Remembering Keith Taber
Keith Taber died recently and I was asked to write an editorial for CERP, the journal he edited for 7...
Michael Seery
Latest posts
The essay in the age of GenAI
Over my time studying for my history degree, I had to write many essays and came to love it as...
A Maine Meitheal: Reflecting on the 2025 GRC Chemistry Education Research and Practice
In early July in rural Maine, I chaired the 2025 Gordon Research Conference Chemistry Education Research and Practice meeting. I...
GRC CERP 2025 – Participants’ Briefing Information
Not long to go now til GRC CERP 2025 ! If you are attending, I have made a short presentation giving...
Registration for 2025 GRC Chemistry Education Research and Practice meeting July 6 – 11th, 2025, at Bates College, Maine
The 2025 GRC Chemistry Education Research and Practice meeting is being held on July 6 – 11th, 2025, at Bates...
What has MICER ever done for you? (let me know!)
The hold the date for #MICER25 has just been announced (Edinburgh Napier, 21st May 2025) and it is a good...
10 Guiding Principles for Learning in the Laboratory – #RSCEdu Poster
#RSCPoster moved to LinkedIn this year I am not sure it carried the same immediacy and conversation that it...
What is digital learning for campus-based students?
What do we mean by digital learning? As someone whose role it is to be Head of Digital Learning, it...
Influencing education practice
It seems like a long time since I wrote about preparation for Nyholm tour back in August 2022. I stated...
Supporting students with VLE study prompts
At university level the common understanding is that we used scheduled contact time – lectures, tutorials, seminars, recitation, and blessed...
Reflections on delivering my first academic development module
My new role involves contributing to academic development including our PG Cert in Teaching and Learning. Given my focus it...
The pedagogy of (showing you) care
WonkHE had an article last week about pedagogy of care, and it prompted the strongest memory from back in the...
AI and academic plagiarism: cause for concern?
The future of the essay as an assignment type is reportedly increasingly in doubt as new AI bots are becoming...
Thoughts on the OfS’ “Blended Learning Review” Panel Report
The OfS have published their Blended Learning Review; comprising both the independent panel report, as well as the OfS response...
Revitalising the RSC Chemistry Education Research Group
The Chemistry Education Research Group (CERG) has had a difficult few years in the wake of COVID and the lovely...
Design considerations for video as a learning resource
There is obviously a long history of incorporation of video as a learning tool in higher education, and of course...
What do we mean by “student engagement”?
It’s not possible to walk through a (virtual or physical) corridor in university these days and not hear someone mention...
Five Ground-Rules for Laboratory Reform
In preparation for my Nyholm lecture tour beginning next year I have been working on the idea of a package...
A Festschrift in honour of Professor Marcy Hamby Towns
The Journal of Chemical Education has published a Festschrift in honour of one of the great champions of chemistry education...
A new PhD graduand in chemistry education
Congratulations to Xinchi Zhang for passing her PhD viva this week. Xinchi s work explored the student voice in laboratory learning;...
Describing different types of virtual labs
Recently I spoke in Dublin at the 2nd DCU Virtual Labs Seminar Series. DCU and others are working in a...
Going for PFHEA
I woke up in the middle of the night this week and decided I was going to finally do my...
2: What do out want to find out? Defining your research question*
This section covers a major aspect of thinking about your research project your research question. It is a long...
1. What is chemistry education research?
An overview of education research Education research is an academic discipline which focusses on exploring all aspects of education. This...
Introducing “A guide to completing your undergraduate chemistry education research project”
I have been lucky to supervise many undergraduate students as they complete their final year education research projects. It s an...
Managing undergraduate education research groups
At MICER21, I spoke on the process of managing an undergrad education research programme at Edinburgh with a former student,...
Lab Education: Past, Present and Future Discussion
Yesterday I was a panellist on an ACS Chem Ed Research Committee discussion on laboratory education. It was a very...
Setting up OBS for screen sharing presentations and webinars
The video below looks at how to overlay presentations with a mask so that it wraps up various media into a...
How has your chemistry assessment changed as a result of COVID?
A working group of the RSC Education Division Council is completing an analysis of the assessment landscape and how it...
Remembering Friday 13th March 2020
On Friday 13th March 2020 I wrote to all students and staff in the School of Chemistry to announce that...
Passing on the Editor’s pen at CERP
From the start of this month I began my slow fading away as Editor of Chemistry Education Research and Practice...
State of the nation
An email the other day reminded me with some cheer that it is 66 days until students return. Remove days...
Capturing hand-writing in desktop-lecture capture
As people begin planning recording materials for online delivery of lectures, one aspect to consider is the capture of hand-writing....
Micro-structuring students’ learning with SMARTS
Much of our interaction with students involves structuring their work as they move through a curriculum. The very presence of...
Helping students manage “The 48 Hours” assessment period
Our exams begin next week, and our focus this week is getting students ready for managing themselves and their academic...
Compilation of COVID-19 Contingency Posts
I ve received quite a lot of correspondence about the recent spate of posts and am very glad sharing my own...
Moving early undergraduate chemistry labs online
The last post discussed an advanced physical chemistry lab, and in this one I want to summarise more concrete plans...
Moving a (physical) chemistry lab online
The last post discussed some epistemological considerations (roll with it) on moving chemistry labs online, sharing some concerns about trying...
What is an “online chemistry lab”?
Prelude The massive shift to online teaching and learning for us in Edinburgh focussed on lectures and tutorials, as we...
Inaugural Lecture: Supporting student learning in complex environments
In February I gave my Inaugural Lecture to celebrate the awarding of the Chair in Chemistry Education. The lecture was...
Managing information from student perspective during COVID contingencies
My colleague Chris Mowat and I co-wrote a blog post for our university s Teaching Matters blog, which I am linking here...
Managing the open-book exam process
At Edinburgh, we are mostly moving to replacing our 3 hour exams with open book exams. We had initially intended...
Supporting student study in the “pivot” online
As mentioned in last post, we are focussing our current efforts on two strands maintaining and promoting academic focus,...
Managing and recovering from serious interruption to teaching
The internet has been full of amazing advice over the last few weeks on technical issues relating to moving online....
Looking back on ten years of Chemistry Education Research and Practice
Over the last 10 years from 2010 – 2019, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, a free-to-access journal published by the...
A new book on teaching chemistry in higher education
This summer I published a very special book on teaching chemistry in higher education. Each chapter in the book contains...
Five suggestions for future VICEPHEC meetings
It is great news that there is going to be a Committee of Elders looking after future VICEPHEC meetings. Here...
A Year of Ups but also Downs
It has been an interesting (academic) year at Seery Towers and our fridge has had plenty of bubbly alcohol flowing...
Building evidence for teaching-focussed promotions
Almost all academic promotion criteria will list teaching activities as one of the core areas where candidates will need to...
A New Role
Such is the pace of life at the moment that major life events (well, major in my life anyway) pass...