Education

ASBMB Education Symposium 2021
The 2021 ASBMB Education Symposium ‘Sharing Practice: A Focus on Assessment and Academic Integrity’ was held on Tuesday 28 September 2021.

More information: ASBMB Education Symposium 2021 

Contributing to the Australian Biochemist Education Feature
The Australian Biochemist is the ASBMB magazine. Each issue of the Australian Biochemist includes an Education Feature which showcases teaching and learning innovation.

Please refer to the guidelines on how to contribute.

Almost any contribution format is welcome. We encourage you to look at the previous issues of the Australian Biochemist to get an idea of the scope and style of published items.

Our goal is to bring you interesting, thought provoking, useful and fun articles from the biochemistry and molecular biology community.

You do not need to be a specialist educator to contribute. Your article does not have to apply only to biochemistry and molecular biology education.

If you have an idea and are unsure, please write to us and make suggestions for your own article. We welcome and appreciate your contributions!

ASBMB Education Feature Coordinators 

The SDR Scientific Education Award
The SDR Scientific Education Award rewards outstanding achievement in education in biochemistry or molecular biology, especially innovation and creativity in education, with a view to fostering leadership in this important area of the Society’s objectives. The Award will enable the recipient to participate in an international conference with a significant focus on education, or to spend a period of time at another institution (in Australia or overseas) for the purposes of undertaking developments in education in biochemistry and molecular biology. The recipient will present a lecture within the Education Symposium at the annual ASBMB conference. Applicants must have been members of the Society for at least 2 years before the year in which the Award application is to be considered. The contribution to travel expenses is provided through the courtesy of SDR Scientific.


ASBMB Education Special Interest Group
The ASBMB operates Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to provide a focus for members on specialist topics.

The ASBMB Education SIG promotes teaching, learning, research and its dissemination in biochemistry education.

If you are an ASBMB who would like to join the ASBMB Education SIG, please contact asbmb@wsm.com.au.

Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have had to change the way we teach Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, almost overnight. Accompanying this revolution we have also been overwhelmed by a surge of resources, leading us to question which approach is best for our students and us. We have probably been provided with many resources from our own institution, below is a collection of resources from a variety of sources that may help us educators with this transition to remote teaching and learning. These links provide ideas on: organising existing course material for online delivery, asynchronous versus synchronous teaching, collaboration and peer-review, online assessments with academic integrity, online lab work and student support.

  • The American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education gives you tips and strategies on organising course materials and communicating with students, how to borrow, adapt or create course content for online delivery, maximise your asynchronous delivery, achieve collaboration and peer review online, assessments and online laboratory classes.
  • Ensuring academic integrity and assessment security with redesigned online delivery from Deakin University provides strategies for redesigning assessments for online delivery. 
  • The Merlot system provides curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools, led by an international community of educators, learners and researchers.
  • Other sites to consider include Labster (see a webinar from Labster), JoVE and PhET Colorado. Note that there may be costs associated with some of these resources.
  • Effective assessments in the digital age is a compilation of online assessments from several universities.
  • CourseSource is an open access journal of peer-reviewed teaching resources, which gives ideas for adaptation to online teaching.
  • Online learning good practice resource from the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Australian Government.
  • Mental health and wellbeing – Lifeline, Beyond Blue, headspace.
  • Managing your digital wellbeing from the University of Wollongong provides some practical tips.

  • Applying for a Teaching Award (from ComBio2018)
    Maurizio Costabile, Tracey Kuit and Rebecca LeBard
    This presentation outlines why an individual (or group) might wish to apply for a teaching award, gives examples of what is excellence in teaching, examples of evidence that can be used in a teaching award application and lastly things ‘to do’ and ‘not to do’ in writing your application to give you the best chance of success. 

    Writing a Teaching Grant (from ComBio2018)
    Susan Rowland and Tracey Kuit
    This presentation explains how to how to develop an idea for an education project, plan the project (with budget), align the project with funders’ interests and present it in grant form with the best chance of success.

    Useful Links
    Educational Resources
    Authentic assessments in science: UNSW and Indiana University Bloomington
    Writing good MCQs
    Active learning strategies: University of Minnesota and University of Leicester
    Basic Pipette Skills – an Introduction to Micropipette Use video

    Conferences, Societies and Projects
    Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Special Interest Groups

    Journals


    ASBMB Membership Office
    T +61 (03) 9907 8648 
    E asbmb@wsm.com.au


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