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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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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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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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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On the general wonderfulness of the Learning, Teaching, and Technology Centre at DIT

By Michael Seery On June 24, 2011 · 5 Comments

I’ve done a few courses at DIT’s Learning Teaching and Technology Centre (LTTC) and am just finishing my latest, the brilliant MSc (Applied E-Learning). It’s proof, yet again, of the diversity of talent, the pragmatic inspiration, and the extent of expertise of the staff at the LTTC.

Not that more proof is needed. The Centre [...]

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E-learning (dis)traction

By Michael Seery On June 14, 2011 · 6 Comments

I think the start of my teaching career coincided with the rise of the VLE. Early on, I remember being told about these new learning environments and the array of tools that would help student learning. Encouraged, in the nicest possible way, to upload material and use the institution’s expensive new toy, many lecturers complied [...]

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Leaving Cert Chemistry – Example of Context

By Michael Seery On May 31, 2011 · Leave a Comment

In a previous post, I had a ramble about how the LC chemistry curriculum needs reform. This post aims to put a bit more meat on the bones. There is a lot of material available for teaching chemistry in context, but a recent paper* on the topic is [...]

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Worked Examples in Chemistry – Literature

By Michael Seery On May 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment

This post aims to summarise some literature on the use of worked examples in the teaching of problem solving in chemistry. Crippen, drawing from the work of Sweller and others has summarised worked examples as follows (taken from Crippen, 2010, below):

Worked examples are sample problems which have already been solved and provide the learner [...]

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CHEM1306-Pre-1

Pre-Lecture Resources Webinar 26 Jan 2011

By Michael Seery On January 24, 2011 · 3 Comments

I’ll be giving a webinar as part of the fantastic Sligo IT webinar series this Wednesday at lunchtime. You can register and find out more here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1135441135. The webinar will cover some of the work I’ve done on my Teaching Fellowship on the area of pre-lecture resources. It’ll be my first webinar – [...]

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Using Pre-Lecture Resources in your teaching

Using Pre-Lecture Resources in your Teaching

By Michael Seery On January 10, 2011 · 2 Comments

Much of my study on educational research this year has focussed on Pre-Lecture Resources, working with Dr Roisin Donnelly at DIT’s Learning Teaching and Technology Centre and my colleague Dr Claire Mc Donnell. I’ve turned into something of an evangelist for pre-lecture resources, so in order to spread the good word, [...]

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