New term and student numbers

The CEP team have been working hard to prepare the learning environment, course materials and supporting documentation for new students, and they have made a good start to their studies. The new Moodle learning environment is standing up well to the large influx of students- the following students are currently registered for course units:

IS01 Well-being Island
8 students at NSPC, UK
25 students at University of Sheffield, UK
22 students at University of Leuven, Belgium
25 students at University of Masaryk, Czech Republic

IS04 Therapy Island
19 students at University of Sheffield, UK
11 students at University of Masaryk, Czech Republic

So we have a total of 110 students currently studying on the units, with some more Sheffield students due to start a new IS08 Research Methods module in the next weeks, and the students at the University of Bordeaux, France, due to commence in January 2010.

Monitoring call and start of term

Chris Blackmore had a monitoring telephone call today with Helen Metcalfe of ECOTEC to discuss progress on the project. It was useful to be reminded of the action points from July's partner meeting and to receive advice on how to progress on various issues.

The NSPC students have begun this week, although the process of getting students registered for their courses has taken longer than usual. Students in Leuven and Sheffield are due to start this coming Monday, 28th September 2009.

YouTube

We now have a YouTube channel and there are several videos online of interviews (in English) with project staff and a dialogue (in Flemish/Dutch) between project partners Mia Leijssen and Emmy van Deurzen, recorded at the University of Sheffield in July 2009.

Research Associates' meeting in Leuven, Belgium

The CEP Research Associates- Susan Iacovou, Jean-Marc Alexandre, Claude Missiaen and Chris
Blackmore- met in Leuven, Belgium on 31st August, along with the Belgian partner, Mia Leijssen. It was a very useful day, going over the administrative requirements of the project and exploring together how Moodle will be used in each partner country to deliver the SEPTIMUS course materials to students. It was also a great opportunity to get to know one another better and to explore the lovely city of Leuven.

Bordeaux meeting

Digby and Emmy met with the French team in Bordeaux in July, including Marc Auriacombe, Gregory Michel, the new Research Associate Jean-Marc Alexandre and the tutor Melina Fatseas. It was excellent to meet with new colleagues, and also very helpful to have an update on recruitment in Bordeaux and their preparations for teaching students in January 2010.

New media

As well as our CEP Twitter account and CEP Facebook group, we have set up a CEP YouTube channel for posting up interesting video content online. There is nothing there just yet, but in due course, we will edit some of the interviews from the Sheffield partner meeting and post them online.

A student's experience of e-learning

Unbeknownst to us, Karen Gunn, a student on the MSc in Psychotherapy Studies in Sheffield (although based in Belgium!) has posted an article to an online magazine published by the University on the topic of "Inquiry-based learning". Click here to view the article.