Using multimedia to enhance teaching, learning and research

On 11th April 2024, I gave an invited presentation for the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT) and Learning on Screen (LoS) on the use of BoB, sometimes known as Box of Broadcasts. Regular visitors to this site will not be surprised to hear that I have been enthusing about BoB; I found it to be an exceptional resource and there’s even a section of this blog dedicated to sharing ideas about how to get the most out of the tool.

In the talk, I discussed why multimedia (in this case BoB) can be an excellent asset for teaching, I considered some of the reasons why academic colleagues have been reticient to utilise audiovisual resources and I shared some of the ways that I have employed TV and radio on my own work. Finally, I gave some practical tips on ways to share resources with students and/or colleagues, and outlined some of the potential for BoB to be a “boundaries collection” for analysis in much the way Nexis and Factiva have been used for examination of print media.

Below you can find a video of the talk and subsequent Q&A (50 mins) and also my slides from the presentation.

How the use of multimedia enhances teaching, learning and research from Chris Willmott

Control: The dark history and troubling present of eugenics by Adam Rutherford (Book Review)

Longer ago than I care to remember, I was invited to write a review of Adam Rutherford’s new book (as it was then) on the history of eugenics, and how it may be more of a present and future reality than some people are aware.

I was glad to take on this assignment; although the content was likely to be pretty depressing, eugenics is an important bioethical issue, and Adam Rutherford is a terrific science communicator. The review is now completed, accepted and “in press” at the journal Evolution. To the best of my knowledge it is currently available free for any interested parties via this link https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae032 (let me know if you have problems accessing it).

Bioethics: Challenges in Biomedical Areas (A cautionary tale)

In December 2023, CRC Press published a new book Bioethics: Foundations, Applications and Future Challenges (actually dated 2024). My colleague Sal Macip and I contributed Chapter 8: Challenges in Biomedical Areas.

I was very pleased with our chapter, in which we looked at the impacts of genome sequencing, the emerging capacity to edit the human genome, beginning of life issues, and the potential for creation of “posthumans”. I think you’d find the chapter thoughtful and thought-provoking. I’m fairly certain, however, that you’ll never read it.

You might assume that the “cautionary tale” in the title of this post refers to these developments, and to some extent that would be true. On this occasion, however, it is more of a reflection on the vagaries of scientific publication.

Is Medium the right size?

Having started blogging on WordPress back in 2006, I recently decided to investigate other potential platforms for sharing my reflections. A friend suggested I try writing on Medium, not least because of the ease with which some or all posts can be placed behind a paywall and therefore monetised (I have recently gone freelance).

At present, I have left my posts on Medium open to all. The first couple of ramblings there are:

Imaginary Numbers? What taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch reminded me about research ethics

The Future of Genomic Medicine: Ten things I learnt whilst at the Festival of Genomics

There is a bioethical theme to both of these first posts. However, one of my current considerations is how varied the content can be on that site whilst retaining sufficient cohesion for a committed readership to develop. The next post (a work in progress at present) is going to be very different – a theatre review. So, watch this space – or rather subscribe to that place!

Massolit: Education videos for schools

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been invited to help make education videos for a company called Massolit. The name is taken from a Soviet-era novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, where Massolit was a place where writers would meet up. The aim is to provide “stretch and challenge” content for both GCSE and A level students. Lectures are broken down into bite-size chunks of approximately 8-15 minutes (rather like we were doing when teaching during the pandemic switched to online delivery). At present there are more than 9000 lectures available, split across 16 subject areas.

So far I have made three lecture series for them. The topics are the ethics of Animal Research, Maths for Biologists, and Transhumanism (at the time of writing, this third topic remains in the post-recording editing process).

Massolit operates on a subscription model, so the full lecture series are behind a paywall. However, you can access taster installments of my contributions via this link.

Conflict of Interest declaration: I have received payment for production of these videos (but not for this blog post).

Why are measles cases on the increase?

This episode of Incident Report will be available on BBC iPlayer until at least the end of January 2025

There are a flurry of news stories about a rise in numbers of cases of measles in the United Kingdom, and further afield, e.g. Why is measles making a comeback in the UK? , Measles outbreaks cause alarm: what the data say, and ‘Clusters’ of measles are appearing in three regions of the UK. It was against this backdrop that I watched the Measles outbreak: Why now? episode of Incident Room on iPlayer. I thought the 20 minute explainer was very helpful, and therefore that I’d flag it here. In the programme, health reporter Smitha Mundasad interviews three others for their insights into the current rise in measles cases.

25 years of the The Víctor Grífols i Lucas Foundation

I was delighted to be invited to contribute a chapter for Bioethics: A look into the future, a book published in October 2023 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Víctor Grífols i Lucas Foundation. The Foundation, started in 1998, is the nearest Catalan/Spanish equivalent to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in the UK, serving as an independent voice on ethical and social implications of new developments in Biology and Medicine. In that time, Grífols have funded research in aspects of bioethics, and organised conferences, debates and seminars, alongside associated publications.

Although originally invited to write a chapter on Transhumanism, I was grateful when my colleague and erstwhile co-author Sal Macip was willing to swap topics to allow me to pick up the Genomics theme, which is something on which I’ve been doing more research in the past couple of years. A copy of my chapter (in English) is available here.

Spot the difference: The Spanish and Catalan versions of the Grifols 25th anniversary book

“Genomics is Here”: Special Issue of The New Bioethics

It was an honour to be invited to guest editor for a special issue of The New Bioethics. with my longer-time collaborator John Bryant (University of Exeter). I won’t comment much on my reflections on the challenges of being a guest editor, as we actually rolled this into the Editorial for the issue, Genomics is here: what can we do with it, and what ethical issues has it brought along for the ride? (click on title to access).

Other articles in the issue, included:
Ethical Considerations in Research with Genomic Data
Rachel Horton and Anneke Lucassen

Ethical Challenges Associated with Pathogen and Host Genetics in Infectious Disease
Richard Milne and Christine Patch

Psychological and Ethical Challenges of Introducing Whole Genome Sequencing into Routine Newborn Screening: Lessons Learned from Existing Newborn Screening
Fiona Ulph and Rebecca Bennett

The New Social Contract for Genomics
Edward Hockings

Using BoB & TRILT for Academic Research

BoB (sometimes referred to as “Box of Broadcasts”) and TRILT (the Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching) are powerful online repositories relating to broadcast media in the UK. Primarily designed for teaching, TRILT has extensive records about millions of programmes, and BoB provides means to stream more than three million TV and radio recordings.

For a number of years, I have been working with final year undergraduates to explore the potential of BoB and TRILT as tools for academic research, primarily on the representation of different aspects of biomedicine. This led into a PhD position for Holly Large and further refinement of our methodology. That approach is now sufficiently mature that we were invited to produce a “how to” guide, and to present this at a launch event. The guide:

The guide is now available at this link [EDIT: 28th February 2024: I am aware that this link is not currently working, as the Learning on Screen site has migrated to a new address and not all resources have yet been carried across. The links to slides and video below are, however, working].

The launch event, organised by Learning on Screen, took place in London on 23rd September. In addition to our presentation (see below), there were also talks by Prof. Kathy Conklin (School of English) and Dr Walter van Heuven (School of Psychology) on the potential use of subtitles and transcripts of television broadcasts to investigate the relationship between language exposure and language processing, and from Dr Giles Bergel from the Visual Geometry Group at the University of Oxford, who considered future uses of visual AI tools combined with BoB.

Following a panel discussion, the event finished with a wine reception.

The slides of our presentation are available here. A video is available via this link and below:

Slides:

Video:

How to Use BOB and TRILT for Research from Learning on Screen on Vimeo.

Dissertation drafts: A prime candidate for video feedback

I cannot imagine that there are many involved in the delivery (or receipt) of Higher Education teaching who have not had their experience profoundly altered by the Covid pandemic. After two years, and as aspects of pedagogy start to return to “normal”, what are some of the changes that we are going to keep, despite the fact that they were originally forced upon us?

For me, a strong case has been made for the use of video when delivering feedback on a long piece of writing, such as a final year dissertation.

Talking students through their project draft is always a milestone moment in the academic year (we offer students an entitlement to one read through, but only one read through of their text). In the past, dissertation feedback meetings have often involved me talking a student through potential changes for 60-90 mins. I would normally have provided them with a photocopy of my annotated version, but the process was typically more one-way and didactic than most project meetings over the course of the year.