Workshop Activities
 Whilst the prime purpose of an ACELL workshop is the testing and evaluation of submitted experiments, workshops are designed to further all of the aims of the project. As can be seen from the timetable attached at the bottom of this page, each day of the workshop includes:
- a 1 hour panel discussion of issues relating to student learning
- two 3 hour laboratory sessions
- two ½ hour debrief sessions
- lunch and dinner
 Workshop delegates work with different people in each laboratory sessions, providing the opportunity for people to work with many different people; this provides valuable networking and also furthers the project's community of practice aims. Academic staff delegates are deliberately assigned to test experiments in both areas inside and outside their areas of expertise, forcing them to move beyond their comfort zone. In this way, the evaluation of each experiment draws on the expertise of some delegates, whilst still allowing staff plenty of opportunity to experience experimental work from the perspective of a student. In general, each experiment is testing in both sessions on a particular day, and teams are mixed (student / staff)  in one session, and not mixed in the other.
Debrief sessions are conducted in an informal atmosphere, with each session bringing together all the delegates who tested each experiment. This provides the opportunity for the delegates from each experiment session to 'compare notes', yielding a more developed picture of the strengths and weaknesses of each experiment. Whilst this furthers the experiment evaluation aim, it also assists with networking. The days include both lunch and dinner, in part to keep the group  together in a social setting.
The professional development aims of the project are futhered in two ways: firstly, through the formal panel discussions of educational issues, and secondly, through the insight into the student's perspective afforded by participating in the laboratory sessions with student delegates as equals. This involvement also provides students with a rare opportunity to interact with staff from many instiutions over an extended period, providing them with netowrking opportunites and offering them some insight into the staff members' perspectives.
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