Biosciences Transforming Programmes

Context 

As part of the Transforming Programmes curriculum review initiative at the University of Hull, we transformed four biosciences undergraduate BSc programmes as a collated portfolio: Biochemistry, Biology, Marine Biology, and Zoology. These programmes share teaching staff and modules, but have student cohorts with distinct interests, expectations, needs, and aspirations. Creating a balance between programme identity and efficiency of provision is challenging.

Key goals for transformation:

Efficient – Create a portfolio of programmes that are ‘deliverable’ while retaining recruitment and satisfaction among the four different student identities. ‘Deliverable’ is defined as a teaching workload that is more evenly distributed, with more space for non-teaching activities, and improved staff mental health.

Attractive – Create a portfolio of programmes that will improve recruitment in the short term as well as support each other through peaks and troughs in the interests and aspirations of future markets.

Impactful – Improve student satisfaction and employment (as well as address national challenges surrounding the value of biosciences degrees) by adopting an authentic competence-based curriculum, developed and delivered in collaboration with relevant bioscience industries.

Actions

Efficient

Process – Creation of ‘rainbow model’ of curriculum design. Focuses on identifying modules that can be shared in a way that encourages programmes to support each other, while using Y-shaped assessment to retain programme identity.
Outcome – Transforming Programmes runs four programmes with only 31 modules. C2016 required 47 modules to run three programmes.

Process – ‘Assessment Therapy’ work with module leaders to reduce assessment burdens, adopting TESTA principles by creating smaller, iterative assessment aligned across the portfolio. Ensure that formative assessment is clearly aligned to summative (e.g. increased use of draft submissions)!
Outcome – We reduced the average number of assessments per module from 3.5 to 2.5 compared to the C2016 portfolio. Combining the reduced number of modules with the decrease in assessments per module, we conservatively estimate that TP represents ~2000 hours less time per year on assessment alone. Even with increased student numbers, grant capture for teaching staff has increased substantially.

Attractive 

Process – Survey-based stakeholder engagement with school-aged bioscience pupils across a range of local schools. What do they want to see in a bioscience degree? What careers do they aspire to?
Outcome – Introduction of BSc Biochemistry into the portfolio, complements BSc Biology recruitment by increasing the number of student options at the cell and molecular side of the subject. Removed genetics as a compulsory component of BSc Zoology to attract more BTEC students.

Process – Engage with current students about their perceptions of course content and adapt to their interests and aspirations.
Outcome – Removal of non-core modules to make way for content aligned to relevant industries, new MSc Conservation due to be launched in 2024.

Impactful
Process – Developed the Bioscience Programme Competencies designed to apply equally to all four bioscience programmes we run (Henri & Morrell, 2023). Our competencies reflect a collection of transferable skills and attributes revealed through extensive engagement with stakeholders in the local bioeconomy (Peasland et al., 2021). Most importantly, assessment is designed to provide opportunities for students to develop and evidence competency (not just testing memory / understanding of disciplinary knowledge). Our programmes start off with a focus on foundational bioscience knowledge and skills, and becoming increasingly focused on the application of student bioscience competencies to addressing local, national, and international challenges across a variety of bioscience subdisciplines.
Outcomes – Focus on the provision of authentic, valuable, and challenging assessment opportunities. Where students are expected to apply what they have learned on the course to evidence the Programme Competencies. Assessment also provides explicit space for students to recognise their own development and articulate their competency to future employers.

Process – Adopt a programmatic approach to assessment. Ensure that final year assessments are scaffolded into each year of study with training and opportunities for development during each year of study to build and stretch competencies.
Outcome – Core training at the portfolio level is then used by students in a biosciences context within each module. Training is evidenced with badges, and competencies assessed with assessments. Students receive feedforward targeted at improving the next relevant assignment.

Work left to do:

• For Zoology, Biology and Biochemistry, ongoing work to improve NSS is summarised on our CMEE review journal and includes improving communication of marking and feedback systems to ensure students perceive fairness and timeliness, and improving rubric consistency.
• We are also reviewing our skills development and recognition processes to improve student perception of personal development.
• Workloads are still uneven and more difficult to buffer since the split of the Department into two separate Schools and there are still too many single points of failure in the programmes, while excellent staff are only on short term contracts.

Our achievements are summarized in the infographic. Grant capture data is from the Faculty research office, student numbers from SITS (student information system). Data are for staff and Progammess in the Deptartment of Biological and Marine Sciences (this no longer exists, and staff and Programmes have been split into two separate Schools). External Examiner’s comments from this year’s reports.

Infographic

Quotes

EE Report (22-23) from Sara Marsham “Thank you for the opportunity to undertake this role, it has been a very interesting few years and the programme teams have done exceptionally well to maintain standards and student achievement throughout the pandemic and the substantial changes to their programme delivery. Undertaking any transformational change is a challenging process and the programme teams, led by Dominic Henry, are to be commended for their vision and commitment to delivering this change. Moving away from individual modules seen in
isolation to a cohesive and coherent programme approach to assessment and the development of a competency-based focus brings huge benefit to the students. The move from end of module in-person exams to in-course assessment has led to authentic and inclusive assessments that allow all students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. With the recent developments in AI generated work, many institutions are considering how to respond to this. The work undertaken here to the changes in assessment have, in as much as is possible, future-proofed the vulnerabilities to this as few assessments require fully written submissions that could be enhanced by the use of AI generative tools. Dominic involved me in the transformational change process, seeking input as appropriate and it was a pleasure to see the change in practice over the last couple of years.”

EE Report (22-23) from James McEvoy

“The Biology and Biochemistry programmes are of a high standard, comparing favourably with national reference points and meeting subject benchmarks. Your assessments are well designed, fair, transparent and inclusive.” 

“There are so many impressive assessments. I really liked the competency portfolio in Bacterial Genome Sequencing – a structured notebok with skills reflection. And the final year project report template works really well too.