TIES grant support for Drs Muir and Frommer

Dr Meloni Muir and Dr Miriam Frommer were awarded a large Teaching Improvement and Equipment Scheme grant in 2009 for a project "Feedback in the Sciences: what is wanted, what is given and how can it be improved". Co-investigators include Dr Fiona White (Psychology), Dr Vanessa Gysbers (Molecular Biology and Genetics) and two staff from the Learning Centre. The project aims to improve teaching quality and student learning by identifying the kinds of feedback on writing which science students perceive as contributing to their overall learning in both individual and group settings and then integrate this information with markers insights and current research to develop guidelines and models for an on-line staff handbook illustrating best practice for giving feedback in the sciences. The work will be carried out over two years.

This year's TIES grant complements one awarded in 2008 to Drs Hayden Allbutt, Meloni Muir, William Phillips, Miriam Frommer and Stephen Assinder for "Improvements in the quality of teaching in the practical component of physiology units of study to students in the Faculty of Science". This grant provided funding principally to purchase and update teaching equipment.