René Van Der Wal

This is a module that I really enjoy teaching; it's a Master's course running over three weeks half time and it's aimed at strengthening students' abilities to debate, to hold a position and also to learn from each other. The course is very flexible, which I like, and it's whatever I can make it at that time.

Each year I invite two speakers, either from the university or from outside it, alongside myself, to do three two hour sessions with the students during which each lecturer talks about what he or she works on, at a conceptual level, and then following this they (the students) are sent off with a 'mission' to come back together with the lecturer for three follow-up 2 hour sections. For example, last year I provided them with ammunition to reflect on difficulties with nature conservation in general, to eventually have them focus on a more specific subject, the management of goose populations which I happen to work on. The students are then sent away to digest that information, in the case of the geese we orchestrated a formal stakeholder meeting during which we discussed a formal management plan for consultation from the Scottish government; students were assigned a position that they had to defend, which was rather hard for them when their personal perspective didn't agree with the position they were given.

This process involved in this course seems to be very liberating for the students, and it gives them some insight into the fact that having an opinion is fine but sometimes within a society, or firm, you have to understand other people's beliefs. In 2008-09 one of the guest lecturers worked on ticks and disease transmission. Here, students had to come up with a research proposal and discuss it publically. It's all about taking a position and then articulating it with other people. As a part of this module they do an essay, which they can do on any of the topics they have encountered; and this is written in New Scientist format, which I know the External Examiner has been enthusiastic about, as it's a rather different, far more discursive, format from those normally used. It has to be said however, that many students find writing in such a loose style rather challenging whilst others do wonders.

Also, I try and get the course to coincide with the Ecology Research Day, when staff present their own research. For the assessment, students can choose a topic from one of these presentations or 2 hour sessions to work on if they want. When possible I also take the students to an external conference, although that depends on what's going on at that time, last year we went to one in Edinburgh which was on the Management of Non-Native Species. And this gives them a sense of what is out there, and what people are working on and how professionals position themselves, as well as how they talk and how they defend their position. A further aspect of this course is self-assessment; students mark themselves and each other and then I moderate this by setting the boundaries. It's amazing just how comparable the two sets of marks are.

Although there always seem to be some people who struggle with debating and openly positioning themselves, the majority of students are enthusiastic about this integral part of the course, and it really is a joy to teach. I think for the students this is a rather different course from any others we run, and there are those who initially think it's going to be light, but then once they do it they realise it isn't, but it doesn't seem to bother them: it's new and exciting and they seem to enjoy the challenges that come with it. It's training to think rather than training to get knowledge.

Often there's a hierarchy about student performance, and 'good' students always perform best, but this course seems to break away from that pattern and that's quite satisfying too, seeing students exceed what they normally do. It's also true that many students do well, not only because they are very talented, but also because they know what's being asked for; but these skills don't cover debating or some of the other aspects asked for in this course but some of the other students can, and sometimes there are students who struggle with other modules who really take to this one. It's nice, too when you see students who are otherwise shy people actually become animated over topics like this. But in general, I think it's the mixture of transferable skills which this course brings to the fore, including being more critical, about ideas and trying to understand why people hold certain positions which this course encourages to develop.

Well, it's very exciting to teach. One of the things that I enjoy is working out how my marking compares to that of students as it gives you some sense of how fairly you feel you mark. Most inspiring, however, is the amazing amount of energy that comes out of the whole process and; it's a demanding undertaking, but students seem to really embrace it.

René Van Der Wal

Senior Lecturer: ACES, School of Biological Sciences

r.vanderwal@abdn.ac.uk