Friday 7 September 2012

HEA computing update : September 2012


Taken from: The Higher Education Academy Computing Update by Dr. Mark Ratcliffe


News

1. Workshops for 2012/13

. If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please send an email to Mark.Ratcliffe@HEAcademy.ac.uk.

2. STEM Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2013: where practice and pedagogy meet.

Following the success of this year’s conference, our next conference will be held at the University of Birmingham on 17 – 18 April 2013. The call for full papers, posters and workshops is now open.

The conference will explore the relationship between pedagogy and practice across the full range of HEA STEM disciplines, and this year in particular will focus upon:
• Improving the employability skills of STEM graduates;
• Innovative approaches to teaching and assessing large classes;
• Giving effective feedback to students;
• Growing diversity in the student population;
• Practices in peer mentoring;
• Impact of information technology in learning and teaching;
• Students as partners.

Important dates/deadlines:
• 21 November 2012 - deadline for the submission of full papers, abstracts for posters and workshops;
• 17 February 2013 - deadline for the submission of camera-ready papers;
• 1 March 2013 - at least one presenting author to be registered.

3. Skills in mathematics and statistics in the disciplines

HEA STEM are planning a strategic project in 2012-13, investigating the ways in which mathematics and statistics affect the student experience and transition into university across specific disciplines, including Psychology. The first part of this process involves producing a report for each discipline; please keep an eye on the HEA website for more information, coming soon.

4. New to Teaching

Following a very successful STEM “new to teaching” event held in Birmingham earlier this summer, I am now planning for a similar discipline specific event next summer. If your institution would like to host such an event for approximately 20 people, please let me know. The HEA will cover the full cost of this one-day event.

5. An update on Special Interest Groups

Earlier this summer we launched two very popular special interest groups:

• “Innovation in teaching programming for better student retention, progression and achievement”. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Quan Dang at q.dang@londonmet.ac.uk

• “Contract Cheating”. To find out more, please contact Thomas Lancaster at Thomas.Lancaster@bcu.ac.uk

6. ITALICS, November 2012 issue

The second issue of ITALICS for 2012 will be a general issue. Papers are welcome on all aspects of learning and teaching in the Information and Computer Sciences disciplines.
Important dates
• Deadline for submission of papers – Friday 5 October 2012
• Notification of outcome – Wednesday 31 October 2012
For further information http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/journals/italics

7. Open Educational Resources for Educational Developers Just Launched

The HEA/JISC-funded 'Academic Practice in Context' project has today released its full set of materials for free use under a Creative Commons licence. The materials feature the equivalent of 300 study hours worth of Masters Level resources intended to aid educational developers in the design and delivery of PGCert courses and professional development workshops.

The materials are categorised under eight themes including feedback, learning spaces, e-learning and values, and are mapped to the UKPSF for ease of use by accredited programmes; they are designed to elicit dialogue and reflection on disciplinary ways of thinking and practising.

The resources are hosted by the University of Bath and can be accessed via the project blog http://disciplinarythinking.wordpress.com and JORUM (keyword: discthink) http://www.jorum.ac.uk.

For more information contact: Dr Helen King, University of Bath (h.king@bath.ac.uk)

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