Piloting Skills for Biologists sessions for biology students

• Project leader(s): Janet Haresnape
• Theme: Supporting students
• Faculty: STEM
• Status: Current
• Dates: June 2022 to August 2022

This project aims to evaluate a planned programme of events which:

• Help students on J presentations keep engaged over the summer months, between the 21J and 22J presentations.
• Help students to better understand the skills required for working in different areas of biology, and how they are gaining these skills through their modules, e.g., by participating in practical investigations, and online tutorial and forum discussions.
• Provide a community building opportunity for our biology students.

This programme will comprise approximately 12 1hr Adobe Connect sessions, via the Science Study Site, during June, July and August 2022. Some sessions will focus on the skills required for working in different biology-related jobs, and some will be general interest sessions on biology topics intended to provide enrichment opportunities. They will be delivered by biology ALs, many of whom have already delivered similar sessions to students on their own modules. This programme will give these ALs an opportunity to refine these sessions and deliver them to a wider group of our biology students.

The proposed project involves students who attend each session being invited to complete a short set of questions (provided via a weblink immediately after each session) which explore how they heard about the programme, what they enjoyed about the session and any aspects which they found particularly interesting, and any suggestions raised during the sessions which they found particularly helpful, and also ideas for future events.

It is hoped that this will help students to grasp the wide range of possible biology-related careers which exist, gain a better understanding of the skills required for them, and appreciate how they are developing such skills through engagement with their OU modules, and in addition create a friendly supportive atmosphere to help students to feel some sense of belonging.