An eSTEeM conference with a difference

7th May 2025

eSTEeM was delighted to welcome over 170 delegates to this year’s online conference with a difference. Presenters were challenged to use innovative and engaging methods to disseminate their scholarship practice and they didn’t disappoint. From co-curating a playlist to accompany the themes of AL staff development, to a demonstration of virtual reality tutorials for stage 3 Health Sciences students, audiences were treated to a variety of innovative and immersive sessions.

A first for an eSTEeM conference, the programme also contained a wellbeing session in the form of virtual yoga and craft sessions with a crochet taster session and the eSTEeM Knowledge Makers session.

Now in its 8th year, we were delighted to present the eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Awards, which celebrate excellence in eSTEeM projects over the past year. Many congratulations to the following project teams –

Highly Commended:

Title: To evaluate the effectiveness of focused staff training in recruitment on specialised modules

Team: David McDade, Phil Hackett and Anthony Johnston

Title: Use of OULive recordings of ‘live mathematics’ and discussion forums to on a level 3 Pure mathematics module in order to enable students to move to a growth mindset in maths and to add a social dimension to learning mathematics

Team: Hayley Ryder and Tacey O'Neil

Winners:

Title: Evaluation and improvement of print packs use for Environmental Science students

Team: Fiona Aiken and Chris Hutton

Title: Can we reduce anxiety of students sitting online exams? Sharing best practice between SPS (School of Physical Sciences) and LHCS (Life Health and Chemical Sciences)

Team: Fiona Moorman, Gemma Warriner and Becca Whitehead

Best Poster Presentation

Congratulations to the winners of the best poster presentation prize, which went to Louise MacBrayne, Jennie Bellamy, Isabella Henman and Kate Gibson for their poster titled – Postcode Inequity: Closing the Awarding Gap for Stage 1 Science Students residing in our most deprived UK postcodes.

Most Engaging and Immersive Sessions

Another first, this year we also invited conference delegates to vote for the most engaging and immersive sessions across the two days. Congratulations to the winners as follows –

Day One, Parallel Session C: Using virtual reality tutorials with Stage 3 Health Sciences students. Presenters: Janette Wallace, Lucy Anderson, Sarah Daniell and Trevor Collins

Day Two, Parallel Session O: Experiencing co-creation of digital assets with LHCS Student Interns. Presenters: Janette Wallace, Zoë Chapman, Beth Cooper and Kay Hawthorne

Recordings of the sessions and the PowerPoint presentations are available via the conference website, where applicable.