Contracting Muscle

About the lecture

In the first mini-lecture, we begin by discussing the importance of muscles. Muscles are the way that we can interact with the world around us. You are likely already familiar with the concept of muscles when you think about your thighs or your arms, but in this lecture we also appreciate the variety of muscle shapes, sizes and functions around the body, as well as the dexterity some muscles can offer. Continuing, we then look at the muscle structures within our arm, including the biceps and triceps brachialis. To finish off this lecture, we then examine the different types of muscle contraction through a brief demonstration.

About the lecturer

Professor Jon Scott is a higher education consultant with over 10 years of experience in senior leadership roles, most recently as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) at the University of Leicester (2015-19). On leaving that role he was given a life-time achievement award by the Students’ Union: ‘For excellent service and outstanding contributions to student experience’. Jon has extensive, ongoing experience as a reviewer for the Quality Assurance Agency in England and Scotland and he was a member of the main Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Panel 2016-19. He has been engaged with AdvanceHE as an accreditor for the UKPSF for over five years and is a member of the Peer Review Quality Board. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2012 and recognised as a Principal Fellow in 2013. Jon has wide-ranging experience of educational leadership and has published research papers in the fields of student experience and retention, academic integrity and assessment and feedback as well as core textbooks on Study and Communication Skills. He was named as UK Bioscience Teacher of the Year in 2011 and elected to a personal chair in Bioscience Education in 2012. Jon has worked widely with different universities as an external examiner and quality assurance adviser in the UK and internationally. In the latter context he is currently engaged as a quality assurance adviser to the Ministry of Higher Education in Afghanistan. He has undertaken large-scale reviews on behalf of different universities and advised on preparations for QAA reviews and professional body accreditations. Jon has championed the development of reward and recognition schemes in relation to teaching and learning and is also an experienced mentor, in particular supporting colleagues in developing leadership roles and preparing for promotion.