines and for small learning and teaching research projects.

The Special Education Needs and Disability Act was given royal assent on Friday May 11th and will begin to come into effect from 1 September 2001. This means that the legislation now applies to education. We will be running a conference to discuss the legislation and how it provides an opportunity for curriculum development and enhancement in our disciplines on Friday October 19th in Coventry. Heads of Departments and Programme Co-ordinators are encouraged to attend. Further details will be made available shortly. More information on the Act can be found at the Technolgies for Disabilities Information Service (Techdis) Web-site.

In response to this new legislation, our web-site has been entirely redesigned to ensure it meets accessibility requirements. Our other on-line services, the new Information Gateway (Tellus) and enhanced Resource Database, will be launched early in the new academic year.

In June 2001, the second issue of our publication, Planet, was distributed together with a special edition on Embedding Careers Education in the Curricula of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Both these publications are also available on our web-site. A second special edition titled Case Studies in Problem-based Learning from Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences will be out in September.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the LTSN-GEES staff, and everyone who has worked on our behalf (including the Steering Group, Senior Advisors, workshop facilitators, conference presenters and contributors to Planet) for helping to make this a successful year.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that LTSN-GEES is here for your benefit, so please use us, let us know how we're doing and how else we might support learning and teaching in the disciplines.

Helen King, LTSN-GEES Manager

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LTSN-GEES Digest April 2001

As usual, the LTSN Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (LTSN-GEES) has been busy over the last few months. In January we were involved with the International Network for Learning and Teaching in Geography meeting, held during the RGS-IBG conference in Plymouth. Two of our own events were run at Kingston University in February: these were a workshop on 'Motivating and Engaging Students in Active Learning' and an environmental sciences good practice 'swap shop' (convened by the Committee for Heads of Environmental Sciences: CHES). Look out for the Resource Guide on Problem-Based Learning (coming out in July) which is being developed from the former event and will be distributed to all GEES departments in the UK as well as being available on the web-site.

Our programme of Departmental Workshops is getting underway. Over 50 departments have requested a workshop and these will be run throughout 2001.

The second issue of Planet, our publication to support learning and teaching in the disciplines, is well on its way and will be widely distributed in June. Additional copies of issue one are still available and can also be downloaded from our web-site. Contributions are always welcome.

Our first four small learning and teaching projects have begun work and their outcomes will be disseminated via the web-site, Planet and our national conferences.

One of the Subject Centre's major projects is the development of an electronic Information Gateway. This gateway, known as Tellus, is being set up by an excellent and enthusiastic team from the University of Leeds and will eventually provide a personalised portal to learning and teaching resources in the three disciplines.

We have submitted two bids to the LTSN Development Fund, each for 50, 000. The first bid aims to support learning and teaching in Earth & Environmental Sciences by transferring and extending the learning and teaching guides developed by the Geography Discipline Network (http://www.glos.ac.uk/gdn/). The second bid aims to enhance the capacity for learning and teaching research in the three disciplines by running methodology workshops and small projects - the overarching theme of this bid is 'Enhancing the Effectiveness of Fieldwork'. The outcomes of the bids will be announced later in April.

As well as activities spanning the three disciplines, the Subject Centre also provides services to each separately through the work of our three subject Senior Advisors (see web-site for contact details). Each Senior Advisor will shortly have their own page on our web-site on which to publicise their activities. These pages will be developed within the next few months.

Welcome to our C & IT Manager! Mike Sanders, began work with us in March. Mike has a background in environmental sciences and moved to LTSN-GEES from a position as learning support advisor. We're delighted to have him on the team.

As well as providing events, publications and project funding the Subject Centre has an Enquiry Service. Ring or email us with your questions about learning and teaching in the disciplines and we will endeavour to provide advice within 24 hours.

For further information, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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LTSN-GEES Digest January 2001

GEES Digest January 2001 The last three months have been very busy at the LTSN Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. In November we held a national conference at the University of Leeds entitled 'Supporting Fieldwork Using C&IT'. This event was very successful and provided the opportunity for groups and individuals to showcase their experiences and expertise. Look out for the Resource Guide which is being developed from this event, to include a demo CD-ROM, and will be distributed to all GEES departments in the UK as well as being available on the web-site. See the Events section of our web-site for forthcoming conferences and workshops.

Our programme of Departmental Workshops is getting underway. Over 50 departments have requested a workshop and these will be run throughout 2001.

The first issue of Planet, our publication to support learning and teaching in the disciplines, has been widely distributed. Planet is available to download from the web-site. Contributions are always welcome.

Our first four small learning and teaching projects have begun work and their outcomes will be disseminated via the web-site, Planet and our national conferences.

One of the Subject Centre's major projects is the development of an electronic Information Gateway. This gateway, known as Tellus, is being set up by an excellent and enthusiastic team from the University of Leeds and will eventually provide a personalised portal to learning and teaching resources in the three disciplines.

As well as activities spanning the three disciplines, the Subject Centre also provides services to each separately through the work of our three subject Senior Advisors (listed below). Each Senior Advisor will shortly have their own page on our web-site on which to publicise their activities. These pages will developed when we have our new C&IT Manager in post.

Goodbye Mr Phipps: we would like to express our thanks to Lawrie Phipps who did a superb job as C&IT Manager during the first year of the Subject Centre's operations. Lawrie has now moved on to the LTSN Technology Centre in York and we wish him all the best. Interviews for his successor take place on 6th February and we hope to have the new C&IT Manager in post by April.

As well as providing events, publications and project funding the Subject Centre has an Enquiry Service. Ring or email us with your questions about learning and teaching in the disciplines and we will endeavour to provide advice within 24 hours.

For further information, please don't hesitate to contact us

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LTSN-GEES Digest October 2000

The Subject Centre has now been up and running with its full staff complement for almost six months, and has a busy schedule of activities planned for the next year.

An integral part of the our activities will be the development of an Electronic Information Gateway for use by academic and support staff. This system will allow the interrogation of existing learning and teaching databases and materials across the community. The Gateway will provide an 'amazon. com' style interface allowing users to register (freely) in order to receive personalised updates depending on their academic interests. This will make the process of locating useful learning and teaching material more efficient and less time-consuming.

In addition, we are developing a register of expertise enabling the Centre to effect links between less experienced learning and teaching staff and specialists. This advisory service is accessible - simply contact us with your learning and teaching query.

We are currently planning our programme of national conferences and departmental workshops. In addition, a wide-range of other dissemination approaches is being used, including email lists and a constantly evolving web-site.

Our biannual journal will cover material on teaching and learning developments across the three disciplines of Geography, Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences. The journal will have a sharp focus on the review and evaluation of software and teaching materials and will actively promote short articles, in addition to longer feature articles. The publication will strive to have a greater sense of currency than existing learning and teaching journals, due to faster submission turn around times.

How can you benefit from the Subject Centre?

The team is keen to engage all staff involved in teaching and learning across the community with the various services offered. We welcome you to attend our conferences and workshops and / or submit articles for publication in our journal.

We are excited about the challenges that face learning and teaching over the next few years and we aim to provide the best possible service to our community. However, in order for the Centre to become an effective tool for academics we need all staff to participate in the discussions, workshops, conferences and publications that will be organised and produced over the next few years. Within our subjects, there is a wealth of experience and knowledge, which we hope you will contribute to and benefit from. What can the Subject Centre do for you? If you would like to talk to someone at the Subject Centre, then please contact us. Hope to hear from you soon.

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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