Sensing in the Community.

School:  Chemistry

Team Members:  Helen Szoor-McElhinney, Stewart Smith, Hannah Chalmers, Chris Mowat, Phil Larkman

Abstract

The Schools of Engineering and Chemistry and the Deanery of Biomedical Sciences are collaborating to design and deliver a new interdisciplinary experiential community-based research elective course to 2nd year undergraduate students across the 3 Schools/Deanery (AY 2022/23). This new pilot course ‘Sensing in the Community’ is informing and expediting the work of the University Curriculum Transformation programme so that The University of Edinburgh can offer more high quality and impactful experiential learning opportunities to all students from all programmes across all 3 Colleges, from 2025, via streamlined and robust teaching and learning mechanisms. Sensing in the Community will benefit ~50 students directly in 2022/23 by offering them interdisciplinary experiential learning that connects to their academic programmes (subject knowledge) and also allows them to develop skills in community-based research that addresses real world, wicked problems around sustainable health equity, that require an interdisciplinary approach.  This PTAS project will enhance the contribution that the Sensing in the Community course makes to curriculum transformation by providing a robust and independent evaluation of the interdisciplinary experiential learning experiences of undergraduates enrolled in this course. This evidence base will provide a strong foundation for other learning and teaching innovations created by colleagues who wish to build on the innovative and unique learning model developed in this course. It will also allow the team to improve the design, delivery and assessment of Sensing in the Community.