This seminar, starts off UUK’s Spring Seminar Series. “Social responsibility” is a graduate attribute/capability adopted across the UK, New Zealand, and Australian higher education sectors. The corollary of this is that, like all teaching disciplines, Science, and the Mathematical Sciences (SteMS) departments must embed learning outcomes in their curricula that align with their respective faculty and institution’s vision for a socially responsible graduate. Drawing upon frameworks of citizenship education promulgated for primary and secondary education, we designed a survey to investigate SteMS academics’ conception of, and practices for, embedding social responsibility-linked learning outcomes in their classes, subjects and degree courses. In this seminar, David will share what engaged university teachers can learn from existing citizenship education frameworks and the survey results. In the case of the latter, we have identified a broad range of conceptions of social responsibility which extends from safe and ethical professional practices to becoming agents of societal change. The survey also includes practitioners’ evaluation of the relevance of social responsibility-linked learning outcomes to their teacher and what are, or could be, enablers and barriers to any embedding process. David Van Reyk (he/him/his), School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), trained as a bench-side medical researcher before taking a bioscience lectureship at UTS in August 2000. He has previously been Director of Student Mobility and Engagement and Faculty liaison for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in the Faculty of Science. He also volunteers for the CSIRO STEM Professionals in School outreach program. Since 2020, David has been “teaching-focused” while continuing his research into student learning and success. He is currently completing an MA by thesis, and it is the work from his thesis project that he will be presenting.
In this session you will hear from two working group members about their practices to generate discussion and how these might inform work in our own institutions. Ellie Johnson from the University of Leeds will focus on a project called ‘Leeds Futures’, which is a nationwide programme for sixth form students, aimed primarily at those who meet the University’s widening participation criteria. This 18-month initiative is delivered in a hybrid format, combining both in-person and online activities. Andy Adam from University of East Anglia (UEA) will talk about The Black Humanities Project a partnership between the UEA Outreach Team and current students studying arts and humanities courses. The aim of the project is to inspire young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to consider a future in arts and humanities. This session is for NERUPI members only, check here.
This NNECL webinar is for NNECL members only. Carrie Harrop from the Trauma Informed Consultancy Services (TICS) will be sharing insights on the impact of trauma on learning and give delegates practical tools to create new perspectives for students from care backgrounds to learn well. Traumatic and adverse childhood experiences hinder a child’s ability to feel safe and therefore learn well. Neurobiological research has found that trauma impacts brain areas associated with cognition, memory, and learning. Trauma jeopardises our brain health, which translates to academic difficulty as well as problems with school and developing healthy relationships. You can check if your institution is a member here.
Sense of belonging is a key to educational success for all students. Not all students feel a sense of belonging in learning spaces without support, especially at times when they’re vulnerable to feeling out of place, lonely, or uncertain such as the first-year of college. Fostering belonging in FYE can take many forms. This free 75-minute webinar brings together dynamic speakers from across the globe to offer evidence-based practices that promote belonging in FYE. Seminar includes US, Australian and South African speakers reflecting on a sense of belonging in the first year experience and beyond and sharing practice Come to listen and learn; depart ready to create conditions for first-year students to feel a deep sense of belonging and succeed.
Matt Griffin, Programmes and Communications Officer, Causeway Education
Will Kelly, 'Opening the Doors Conference' Coordinator, University of Winchester
Catherine Fenwick, Director, Aimhigher London