Basic Studies Seminar on Microbiology

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Basic Studies Seminar on Microbiology

• Pauliina Lankinen
• Päivi Helminen
• 27.04.2006

Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology,
Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry Viikki
Science Library
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Basic Studies Seminar on Microbiology

• Timing the last period of the first year
• Aim
• Independent thinking
• To understand how knowledge is build up
• To investigate to nature of knowledge and to
  incorporate information into ones own learning
  process
• To evaluate and to take responsibility for ones
  own learning
• Writing skills and oral presentation skills ?
  academic communication skills
• To become enculturated into the academic
  community
• Information seeking skills
• To help to read the core text book in English
  (the first microbiology text book in English)

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History of the course

• Kristina Lindström has taught a similar type of
  course for years
• In the beginning the course was for more advanced
  students but there has been a need to teach the
  course in the beginning of the studies
• library staff participated a few years ago but
  there has been several years when library staff
  has not participated

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Information seeking in the curriculum
Library tour
1. year, Fall
Introductory course and ICT Driving Licence
Basic Studies Seminar
1. year, Spring
Bachelor seminar
3. year
Masters seminar
5. year
Course for Ph.D. students
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Program of the course
Exercises of the course
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Feedback from the students

• Good
• Useful to summarize an article and to learn the
  structure of a scientific article
• Information retrieval
• Interesting to learn to know a research group
• Useful and positive course
• The course gave new perspective and enthusiasm to
  studies
• Critique
• Whats the point of the course?
• The course was scattered, teachers changed
• Exercises and dead lines should have been clearer
  and more precise.
• Some exercises and session were useless.

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Teachers comments

• The timing of the course is good. Students need
  the course in the first year.
• Students of natural sciences sometimes just want
  facts and they reluctant to ponder more
  philosophical questions even though its useful
  for them.

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Librarians comments

• The cooperation was inspiring but it wouldnt
  work as well with every teacher.
• It was really good to have enough class time for
  exercises?learning by doing
• It was good to have information retrieval on
  several occasions so that students did not get
  too much information in one session.
• The course did not take as much time to prepare
  as I thought beforehand because the insruction
  sessions were short and there was plenty of time
  for hands-on exercises and personal counseling

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Development ideas for the next year

• Next year it will be easier to organize the
  course because we have more experience
• Computer classroom is a boring environment ? part
  of the session could be in another room
• Students could share more their own work
  experience and knowledge