Making and Characterising Silver Nanoparticles

By Michael Seery On January 25, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Here’s a video demonstration of how to make silver nanoparticles, and change their colour easily by adding silver ion to a seed solution. Colour is monitored by UV/visible spectroscopy and some particle sizing is done by dynamic light scattering and TEM (transmission electron microscopy). This is a short overview video of a much larger interactive [...]

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Using WordPress for E-Portfolios

By Michael Seery On January 6, 2012 · 3 Comments

Overview
The Resource Pack aims to show how WordPress web publishing platform (WordPress.org) can be a useful tool in creating and presenting e-portfolios. It aims to show what can be done technically to integrate various elements of an e-portfolio: the documentation of learning, conversation with peers and tutors, and presentation of the ‘product’ for assessment and/or feedback.[Jan 2012]

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5stage

My experiences of teaching online: A case study

By Michael Seery On January 5, 2012 · Leave a Comment

My paper on taking a module that was taught in class and moved online has been published in CERP (free to access). The paper aims to share my own experiences in teaching a module online so that others considering this approach might find some information of use.

The paper is set against a [...]

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Student Feedback

By Michael Seery On December 8, 2011 · 3 Comments

One of the peculiar things about our system here is the process of student feedback. Students fill out a ridiculously long survey called a not-so-student-friendly “Q6A” for each module (and more usually for both of two lecturers in a module). This rates everything from the conditions of the room to the helpfulness of the lecturer, [...]

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Class Sizes and Student Learning

By Michael Seery On November 27, 2011 · Leave a Comment

A recent discussion on an ALT email circulation raised the interesting question of whether there was a threshold for class sizes, above which student learning experience diminished. Unfortunately, what followed was lots of “in my experience” Higginbotham-esque replies (with the exception of details of an interesting internal [...]

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Online Pre-Labs: Literature (1)

By Michael Seery On November 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Here’s a nice paper on the use of online pre-lab activites to encourage “cognitive focus” in the lab – in other words to help students consider the underlying theory while doing the practical rather than just following the instructions. I’ve tried to summarise it using the graphic below. In doing so I have had to [...]

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Chemistry Education Research and Practice

By Michael Seery On November 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment

I still remember the pleasant surprise of discovering that there was a journal dedicated to the teaching of chemistry in higher education. Sometime in late 2005, I Googled something about assessment in chemistry, and out came a result: “Assessment in Chemistry and the Role of Examinations“, a great paper questioning the value of [...]

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Twitter and Professional Development

By Michael Seery On November 18, 2011 · 4 Comments

I was, in the time-scale of the internet, a little late to the Twitter party. If the early adopters were Cambrian, I am probably somewhere around Jurassic. Like many, I thought it was about what you ate for breakfast (weetabix and a nice cup of tea, thanks) and tweckling people from your multi-dimension [...]

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Implementation of Research Based Teaching Strategies

By Michael Seery On November 1, 2011 · Leave a Comment

The traditional, almost-folkloric, based approach to teaching science is a stark contrast to the evidence-based research approach scientists consider in their everyday research. The quote by Joel Michael* highlights the contrast:

As scientists, we would never think of writing a grant proposal without a thorough knowledge of the relevant literature, nor would we go into [...]

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The rise and rise of clickers in chemistry

By Michael Seery On September 19, 2011 · 5 Comments

As recently as 2008, a review of clickers in Chemistry Education Research and Practice had difficulty finding reports of their use in chemistry lecture rooms. In the intervening years, the increase in usage has been nothing short of meteoric. It’s interesting to survey the recent literature to consider how clickers are used in [...]

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UnimPrezi

By Michael Seery On September 8, 2011 · 5 Comments

Prezi arrived on the scene about two (maybe three?) years ago. Since its introduction, conference attendees’ snoozing during a succession of PowerPoints has been interupted by a sense of sea-sickness induced by well-meaning presenters and their carefully crafted Prezis. All Prezis I have seen are like a PowerPoint presentation riding along a rollercoaster. They are [...]

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Variety in Chemistry Education 2011

By Michael Seery On September 5, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Variety in Chemistry Education (ViCE) UK is one of those conferences. Unmissable, pragmatic, friendly, and always informative. I’ve gone every year since I started teaching, and love catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Its value lies in the fact that it is based on presentations by chemistry lecturers on things they have [...]

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