New+media+and+science+students

=New Media and Science Students= Dr Nancy Longnecker Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences

Associate Professor Nancy Longnecker from the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences was a successful co-applicant in the ALTC project ‘New media to develop graduate attributes of science students’. Dr Will Rifkin of the University of New South Wales is the lead on the project and it also involves Dr Joan Leach from the University of Queensland and Prof Lloyd Davis from Otago University.

This project is designed to develop graduate attributes of science students via science communication, specifically through student publication on the web – a medium of learning and publication that students find engaging, staff increasingly see as practical, and employers value as relevant. The web also offers ready opportunities for cross-university and international collaboration, the latter having particular appeal for universities with a strong international focus in research and/or teaching.

The project specifically addresses science communication because the field encompasses key graduate attributes of written and oral skills, teamwork, ethics, and critical thinking, areas where science lecturers could benefit from assistance. The project will build on numerous ALTC projects to date, including efforts to improve teaching in science disciplines, graduate attributes, new educational technology, and capabilities and attitudes of the ‘net generation’, entering students who are increasingly familiar – though not entirely expert – with camera phones, FaceBook, Wikipedia, YouTube, and other new media capabilities.

The aim is to exploit a growing number of publication opportunities provided by the web to enhance the learning that can be gained from production processes. Applications beyond science are evident.

The project will identify, develop, and disseminate teaching strategies and resources suited to large classes in science, strategies that have students creating new media, such as podcasts, blogs, webzines, and web sites. New media are an appropriate focus not only because of their increasing relevance professionally but because they engage university students in authentic tasks and work-integrated learning, strategies that have proven effective in development of graduate attributes. These outcomes have been demonstrated by project team members over the past decade, e.g., student-created ‘Day in Science’ web sites at UNSW, which provide career guidance for high school students (Rifkin, 2007; www.adayinscience.net), science videos produced by students at the University of Otago that are reaping a high volume of visits on iTunesUniversity and podcasts about science produced by students at UWA.

The team would like to hear from science academics who might be interested in partnering in the development and/ or trialling of new media teaching materials.

Assoc/Prof Nancy Longnecker Science Communication Program Co-ordinator Life and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Phone 6488 3926 Fax 6488 1058 MBDP M011 Email longneck@cyllene.uwa.edu.au