New Academic Issue 1.2

Description

This issue contains articles on:          Ants, Small Mammals and
Enthusiastic StudentsKate Exley (University of Nottingham) shares
her experience of innovative teaching and learning
methods.Quality Enhancement and
Academic ProfessionalismProfessor Lewis Elton has long campaigned
and worked to improve the quality of teaching in higher education. In this
article he uses change theory to argue the need for a Higher Education
Development Centre to support staff in further enhancing quality.What Do Students Really
Think They Have Let Themselves in For?How can we help students new
to higher education settle in more easily? Geoff Moore and Wendy Stewart-David
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic) use ‘The Expectations Approach’ with their
freshers and have received encouraging results.Students Helping Students to
LearnJenni Wallace (Kingston Polytechnic) is supporting an American
peer-learning programme called Supplemental Instruction. Here she gives an
insight as to what it
involves.Developments in Science
TeachingArticles:Creativity Applied – Ivan Moore,
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of UlsterChemistry Labs and Transferable Skills – Bob
Murray, Jeff Richards and Ray Wallace, Department of Chemistry and Physics,
University of NottinghamEnvironmental Health and the Media – David
Ruddick, Department of Applied Physical Sciences, and Harold Harvey, Department
of Building, University of UlsterEnterprise in Rural Business Development –
Martin F Seabrook, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of
NottinghamInquiry on the Retreat – Peter McGregor and
Francis Gilbert, Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham.Raising the Numeracy of
Higher Education StudentsCompetency with numbers is essential in
most walks of life. Yet few who find numbers baffling willingly admit to
difficulties and seek help. In this article Michael Cornelius, Numeracy Fellow
at the University Durham, describes the help which he has given to
students.Down With
Essays!There may be something to be said for the essays of Bacon
and Montesquieu, but not for the student essay – a literary genre whose main
goal, according to Graham Gibbs (Oxford Centre for Staff Development), is to
obscure ignorance.How Was It For
You?A practicable suggestion for formative evaluation from John
Cowan and Judith George (The Open University in
Scotland).