The lecture will briefly describe the aims of ECTN and outline some past achievements and current projects, before going on to describe our work on 'Developing Independent Learners' and 'Innovative Methods in University Chemistry Teaching' in more detail.
Higher Education is currently facing a major dilemma, as we move from the elitist system of the past towards the mass higher education system that will be needed to support a future knowledge based economy as envisaged by the ‘Lisbon Agenda’. Expansion is not being accompanied by a proportionate increase in resources and the amount of time that university lecturers can spend on the tuition of individual students is gradually decreasing, along with the unit resource, the amount of money available to educate any particular student. This has led to claims that in future students will need to accept more responsibility for their own learning if standards are to be maintained. Unfortunately having been spoon-fed throughout secondary education, a majority of students today arrive at university highly teacher dependent and challenge averse, unprepared, unwilling and apparently unable to do just that. Merely telling students to take more responsibility for their own learning will achieve little. If students are to succeed in this changing university environment they will need help. Not only the students but also their teachers will need to change. The lecture will consider approaches currently being developed by ECTN working groups in response to these new challenges.