Heather McQueen, Professor of Biology Education and Associate Director of Teaching for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the School of Biological Sciences, is the winner of an Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship (NTF). Image The National Teaching Fellowship scheme recognises individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in higher education. Fifty-four new National Teaching Fellows were announced and Heather is one of only two individual winners in Scotland this year. Winners will receive their awards at a special ceremony on 16 October in Manchester. Heather McQueen holds a personal chair in biology education and is an advocate of student-centred learning and research-led teaching. In 2014, after many years of experimentation around the use of learning technologies in her large undergraduate biology classes, Heather was selected as a finalist for the Bioscience Teacher of the Year award - introducing her to the national network of biology higher education enthusiasts. Heather supports colleagues to take a scholarly approach towards helping students flourish. She established a School Learning and Teaching Forum as well as a local learning community for colleagues working towards Advance HE Fellowship through the Edinburgh Teaching Awards. Heather has also hosted a pedagogical seminar programme and organised local and national education-themed conferences, all encouraging discussion and personal development of colleagues. She is currently investigating methods and benefits of personalised learning in lectures - trialling her own novel form of the flipped classroom known as 'quectures’ that makes use of students' own questions for learning via interaction and discussion within lectures. Her teaching innovations have led to published research on aspects of collaborative online learning, learning in Facebook groups and good scholarship, active learning and personalised, constructive learning in lectures. Related Links Heather McQueen Profile National Teaching Fellows Publication date 10 Sep, 2019
