Maria Jensen and Steve Coulson - iEarth and bioCEED

In this episode we talk to department leaders in geology and biology at Unis, Maria Jensen and Steve Coulson. They are involved with two Centres for Excellence in Education, iEarth and bioCEED.

The Norwegian Centres for Excellence in Education (Senter for fremragende utdanning, SFU) is a prestigious scheme that gives Norway's leading educational communities the resources to further develop their programs and practices.

The idea is to move away from the old concept of one-way delivery in lecture theaters and see how the universities can make their teaching better. One example is in the field of geoscience. Norway used to educate a lot of petroleum geologists, but the job market is changing, and different from what it was 10-15 years ago. The underlying idea is to use new teaching methods and change the curriculum towards educating modern geoscientists that the modern society needs.

The Centres for Excellence in Education have had a collegial approach to teaching, and encouraged staff to talk to discuss what works well and not so well. The students are highly involved, and their feedback and input are a valuable part of the project.

This is the last episode of season 1 of The ColdCast. We would like to extend our thanks to The Norwegian Research Council for contributing with funding, and to staff and students at the University Centre in Svalbard for participating. All episodes are available on Spotify, or your favourite podcast player.

The podcast is produced by technician Simen Salomonsen Hjelle and information advisor Maria Philippa Rossi.

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