Location
Virtual
Duration
4 weeks
Date
Tue 30, March 2021 - Tue 04, May 2021
Level
Introductory
Tutor
Aaron Bhambra
Price
£20.00 – £60.00
Course details

This course is now fully booked

There are around 270 species of bee in Britain, although many are under-recorded, under-appreciated and under-loved!  Found in a range of habitats, bees and have fascinating life-histories and ecosystem roles.

If you’re interested in finding out more about bees but don’t feel ready for a beginner’s ID workshop, then this is the course for you.  Discovering Bees is a very gentle introduction to our planets most important pollinators, introducing aspects of their biology and ecology.

This is a training course from FSC Biolinks, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Field Studies Council.

The course aims to give individuals the skills and confidence to learn more about the lives and ecological role of bees.

This course is aimed at adults and covers the following topics from the Eco-Skills Bees Learning Framework:

  • BWA201 Bee Biology
  • BWA202 Bee Ecology & Diversity
  • BWA204 Bees as Pollinators
  • BWA206 Finding Wild Bees

An e-certificate of course completion will be sent to any participants that successfully complete all of the course components.

This course is aimed at adults only and course attendees must be at least 18 years old in order to attend.

Price

Regular Price: £60 (for professionals and residents outside of the UK) Select ‘Attendee (Online)’

Subsidised Price: £20 (subsidised by the FSC Biolinks project for non-professionals eg. volunteers, biological recorders, wildlife gardeners, amateur naturalists and students. Available to UK residents only.) Select ‘Attendee Discounted (Online)’

Tutor: Aaron Bhambra

Aaron is an entomologist from the West Midlands who has been studying insects for several years as a pollinator specialist and insect ecologist. His main interests are with ‘urban’ invertebrates and the countless fascinating species which can be found in towns and cities across the UK.

His previous research has focussed on solitary bees, developing habitats for these beneficial and often undervalued pollinators throughout Birmingham, with the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species and the British Entomological and Natural History Society. Aaron started his love for bees with the FSC as a volunteer on their BioLinks courses, before progressing through their learning pathway into a tutoring role. Aaron joined the FSC BioLinks project team as a project officer developing and delivering online bee courses before moving on to undertake a PhD studying pollinators.

Teaching Location: Online

Closer to the time of the course start date, attendees will be given access to the FSC's online learning platform.

There will be a number of resources for you to work through in your own time and weekly live webinars with the course tutor (see timetable).

These webinars will be hosted on Zoom, a free videoconferencing platform. We will email all attendees details of how to access the online course and the webinars closer to the course start date.

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.

Time commitment: 4 weeks, 3-4 hours per week

This course will require approximately 3 - 4 hours of your time each week, and consists of four weekly topics.

For each topic there will be a number of resources and activities for you to work through in your own time, as well as assignments for you to complete before the end of the week.

Each topic will end with a 45 minute live webinar with the course tutor, these will consist of discussions and exercises that reflect on the learning of the previous week.

Live webinars

The webinars will take place every Tuesday for the duration of the course and there are two live webinar times available (1.00pm or 6.00pm GMT) to fit around your work schedule.

The webinars will take place on:

  • Tuesday 6th April 2021, 1:00pm - 1:45pm & 6:00pm - 6.45pm
  • Tuesday 13th April 2021, 1:00pm - 1:45pm & 6:00pm - 6.45pm
  • Tuesday 20th April 2021, 1:00pm - 1:45pm & 6:00pm - 6.45pm
  • Tuesday 27th April 2021, 1:00pm - 1:45pm & 6:00pm - 6.45pm

Attendees can choose to attend either the 1:00pm or 6:00pm webinars (the same content will be covered during both sessions).

Example Timetable

Week 1: Bee Biology

  • Self-study material: available from 30/03/2021
  • Assignments due: 6:00pm on 05/04/2021
  • Week 1 live webinar: 06/04/2021 (at either 1:00pm  or 6:00pm)

Week 2: Bee Ecology and Diversity

  • Self-study material: available from 06/04/2021
  • Assignments due: 6:00pm on 12/04/2021
  • Week 2 live webinar: 13/04/2021 (at either 1:00pm  or 6:00pm)

Week 3: Bees as Pollinators

  • Self-study material: available from 13/04/2021
  • Assignments due: 6:00pm on 19/04/2021
  • Week 3 live webinar: 20/04/2021 (at either 1:00pm  or 6:00pm)

Week 4: Finding Wild Bees

  • Self-study material: available from 20/04/2021
  • Assignments due: 6:00pm on 26/04/2021
  • Week 4 live webinar: 27/04/2021 (at either 1:00pm  or 6:00pm)

The final deadline to complete any outstanding assignments and self-study components is 04/05/2021.

What's Included
  • Expert Tuition
  • access to course content through the FSC virtual learning platform
  • access to weekly live virtual classroom sessions with the course tutor through Zoom
  • e-certificate upon course completion

Before You Attend

Once you've signed up to the course you'll receive an e-mail with access to the virtual learning platform (Moodle) a week before the first webinar.

Log on as soon as you can to familiarise yourself with the platform and course materials, and be sure to complete the first activities before the first webinar.

Webinars are delivered through Zoom, so you don't need to download any additional software to attend - just click the link just before the meeting is due to start and it will open in your web browser.

Sorry this course has ended