**Apologies for cross posting**

The Bioscience First Year: putting research into practice University of
Paisley, Wednesday 12th May 2004 

The theme of this event supporting student needs and focuses on the 'First
Year Experience'. Programme and registration at: 

http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/events/registration/support.htm 

The morning will be used to discuss good practice for induction and share
activities that have been shown to improve student progression and retention.
There is a choice of workshop sessions in the afternoon: 

**Top tips to make sure disabled students can't access e-learning!
(Mr Lawrie Phipps, Senior Advisor (Higher Education), TechDis) This session
will look at the most common problems that disabled students have in
accessing e-learning material. By the end of the workshop participants
should:
- be aware of disability discrimination legislation and how it relates to
e-learning
- have more understanding of the needs of disabled students accessing
learning through computers
- have more understanding of e-assessment and disabled students Delegates are
encouraged to email Lawrie ([log in to unmask]) with their e-resources
prior to the workshop for an informal assessment of their accessibility.

**Improving the effectiveness of formative assessment (Prof. Steve Swithenby,
FDTL4 FAST project) Improving formative assessment could have a major role to
play in improving student progression and retention, especially in first year
courses. The workshop will be centred around a set of principles for the
effective operation of formative assessment that have been established by the
FAST project.


**Enhancing student learning through the use of formative feedback (Dr Steve
Maw, LTSN Bioscience Subject Specialist) This session will explore the means
by which feedback from students can be solicited during teaching sessions and
used to enhance learning.
By the end of the workshop participants should:
- have gained an understanding of the purposes and benefits of formative
students feedback in student learning situations;
- have a basic knowledge of a number of techniques/methods for soliciting
student feedback;
- understand how the technique of feedback collection may relate to the
purpose of the feedback itself.



Programme and registration at:

http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/events/registration/support.htm

Dr. Heather Sears,
Subject Specialist,
LTSN Centre for Bioscience,
School of Biomedical Sciences,
Room 8.49n Worsley Building,
Leeds, LS2 9JT
Tel: 0113 343 3003
Fax: 0113 343 5894
http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/