Marius Ole Johansen successfully defended his doctoral dissertation “Effects of autonomy and control on student motivation and functioning in higher education” at the University of Bergen on April 17th 2023. We warmly congratulate him for his achievement and new title. Marius is now the fourth bioCEED candidate to complete his degree after Anja Møgelvang, Torstein…
Quarter2-2023
Teaching and learning workshop – Landing the redesign process for the BSc-degree in biology
At the Department of biological sciences (BIO), University of Bergen, the HKDIR-funded project “Student active research and transferable skills in redesign of the biology education” has been concluded. As a collaboration between bioCEED, BIO and the UiB Learning Lab, its main purpose was to strengthen student active learning and alignment of key aspect of courses…
Funding creates new opportunities for the Arctic Field Laboratory in Bjørndalen
In 2019, Arctic Biology Department received a grant of 1,350,000 NOK from the Olav Thon Foundation to establish a high-Arctic, interdisciplinary field laboratory for research and teaching in Bjørndalen, also called BIG (Bjørndalen Integrated Gradient). Since then, the project has been developed and Bjørndalen has become an important strategic area for the department when it comes to the…
Two new bioBEES join the hive
bioCEED is happy to welcome two new bioBEES in the hive: BSc student Gina Koulibaly Barry and MSc student Hanif Kawousi. bioHIVE is the learning community at bioCEED that is focused on student work in the Centre. Among the activities of bioHIVE are the student journal Bikuben, organizing and leading bioracle, etc. You can read…
New publication about reward systems for excellence in teaching
ABSTRACT Higher education institutions are struggling to elevate the value and status of academic teaching. In this endeavour, rewards for excellence in teaching are becoming a common measure. This study reports on the experience of the first academic teachers who were given the status as rewarded teachers in new reward systems. We explore rewarded teachers’…
bioCEED teaching and learning toolkit is expanding!
In the bioCEED teaching and learning toolkit we present short cases that describe some of our teaching innovations and activities, and share links to resources. We hope this can inspire other students, teachers, and educational developers to make their versions of theses learning experiences. We have now expanded the toolkit with 4 new cases: Cooperative…
Collegial Teaching and Learning in STEM Education Course (MNPED660, 2023/24)
MNPED660 Collegial Teaching and Learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education is an elective teaching and learning course in higher education offered by bioCEED and MN-UiB to all MN-UiB and UNIS staff. The course is given in English and requires no previous pedagogical training and welcomes both experienced and more novice teachers and…
New members of the Pedagogical Academy
On 8 June, MatNat-UiB and UNIS announced the recipients of the recent Excellent Teaching Practitioner (ETP) designation. Given that all seven of the new ETPs are affiliated closely with one of the UiB/UNIS Centres for Excellence in Education (SFUs)—four with bioCEED and three with iEarth—it is clear that these centres have had a profound impact…
chatGPT essay in Science Norway
In April, Ståle Ellingsen, Anne Bjune, and Sehoya Cotner (all BIO-UiB) published an essay in Science Norway on teaching with Large Language Models (LLMs) such as chatGPT. Here, we present data from a February 2023 survey indicating that students have been more likely to engage with the tool than instructors have, and that students generally…
Passion for educational escape-boxes!
What has the Centre for Excellence in Education scheme meant for the academic community at UNIS
Listen to Steve Coulson and Maria Jensen from UNIS talk about what the Centre for Excellence in Education scheme has meant for the academic community at UNIS. A new podcast episode from The ColdCast is now launched, with Steve Coulson from bioCEED and Maria Jensen from iEarth, bringing up the importance of the SFU work…
Student Poster Symposium at BIO – Spring 2023
The ninth edition of the Student Poster Symposium at BIO ends again with a record: never before have as many as seven courses contributed to the symposium at the same time. And again we are delighted to see that the quality of the work provided by the students (both posters and flash presentations) is high.…
Research article on student motivation in higher education
Abstract According to Self-Determination Theory, autonomy support is essential in fostering optimal learning, growth, and functioning in students across all levels. In contrast, autonomy thwarting is associated with student malfunctioning. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between perceptions of autonomy support and thwarting, students’ autonomous and controlled motivations, and aspects…