Overview

This module will cover key aspects of communicating scientific facts, concepts and ideas across a broad range of platforms and mediums. The use of different of styles will be considered to best promote and disseminate topical subjects. This will include writing and producing content for a variety of different media formats. Personal and professional marketing skills will be investigated, as an important form of scientific-related communication. A series of research seminars will be organised to cover a wide selection of scientific areas and presentation styles, giving students access to topics and academics they may otherwise not have come across. There will be a number of formative assessments throughout the module and an engaging summative assessment allowing students to play to their own strengths in the form of a piece of written or recorded scientific communication for which you will receive peer feedback on a draft.

Assessment Strategy

-excellent --A / 70%A very good student should have a detailed and conceptual knowledge of the essential facts and key concepts required for effective communication in the demonstrated mediums. The interview skills session, practical communication skills sessions, business presentation, interactive seminars and scientific communication report should all demonstrate knowledge above the expected text book level and inclusion of information from on-line sources, the scientific literature and other modules.

-good --B / 60%A good student should have a thorough factual knowledge of the essential facts and key concepts required for effective communication in the demonstrated mediums. The interview skills session, practical communication skills sessions, business presentation, interactive seminars and scientific communication report should all demonstrate an ability to think critically about the subject and to synthesise material not only from lectures, student group exercises and text books but also from on-line resources.

-threshold --D / 40%A threshold student should have a basic knowledge of the essential facts and key concepts required for effective communication in the demonstrated mediums. The interview skills session, practical communication skills sessions, business presentation, interactive seminars and scientific communication report should all demonstrate an ability to research and organise material from the lectures, student group exercises and text books into a coherent argument.

Learning Outcomes

• Analyse and understand the best method to express scientific findings and concepts to as wide, and as relevant, an audience as possible.

• Evaluate how different presentation, writing, information-giving and story-telling techniques are needed, depending on the audience, target and medium used, and develop an effective approach to using a variety of them.

• Synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in-order to gain an insight into topical work– and communicate it to a mixed audience via a popular science article, infographic or video.