UCL - Teaching & Learning 2004

Abstracts for each of the presentations taking place at this year's event are available below, ordered alphabetically by the presenter's surname.
In cases of multiple presenters, abstracts can be found under the surname of the main presenter, and in the case of joint presenters the surname whose name falls closest to the beginning of the alphabet will be listed:


Bailey, Graham	Project Evaluation & Development - Group Case Study Graham Bailey, Harry Gerrity & Tony Hall, The Bartlett
Exhibition	The PED Module is part of the final year studies of the BSc Hons Project Management for Construction. It is included in the programme to provide a vehicle to consolidate and integrate the students understanding of methods, technologies and processes through application. The module seeks to draw together the skills and techniques studied throughout the course, and also to develop the students transferable skills, problem solving abilities and time management. The objective of the group exercise to make the student aware of the overall process, within which buildings are conceived, designed and built; improving comprehension of the whole of the project management and development process. This year the course team decided to set the exercise in mainland Europe. The students work in groups of 4/5, as representatives of an international practice of project managers, who have been chosen to produce proposals for a development package in the Netherlands and present them in a competition before a panel of client representatives. The quality of work produced this year both in the submissions and presentations was of the highest quality. It was felt that this could form an important contribution to the Teaching & Learning conference.

Boyd, Dr Stewart	Interactive student training in epilepsy: an internet-based tool Dr Stewart Boyd, Alan Worley & Ralph Smith, Institute of Child Health
CANCELLED Thu 1st April -- 15:00	To ensure effective, consistent reporting of physiological changes, students' training programmes must include sufficient practical interaction with original data. We have developed a method which permits trainees to review clinical EEG data interactively, using a standard Internet browser. The recording can be evaluated by selecting events, different montages, sensitivities and filter settings, all created on-demand during the session The EEG review is linked to expert commentary on the files accessed, with auditing of the strategies employed. No data transfer is required, and, given appropriate security, linkage to video of the child’s epileptic seizures is possible. This tool permits remote, on-line access and supplements tutorials and more traditional training. This method could be extended to other disciplines where tutors need to assess student's approaches to interpreting complex physiological data.

Boynton, Dr Petra	The dreaded dissertation: experiences of students and supervisors Dr Petra Boynton & Dr Geoff Wong, Open Learning Unit
Garden Room Wed 31st March -- 16:00	It is well known that students find the process of completing and writing their dissertations difficult, particularly those who are adult learners, or who may be unfamiliar with the process of research writing. Less documented are the problems tutors face when dealing with student’s ‘dissertation worries’. We base this workshop on preliminary qualitative research we have completed with staff and students involved in the dissertation process. We have found they have different, and at times conflicting, concerns (for example, the student’s desire to impress with a ‘big’ study, the tutor’s suggestion to keep things ‘simple’). This workshop will provide an overview of student dissertation worries and troubleshooting tips for overcoming them; along with an invitation for delegates to discuss specific issues they have with supervising dissertations.

Braime, John	Learning Through Volunteering John Braime, UCL Union, Voluntary Services Unit
Garden Room Thu 1st April -- 14:30	The Voluntary Services Unit was set up in August 2002 to enable UCL students and staff to volunteer with local community projects. Volunteering enables students to express their commitment and interest in wider society, but it is also recognised as a way of developing skills and knowledge beyond their formal area of study. This presentation will cover the ways in which the Voluntary Services Unit has contributed to the development of skills and knowledge within UCL, particularly looking at the UCL Volunteer Development Award – a new scheme to formally accredit student’s voluntary work. We will also present preliminary results from research into the impact of volunteering upon UCL students’ skill development and sense of civic engagement.

Brotherton, Dr Jason	Automated capture and access of College lectures Dr Jason Brotherton & Professor Harold Thimleby, UCLIC
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 12:30	We would like to give a presentation of Tabula Rasa, a classroom under development at UCLIC designed to capture all the details of a lecture – ink written, slides shown, web pages visited, voice and video of the instructor and voice of the students. The classroom is also designed to be a distributed classroom and serve as a research testbed for further educational technology work. As a part of the talk, evaluation results from the precursor to Tabula Rasa (eClass) will be discussed that will also feed into a discussion on how to best integrate technology into the classroom.

Brown, Simon	Media Resources and the use of multimedia in e-learning Simon Brown, Media Resources, EISD
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 14:30 + Exhibition	This paper/demo looks at the use of multimedia in teaching and learning modules and the ways in which Media Resources can support this. The range of media to be covered would include simple imagery, animations using Flash and animated graphics, PowerPoint and transitions, the use of both embedded and streamed video, links to web sites and other media files. Practical examples will be shown, including techniques for optimising various media for different uses.

Cartledge, Dr Jonathan David	How does a student-held log of patient encounters inform faculty of student experience, and how can one best be structured? Dr Jonathan David Cartledge & Professor D Brenton, Academic Centre for Medical Education
Council Room Thu 1st April -- 14:00 + Poster	Students in year 3 of the medical school curriculum completed and returned hand held log books detailing the types of patients they had clerked during a 10 week module. 357 log books were received, a 94% response rate. Data from 6322 patient encounters showed that students clerk a median 19 ( range 6-60) patients during a 10 week module ( previous estimates had been much lower). From this data a list of the commonest diagnoses encountered by students was obtained, which is being matched against the diagnoses highlighted in the core curriculum to identify any gaps. The information has also highlighted that students attached to each teaching firm within the same module can encounter a very different spectrum of patients compared with students in parallel firms. In light of this, innovative methods of evening out these fluctuations are being explored. The experience of collating this data, and conducting focus groups with students has led to recommendations for all departments on how best to structure and use such log books.

Chang, Dr Hasok	Turning an Undergraduate Class into a Professional Research Community Dr Hasok Chang, Department of Science & Technology Studies
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 11:30	I propose a new model of research-teaching integration, which I have been putting into practice in a pilot project for the last 4 years, a course-unit in which successive generations of final-year undergraduates are writing a "biography" of the chemical element chlorine. Beyond the expected pedagogical insights, the project has thrown interesting new light on the nature of original research and of knowledge itself. Contrary to two common existing models of integrating research and undergraduate teaching (which I call the "budding genius" model and the "graduate seminar" model), our "directed community" model works by building an active research community. The students treat the works of their predecessors as secondary literature, and their own cohort as a set of professional colleagues; the teacher serves as a research director. In this process we produce publishable original research, turning the undergraduate classroom into an actual professional research community, not merely a simulation. If widely and successfully applied, this model could result in a fundamental transformation of higher education.

Cross, Sue	Modular graduate programmes: fulfilling their potential for lifelong learning? Sue Cross & Dr Martin Oliver, EPD
Garden Room Wed 31st March -- 16:30	Modular programmes are not new. However, the benefits which their designers hope they will provide for those students who are combining part-time study with work and/or domestic responsibilities, are very hard to achieve in cost effective ways. As demand for continuing professional development delivered in more user-friendly ways continues to grow, modular graduate programmes may be expected to become more significant within UCL’s graduate teaching programme. This is another aspect of widening participation. The presenters will draw upon their experience of designing and teaching modular MA programmes to discuss how pedagogic and practical arrangements combine to create the learning experience for students. This will include issues such as the relationship between components and student progression, sharing modules between programmes, students’ needs and session scheduling and designing assessment that gives credit for professionally-driven concerns. They will also consider how closer co-operation between teachers and learning support professionals might produce a better learning environment for part-time graduate students.

Cummings, Rosamund	The Impact of Government Legislation on Teaching and Learning Rosamund Cummings, Records Manager and Data Protection & FOI Officer, Estates & Facilities Division
Poster	Government Legislation, in the form of the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts, has required changes in the way in which UCL stores and uses information and promotes its' business of teaching and learning. This session will explain how individuals can manage their Teaching and Learning programmes efficiently, in order to ensure that UCL complies with these Acts.

Dunsmuir, Dr Sandra	Using New Media Innovations to Support Career-long Learning in Professional Practice Dr Sandra Dunsmuir & Dr Norah Frederickson, Psychology
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 15:00	The Educational Psychology Group, supported by a SCILTA grant, is developing a set of CD ROMs linked to the new national core curriculum for graduate professional training in educational psychology where university teaching and work placements are closely integrated. Building on existing expertise developed through a HEFCE CE funded project in 1998, we are aiming to develop a resource for our students and their work placement supervisors in Educational Psychology services that will be marketable more widely to qualified practitioners. We will describe the development processes through which we have accessed expertise, across UCL and beyond. We will outline the work undertaken at each of the following steps: devising a research-based approach to the work, identifying learning needs, selecting appropriate content, designing relevant learning experiences and evaluating the potential of a range of media. Planned further developments in inter-university collaboration in peer-review and joint authoring will also be described.

Dworetsky, Dr Mike	Developing a Multimedia CD-ROM for a New Astronomy Course Dr Mike Dworetsky, Dr Steve Fossey, William Reece, Merrik Bousfield & Dugan Witherick, University of London Observatory, Dept of Physics and Astronomy
Exhibition	The Department of Physics and Astronomy has begun an evening course, the Diploma in Astronomy. We have developed a CDROM containing tutorials, notes and data, together with computer-based practical exercises, to enable the students to access as much material as possible from their home PCs without having to go online. The CDROM is a mirror image of the course website http://www.ulo.ucl.ac.uk/~diploma and is updated for each year's intake of students. An important issue in constructing such a site is to ensure that we obtain proper permission to use material protected by copyright. The material includes a tutorial on basic GCSE mathematics and a complete set of the Hubble Heritage Collection of astronomical images. Some exercises have been created or adapted using resources such as ImageJ and solar images from NASA facilities. The CDROM will be presented and demonstrated as an example of what can be achieved with modest resources.

Eder, Prof Andrew	An interactive skill-simulation setting for dental and other surgical procedures Professor Andrew Eder, Richard Kahan & Alastair Stokes, Eastman Continuing Professional Development
Poster	The Continuing Professional Development Department of the Eastman Dental Institute has established a skills-simulation suite to enhance the learning of operative procedures in a quasi clinical environment. The facility comprises two linked laboratories equipped with dental manikins and associated clinical instrumentation. CCTV links to flat screens at each station allow both live and pre-recorded demonstrations to be viewed individually. Part of the suite is equipped with surgical operating microscopes which enhance the precision of detailed intra-oral and other surgical procedures. Two-way audiovisual links enable the viewing of individual operating fields on screens at each station along with the manipulation of real-time radiographic images of in-progress endodontic therapy. The teaching programmes at CPD have benefited from this innovative environment and staff have developed a range of teaching strategies which take advantage of this useful technology.

Frederickson, Dr. Norah	Three-Year Development of a Web-based Research Methods Course: The Roile of Student Appraisal of Teaching, Student Assessment and Staff Reflection. Dr. Norah Frederickson & Dr. Robin Murphy, Psychology
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 14:30	Developments over three successive years in a web-based research methods course of a graduate professional training programme will be described. External accreditation of the MSc Educational Psychology in 2003 commended the web-based research methods course (developed with SCILTA grant supported in 2001). Yet evaluation of the first version had identified a number of problems (Frederickson, Reed & Clifford, in press, Higher Education). Over the next two years analysis of feedback from the students led the programme team, supported by staff in EPD at UCL, to explore the systematic use of problem-based learning and peer collaboration. We will outline the ways in which these approaches influenced the development of the course to address key issued raised by the students. We will also discuss information gained from retrospective analysis of different types of student assessment and from the reflections of staff new to the course and to these teaching approaches.

Furlong, Gillian	A picture paints a thousand words Gillian Furlong & Susan Stead, Rare Books Librarian, EISD, Library Services
Exhibition	A demonstration on the newly launched Digital Gallery featuring over 500 images taken from UCL Library’s magnificent collections of rare books, manuscripts and archives. The Teaching and Learning event will be an ideal opportunity to advertise these cultural treasures through this "Internet shop window". Students and teachers will be able to see for themselves in a digital showcase what potential resources exist on their own doorstep and discuss with the Library staff how best to exploit them. The possibilities have yet to be fully explored and we would welcome a chance to interact with the academic community to this end. The showcased collections are as rich as they are varied in subject -matter, age and range and by bringing them to potential users via their desktop Library Services is opening up a whole new road map for exploration. Library Services and Media Resources are committed to developing this pilot project.

Gardner-Medwin, Prof Tony	Software for Good Thoughts Joint workshop with Professor Tony Gardner-Medwin, Physiology & Julie Voce, Learning Technologies Support Service, Information Systems
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 16:30	Computers are seldom a favourite tool to teach thinking skills. But though they don't replace inspirational teaching or analytic debate, they are amazingly good at the basics, thus freeing staff time for such activities. Sceptics of their potential should try 'Aptitudes & Skills' at www.ucl.ac.uk/lapt/bmat, recently made available for practice for the Bio-Medical Admissions Test (run by UCLES). This requires very little subject-specific knowledge but could, I fear, make even some of UCL's finest minds blanch at the inadequacy of their thoughts. This session will be an interactive discussion of key issues: testing core knowledge, linking facts and principles into 'understanding', developing critical attitudes (aided by confidence-based marking and the consequent need to check and justify), practice for skills (particularly numeracy), summative assessment, and delivery of feedback about strengths and weaknesses without fear of humiliation. The aim is to disseminate good features of the medical course to the huge range of disciplines where they could be applied - wherever good thoughts, confident knowledge, effective study and efficient assessment are at a premium.

Glasser, Brian	Teaching movies to medical students Brian Glasser, Centre for Medical Humanities, Royal Free & University College Medical School
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 14:00	How would one teach medical students about movies? And why would one want to do so in the first place? This talk will describe a module of a new intercalated BSc in Medical Humanities which looks at doctors in the cinema.

Greenhalgh, Prof Trisha	"Do they let you out?": A focus group study of perceptions of university in school pupils from non-traditional backgrounds Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, Kieran Seyan & Dr Petra Boynton, Primary Care & Population Sciences
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 16:00 + Poster	Massive socio-economic inequalities remain in the chance of applying to university, gaining a place, and staying the course. We asked teachers in six London schools to identify intellectually able Year 10 pupils. In focus groups, we presented a fictitious pupil “from a similar background to you” and invited discussion on their likely hopes, fears, and experiences. We recorded and transcribed all groups and performed formal qualitative analysis. Pupils from working class backgrounds were strikingly preoccupied by material concerns: they perceived university as a place where they would lose important freedoms (they would sleep in dormitories, eat institution food, and be made to attend ‘hard’ lectures for many hours a day – an experience to be endured to gain a higher-paid job at the end). Middle class pupils were internally motivated and talked more in terms of having fun, developing their potential, and gaining a rewarding job. We will present an interpretation of these findings that draws on the Marxist theoretical perspective developed by Paul Willis in Learning to Labour, and suggest implications for UCL’s Widening Participation programme.

Haklay, Dr Muki	Using Moodle as a departmental VLE Dr Muki Kaklay, Department of Geomatic Engineering
Council Room Wed 31st March -- 16:30	Using SCILTA funds, the department of Geomatic Engineering implemented a departmental level VLE, to assist us in the running of our courses. The system is based on Open Source application, called Moodle (www.moodle.org) . The presentation will discuss the pros and cons of moodle implementation.

Haq, Dr Inam	A peer-assessed medical student OSCE: A quantitative and qualitative study Dr Inam Haq & Professor Jane Dacre, Academic Centre for Medical Education, Royal Free and University College Medical
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 17:00 + Poster	OSCEs provide excellent formative experience for students, but are impractical to run on a regular basis because of the high level of faculty involvement. We report an innovative way of overcoming this problem. Students attending the rheumatology and care of older people firms in 2 consecutive 5-week blocks were examined using a peer assessed OSCE (PAO). Students were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 would assess at a station in the first circuit, with group 2 being assessed. The groups would swap over for the second circuit. Scores in the PAO were correlated with scores in the end of year summative OSCE (EYO). There was a correlation between EYO and PAO scores (R = +0.31). Students taking part in the PAO did significantly better in the EYO than students who did not (p=0.001). Students found the exercise a useful method of testing clinical skills, but mark each other more leniently.

Haq, Dr Inam	The use of patient partners with back pain to teach undergraduate medical students Dr Inam Haq, Joan Fuller & Professor Jane Dacre, Academic Centre for Medical Education, RFUCMS
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 12:00 + Poster	Back pain is a common cause of pain and disability and forms a substantial component of time off work for sickness. It is an important subject in the medical school curriculum but teaching can be variable. Trained patients – Patient Partners (PPs) - with rheumatoid arthritis have been successful in teaching medical students. We describe the development of a teaching programme using PPs with back pain. Patients were recruited from the Whittington Hospital NHS Trust and underwent a training programme covering teaching skills, history taking, examination, non-drug treatments in back pain and spinal anatomy. PPs taught students at the Whittington campus of RFUCMS during their rheumatology firm. In an end of year summative OSCE station on back pain, students who attended PP teaching scored significantly better than those that did not (p=0.05). PPs increased their confidence in teaching and managing their back pain. This teaching method is feasible and practical.

Hedges, June	Supporting students: developing an online reading list service June Hedges, Co-ordinator, Teaching & Learning Support Section, Library Services
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 10:30 + Exhibition	The presentation will focus on a demonstration of the Online Reading List Service (ORLS) which Library Services have been developing with a small number of academic staff. The implementation of ORLS is part of Library Services’ commitment to making core materials available electronically, and continues the collaboration with Information Systems and Education and Professional Development. This started with the Access to Core Course Materials Project, which demonstrated that departments are increasingly keen on the electronic delivery of all relevant materials to students. ORLS is an extension of the popular service provided by the Teaching and Learning Support Section. It will enable: Linking to the eUCLid catalogue to check the availability of items Linking to e-journals and other e-resources allowing students to take advantage of growing collection of electronic holdings. The reading list software is also compatible with WebCT, which ties in with the College’s commitment to developing e-learning.

Hoffman, Dr Christine	The European Language Portfolio - its relevance, application and integration in language courses for non-linguist students Dr Christine Hoffmann, UCL Language Centre
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 15:00	In 2002, the European Confederation of University Language Centres in HE (Cercles) has issued an adapted version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP). The various parts and the relevance of the ELP for various Modern Foreign Languages and English courses will be discussed. The presentation will illustrate how the ELP can be applied to and integrated in the language programme of non-linguist students and the potential benefits for students and teachers will be described.

King, Terry	Arousing an interest in school students for the taking up of "new" languages at university using a specially created website (The ATLAS project). Terry King, Dr Jane Hughes & Claire McAvinia, EPD
Garden Room Thu 1st April -- 15:00	The ATLAS project (A Taste of Languages in School), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, CfBT and UCL, addresses the decline in numbers of students taking languages at university. This presentation will report on the experience of designing and piloting a web site offering an introduction to the culture and language of five less taught languages to 14-19 year olds in nine partner schools in London and the South East. It aims to arouse an interest in language study at university, especially ab initio courses in languages not studied at school. A survey of students’ attitudes towards learning languages explored the reasons for discontinuing the study of languages and also investigated students’ tastes in web sites. Lessons for marketing and web design were learned and used in creating the web site. It is hoped to present recommendations to others wishing to “sell” languages and to devise web based teaching materials.

Lomax, Tom	Sculpture through a keyboard Tom Lomax, Slade School of Fine Art
Exhibition	At the Slade there is a programme of research into 3D virtual modelling, prototype manufacture of forms and their relationship to the subject of sculpture. At present its prime concern is with generating models digitally with specific 3D modelling software packages, which are then reproduced by CNC Machining. We are looking, in the near future, to add to this the ability to create the virtual models through the process of photogrammetry and go direct to machining. We intend also to develop these possibilities by overlapping with the bronze casting facility at the Slade as an exploration of mould and core making.

Matthews, Dr Vincent	Enhancing information skills through WebCT Dr Vincent Matthews, Library Services, EISD & Vanda Broughton, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 10:30	There is increasing recognition of the importance of information finding and handling skills to learning and researching activities. We will describe work done during 2003 thanks to a grant from the Executive Sub-Committee on Innovations in Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ESCILTA) to a UCL multi-departmental project team. This has produced a Web-CT module potentially available for use by all who study at UCL, where they can improve these information skills. The module explains how best to plan and formulate search strategies, select the most appropriate information resources from the many websites, full text and indexing databases available, and how best to conduct searches and interpret the results obtained. The presentation will include a guide to the module and its main features along with an account of its current and anticipated usage in the School of Library, Archive & Information Studies’ course Information sources and how to use them.

McKenna, Dr Colleen	Academic Communication at UCL: Diverse approaches to student writing Dr Colleen McKenna & Dr Phyllis Creme, Education & Professional Development
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 16:30	This talk will consider 2 current models for writing in higher education (the US ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ approach and the ‘Academic Literacies’ framework developed in the UK ) and look at how they have informed writing development at UCL. A selection of writing projects across UCL will be discussed from current work, including 2 interdisciplinary courses, department-based writing secondments, the Writing in the Disciplines workshop series and the Writing for Learning Mentors project.

Merriman, Dr Nick	Using UCL's museums and collections as a teaching resource Dr Nick Merriman, UCL Museums & Collections
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 10:00 + Exhibition	Teaching using objects and specimens is a pedagogic tool which was at the heart of many disciplines but has been considerably neglected in recent decades. In the move towards interdisciplinary and more creative methods of teaching and learning, however, there is a huge but largely untapped potential in university collections. This contribution will highlight the opportunities available to use UCL’s four museums and eleven collections totalling c. 750,000 objects and specimens for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Attention will be drawn to existing programmes which use the collections, including direct hands-on access to objects, use of prepared loan boxes, development of exhibitions, and the increasing provision of digital information. It is suggested that those at UCL involved with teaching and learning will be able to use these collections in highly creative ways in the future.

Mitchell, Dr John	It's not for lazy students like me... Dr John Mitchell, Dr Tony Kenyon & Jan Smith, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 12:00	This presentation will chart the development of problem-based learning (PBL) in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. PBL is being introduced to help combat two perceived problems: dissatisfaction from employers, not about what our graduates know, but what they can do; and an increasingly surface approach to learning displayed by the students. Responses to on-entry questionnaires illustrate how many students arrive with an under-developed conception of university-level learning, an outlook that should be improved by exposure to PBL. We will also address the key opportunities and challenges in implementing PBL: for staff, as they overhaul the curriculum and extend their teaching techniques; and students, as they experience the transition from traditional teaching to independent learning. We will reflect on the ‘pitfalls of the pilot’ from which some important lessons have been learned in terms of student support and the complexities of the tutor/facilitator role.

Monsen, Dr Jeremy	The Use of Simulations, Video Analysis of Behaviour and Self-Peer-Tutor Critique in the Development of Applied Skills. Dr Jeremy Monsen, Psychology
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 14:00	One of the impacts of an increased emphasis upon problem-based learning and peer collaboration within applied training programmes has been the critical appraisal of the efficacy of simulations, video-analysis and self-peer-tutor critique in developing to competency a range of applied skills (i.e. initial client interviewing skills). Developments over the last nine years within a graduate professional programme for Educational Psychologists in Training (EPITs) at UCL will be described and critiqued. The session will highlight generic principles and strategies which may be applicable to other applied areas (i.e. medicine, social work) where the development of competent ‘actionable’ skills is essential.

Monthienvichienchai, Dr Rachada	Computer support for Vicarious Learning: the missing courseware Dr Rachada Monthienvichienchai, Computer Science & Professor Angela Sasse
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 10:00	This research study investigates how best to implement computer support for vicarious learning by taking a principled approach to selecting and combining different media to capture dialogues that take place during collaborative learning activities. Early findings of this research was presented at TL2002, showing that vicarious learning materials that contain the appropriate pedagogic and production quality can be produced whilst minimising cost, both in terms of money and time. This presentation presents how such material has been used in the Department of Computer Science at UCL and the Faculty of Communication Arts at St. John’s University, Bangkok. In these settings, vicarious learning materials were successful in dealing with the pedagogic needs of the students that were not met by other forms of courseware. Additionally, such materials were received with unexpected level of enthusiasm by the students.

Murphy, Jeannette	The "New" Graduate Student - Myths, Assumptions and Realities Jeannetee Murphy, Katja Stramer, Matthew Darlison & Paul Taylor, CHIME
Garden Room Wed 31st March -- 17:00	We have witnessed big changes in to the nature of postgraduate programmes in the UK. Up until the 1960s, graduate study equated to the traditional PhD training programme; by the 1990s nearly all universities were offering taught postgraduate training. The UCL Teaching and Learning strategy recognises these changes and calls attention to the needs of part-time and mature students. In CHIME we provide two part-time postgraduate courses, designed to meet the needs of those working full-time in the NHS. We were given a SCILTA award to enable us to carry out a follow up study of our students. The aim of the research is to design and pilot a method of assessing the impact of a modular MSc programme on students' careers and professional practice. This presentation will describe our research methods and summarise the findings. We will raise issues about the changing nature of postgraduate study and the challenge this poses to university departments in UCL.

Orton, Prof Clive	Digging your own grave: skills from an archaeological simulation Professor Clive Orton, Helen Dawson, Anthi Kaldelis, Institute of Archaeology
Exhibition CANCELLED	One of the aims of the new 2nd-year core course Research and Presentation Skills in Archaeology is “to give students practical training in the selection, analysis and presentation of data”. This aim is addressed through an archaeological story, the simulated excavation of a large prehistoric cemetery. After discussing research aims, students worked together to devise sampling strategies, and individually selected 10% samples from a spreadsheet representing the 500 graves in the cemetery. As the graves were selected, each student’s spreadsheet was populated with the details of the grave they had just ‘excavated’. After each student had analysed their data, the groups met again to pool their results and prepare a presentation of their findings. Each group then made a 15-minute presentation to two other groups. Assessment is of a portfolio, including: design of sampling strategy; data analysis; critique of another group’s presentation.

Peacock, Joanne	Does working eith the Nigh Nurse Practitioners (NNP) imrpove the clinical Medical student's (MS) practical and communication skills Joanne Peacock, Kath Evans, Assitant, Clinical Skills Centre, ACME - Whittington Campus & Professor Jane Dcare, Professor of Medical Education
Poster	Design: Eleven, 1st year clinical MS worked one night shift with a (NNP). It was decided which days that the students would work by the demands on their timetable. A pre and post questionnaire was given to both groups and sent to them. Results: All agreed to take part. There was a 81% (9/11) response rate to the questionnaire from MS and a 61% (4/6) from the NNP’s. All of the MS enjoyed the experience giving them a good insight to hospital life. NNP’s felt that they had gained from the experience, and were willing to do it again but would prefer to work with more experienced students. Conclusion: This small pilot study suggests that pairing medical students with NNP’s is feasible and a good learning experience on both sides.

Preest, Kirstie	Integrating Information Skills training into first year Geography methods class using WebCT Kirtie Preest, Subject Librarian, SHS Faculty, Debs Furness & Katherine Roberts, Library Services
CANCELLED Wed 31st March -- 17:00 + Exhibition	Library and Information Skills training has successfully been embedded into the first year geography methods course 'wag 1008' for the last couple of years. For the current session WebCT has been used to create an online Library and Information Resources course for geography. This is a pilot scheme which shows how the department and Library Services can work together for the benefit of students. The Presentation will include the how the WebCT course originated and a demonstration of the WebCT course itself. A workshop for those interested can be set up during the conference as well as a demonstration as part of the exhibition.

Ronnau-Bradbeer, Katheryn	Virtual Dutch Katheryn Ronnau-Bradbeer & Gerdi Quist, Dutch dept
Council Room Wed 31st March -- 16:00 + Exhibition	During the past three years the Dutch department at UCL has, in conjunction with other Dutch departments in Cambridge, Hull and Sheffield, built up a 'Virtual Department of Dutch'. Collaborative teaching projects have taken place using video conferencing and WebCT. Several electronic courses have been developed and a number of electronic self-study packs have been published on the internet. During the presentation on 31 March we will give a general overview and short demonstration of how we have used these electronic learning formats. During the demonstration we will showcase the electronic self-study packs and one electronic course, "Critical Language Awareness". The self-study packs are freely available to anyone with internet access and cover various topics within Dutch studies including literature, history and history of the language. The "Critical Language Awareness" course is WebCT based and accessible via the intranet. This course aims to help students develop a critical awareness of how ideological and cultural values are embedded in texts using exercises with English and Dutch texts.

Rounce, Peter	Coursework System with randomised selection of data parameters for each question Peter Rounce
Exhibition	The developed system provides an online coursework system where the questions can have elements, which are generated or selected on some random basis. This allows a much wider range of questions to be generated than simple questionnaire based system. It allows students to have multiple attempts at a question to improve their performance and allows correct answers to be returned for incorrect answers as the same question is unlikely to appear very soon. Besides the coursework presentation interface, there is a management interface for setting up and testing the question set, managing login names, passwords and their distribution, marks analysis and output. There is also a mechanism for generating questions from a text file (XML-based) specification, although questions can be manually produced in JSP and Java code. The system is based on Tomcat and JSP, and there is no client-side code: just pure HTML. The student interface and some questions can be tested at http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/P.Rounce/courseworkDemo.html

Selai, Dr Caroline	Widening Access: Is Peer-Tutoring the way forward? Dr Caroline Selai, Helen Albon & Patrick Lewis, Institute of Neurology, UCL
Garden Room Thu 1st April -- 14:00	The MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology attracts students with a range of experience and expertise, from postgraduate clinicians to basic scientists. Some students find the first few weeks of the course, which starts straight in with cellular/molecular neuroscience, very demanding. We have developed a peer-tutoring programme with volunteer MPhil/PhD students tutoring on the MSc course. This programme includes training, feedback, peer-observation, debriefing and reflection sessions. Outcome measures, including both qualitative and quantitative data, show this to be beneficial to all students involved (tutors and tutees). We believe this programme has exciting implications for current debates about student retention and ‘widening access’. However, it is important that peer-tutors have adequate support, the opportunity to receive constructive feedback and space for reflection on teaching.

Shah, Bharat	Learning Technology Support Site Bharat Shah & Martin Oliver (EPD), Penny Everett & Julie Voce (IS)
Exhibition	The Learning Technology Support Site is a new addition to the support provided by EISD for learning technology. Staff at UCL can visit the site to find guidance, support and advice about all aspects of online learning. In particular, delegates may be interested to find out more about the different forms of peer support that this site facilitates, giving staff the opportunity for collaboration across college. In addition to the demonstration, staff will be able to browse posters promoting the site as a premium reference source for all aspects of learning technology at UCL. This demonstration will give delegates an opportunity to use the site and to ask the site developers any associated questions. The site has been created as a joint venture between EPD and IS.

Siddall, Dr Ruth	Learning through presentations: web projects in final year courses Dr Ruth Siddall, Earth Sciences
Poster	This poster will present the results of an experiment in web-based teaching and learning within the Department of Earth Sciences. "Global Tectonics" is a final year core course for students following BSc/MSci degree programmes in Geology. A key part of the assessment for this course is the creation of a website to present For many of our students, web-authoring is a new experience, and therefore setting up the project requires considerable staff input. Tutorial support introducing basic web design skills is essential. However, the benefits of the project outweigh those of simply acquiring key skills. The exercise is perceived by the students as 'fun' and useful and they appear to take a greater ownership in their individual pieces of work. Assessment amongst the marking panel is also facilitated; all work is simultaneously available at the tutor's workstation. The variety of work completed in the session 2002-2003 will be presented here.

Singh, Dr Surinder	Introducing an intercalated Batchelors Program in Medical Humanities at UCL: the challenges and potential solutions Dr Surinder Singh & Dr R Meakin, Dept of Primary Care/Population Sciences
Council Room Thu 1st April -- 14:30	The new BSc in Medical Humanities has come about following a sea-change in what is expected in a contemporary medical undergraduate teaching programme in the UK and worldwide. The department of primary care and population sciences has had a history of providing BSc programmes, for example the BSc in primary health care, now in its sixth year. The new BSc in Medical Humanities commenced this September and brings together a diverse range of humanities subjects, each designed to test and challenge medical students at various stages in their development, intellectually, attitudinally and emotionally. The same could be said of the tutors. This presentation aims to: Describe the medical humanities BSc programme Discuss the challenges and difficulties students (and tutors) have faced There will be time for discussion and reflection on what is it about the course that aims to make these “better doctors”.

Strawbridge, Dr Fiona	IT in Teaching and Learning Dr Fiona Strawbridge, Penny Everett & Julie Voce (IS)
Exhibition	Many academics would like to make use of IT in teaching, but don’t know quite where to begin, what the possibilities are, or where to turn for help. Come to our stand in the exhibition and find out what advice, support and training are available. We will be able to demonstrate a range of software, systems and services, including: * WebCT UCL’s virtual learning environment * Tools for computer assisted assessment including QuestionMark Perception, Hot Potatoes and LAPT * Impatica - for online delivery of PowerPoint presentations with soundtrack. * Infosource and Electric Paper - interactive online IT training ranging from basic to advanced level The Learning Technologies Support Service will be demonstrating these possibilities and suggesting how they can be used in teaching.

Thomas, Dr Geraint	Creating and managing student projects using mind-mapping: Bioinformatics as an example Dr Geraint Thomas, Physiology & Dr Jane Hughes, EPD
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 09:30	Investigators in modern molecular and cellular biology must efficiently exploit electronic resources e.g. the information that is the product of the human and other genome projects. Vast numbers of DNA and protein sequences, molecular models of their structure and mathematical models that imply their function are freely available along with analytical computational tools. Learners in this area are often overwhelmed by a “data avalanche” and this tends to eliminate flair and creativity in their work or encourage the disproportionate and inappropriate expansion of one section at the expense of others. In turn, this degrades their experience of learning. To counter this, we have been experimenting with electronic mind-mapping programmes to help learners create, invigorate and manage complex projects. We have feedback from second-year, third-year and postgraduate students working both on short and long-term projects. We find that electronic mind-mapping is particularly well-suited to work in this area of computer-aided learning.

Voce, Julie	Tools for Computer-Aided Assessment at UCL Joint workshop with Julie Voce, Learning Technologies Support Service, Information Systems & Professor Tony Gardner-Medwin, Physiology
Old Refectory Wed 31st March -- 16:00	Imagine you have a class of 300 students and would like to give them a multiple choice test to check their understanding of your lectures. Try to estimate how long it would take you to mark each test and provide each student with feedback. Now imagine a system that would mark the test automatically giving you the results in a format that enables you to produce reports and statistics; all you’d have to do is enter the questions and answers and set up the test. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it is - all you need is Computer-Aided Assessment (CAA). The LTSS will demonstrate the CAA software available at UCL, ranging from software for study and self-assessment (e.g. Hot Potatoes - web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/ , and the UCL confidence-based marking system LAPT - www.ucl.ac.uk/lapt/laptlite ) to software used for formal formative or summative assessment (e.g. QuestionMark Perception (www.qmark.com), WebCT Quizzes (www.webct.com), Respondus (www.respondus.com)).

Voce, Julie	Introducing the Learning Technologies Support Service Julie Voce & Penny Everett, Learning Technologies Support Service, Information Systems
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 12:30	Using learning technology in your teaching can range from simply setting up a webpage containing course information/content, to the more involved use of online assessment/quizzes, to a fully integrated online course within a Virtual Learning Environment. Whatever your interest in learning technology, the Learning Technologies Support Service should be your first port of call. We will be demonstrating some of the software available (e.g. UCL’s Virtual Learning Environment, WebCT) as well as discussing the benefits of using learning technology. You can also find out about the support and training we provide and how to go about introducing IT into your teaching.

Wade, Dr Angie	Research Methodology and Statistics: e-based training material Dr Angie Wade, Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health
Exhibition	The Institute of Child Health has an established and highly rated workshop-type training on the basics of research methodology and statistics. Earlier this year we were awarded a SCILTA grant for support to transfer training programmes to the intranet. The aims in doing so were twofold: Firstly, to make the course material accessible to students unable to attend the lecture based courses. Secondly, use of e-based material allows a wider variety of example subject material to be selectively used with examples tailored to individual students’ knowledge base/subject area of expertise. Furthermore, examples could be linked to details of computational aspects of analysis. The development of the web pages, including ongoing evaluations, will be discussed. The resultant intranet-site will be presented with a view to open discussion of the potential for improvement and/or replication in other disciplines. Our own ideas for further development will be presented.

Walker, Dr Paul	Personal and Professional Skills Development for Graduate Students Dr Paul Walker, EPD
Old Refectory Thu 1st April -- 11:30 + Exhibition	Development of a range of generic personal and professional skills within graduate degree programmes has become even more prominent on the national higher education agenda in recent times. Given the diversity of backgrounds, aspirations and needs among graduate students at an institution such as UCL, how is it possible to address these issues meaningfully? UCL’s Graduate School, in collaboration with Education and Professional Development, offers a number of programmes and resources which are nationally accredited and meet the requirements of Research Councils for graduate skills development. The model is readily transferable and could be implemented at institutional, faculty or departmental level.

Wallace, Deirdre	Clinical supervision of the 3rd year medical student and its effect on student confidence levels in relation to clinical skills performance Deidre Wallace, Dandy Moore, Sharon Delbeke, Dr Inham Haq & Professor Jane Dacre, ACME
Poster	Purpose: In addition to classroom teaching of clinical skills using mannequins the author supervised students in the A&E department practising skills on patients. Method: 36 students completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the skills course rating their confidence levels in relation to carrying out clinical skills. They were then taught practical procedures weekly in the classroom on mannequins and worked with the clinical skills tutors, 2 hours at a time in the A&E department. The students then rated their confidence levels at the end of the 10 weeks. The control group of 36 students were taught in the classroom but did NOT have work in the A&E department with a skills tutor. Result The project is still on going and I do not have any results, recommendations or conclusions. I aim to have these by the first week of December but would still like to be considered for the conference.