Part 1: Identification of Bioscience Community Needs
1.1 Issues in Bioscience Education

It is important that LTSN Bioscience keeps up-to-date with your priorities.
Please rate the importance to your unit of each of the areas below. 	
	Very important	Important	Fairly Important	Not Important	
Transferable skills	q	q	q	q	
Practical skills	q	q	q	q	
Industrial placements	q	q	q	q	
Work based learning	q	q	q	q	
C&IT in learning and teaching	q	q	q	q	
Assessment approaches	q	q	q	q	
Curriculum design	q	q	q	q	
Student recruitment	q	q	q	q	
Student retention	q	q	q	q	
Student transfer	q	q	q	q	
Student motivation	q	q	q	q	
Student numeracy	q	q	q	q	
Student literacy	q	q	q	q	
School curriculum/syllabus	q	q	q	q	
Students with disabilities	q	q	q	q	
Progress files	q	q	q	q	
Feedback from students	q	q	q	q	
Study skills	q	q	q	q	
Plagiarism	q	q	q	q	
Employability	q	q	q	q	
Distance learning	q	q	q	q	
Quality enhancement	q	q	q	q	
Benchmark statements	q	q	q	q	
Postgraduate supervision and training	q	q	q	q	
Pedagogic research	q	q	q	q	
Please comment on any areas you have rated as very important and provide any other issues you consider important:

	

1.2 LTSN Bioscience Services and Activities

a) The following are services and activities that LTSN Bioscience currently provides. 
Please rate their usefulness to your unit. 	
	Very 
useful	Useful	Fairly useful	Not 
useful	
Departmental contacts 	LTSN Bioscience representatives in schools and departments	q	q	q	q	
Departmental visits	tailored events in response to  invitation	q	q	q	q	
Professional Development Programme 	national events addressing a specific area of Learning and Teaching such as assessment or practical work	q	q	q	q	
Discussion Forums 	events addressing current issues in Learning and Teaching such as Benchmarking	q	q	q	q	
LTSN Bioscience Bulletin 	published three times a year, distributed via Departmental Contacts and to registered contacts	q	q	q	q	
Website 	containing information on LTSN Bioscience, and learning & teaching links and resources	q	q	q	q	
Centre update	monthly email of Bioscience Learning and Teaching news and events sent to all Network Members and available on-line	q	q	q	q	
Helpdesk 	individual response to enquiries	q	q	q	q	
Special Interest Groups	exploring bioscience educational topics in depth	q	q	q	q	
Discipline Consultants	working to build discipline based networks 	q	q	q	q	
Teaching Development Fund 	grants to encourage the development, establishment or validation of innovative learning, teaching and assessment materials or methods. 	q	q	q	q	

b) The following services and activities are not currently provided.
Please rate their potential usefulness to your unit.	
	Very 
useful	Useful	Fairly useful	Not 
useful	
On-line peer reviewed journal for bioscience learning and teaching		q	q	q	q	
Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 		q	q	q	q	
New Lecturers Workshop		q	q	q	q	
Special Editions of LTSN Bioscience Bulletin 	dealing with specific topics i.e. assessment, widening participation	q	q	q	q	
News Service	email digest of Learning and Teaching headlines	q	q	q	q	
Please suggest any other activities that you would rate as being useful:

1.3 LTSN Bioscience Learning & Teaching Resources

a)	The following resources are available /under development. 
Please rate their usefulness to your unit.	
	Very 
useful	Useful	Fairly useful	Not 
useful	
Knowledgebase 	on-line database of Learning and Teaching resources	q	q	q	q	
Imagebank 	on-line collection of bioscience images that are copyright-cleared for educational purposes	q	q	q	q	
Compendium of Practicals in the Biosciences	 tried and tested laboratory and field practicals available on-line	q	q	q	q	
Case studies 	short reports describing Learning and Teaching activities	q	q	q	q	
Information pack for academic staff	subject specific information and materials for new lecturers and staff developers	q	q	q	q	
Book reviews	peer reviewed bioscience textbooks and generic professional development texts 	q	q	q	q	
Software reviews 	peer reviewed software relating to bioscience learning and teaching	q	q	q	q	
Website reviews	peer reviewed websites relating to bioscience learning and teaching	q	q	q	q	

  b) The following resources are not currently provided. 
Please rate their potential usefulness to your unit. 	
	Very 
useful	Useful	Fairly useful	Not 
useful	
Questionbank 	collection of formative multiple choice questions in a transferable format	q	q	q	q	
Opportunities noticeboard	website section detailing learning and teaching related funding, jobs, incentives 	q	q	q	q	
Have you any other suggestions for resources which would help in your teaching?