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Autumn
2008

vol1
issue
02

Abstracts

 
Perceptions of personal development planning in sociology and social science: the Scottish higher education context
Author :: James Moir, Catherine Di Domenico, Stephen Vertigans and Philip W. Sutton
Date :: 18/11/2008 12:49:21
Status ::
In the United Kingdom (UK) it has been just over ten years since personal development planning (PDP) was proposed by the National Commission into Higher Education (Dearing 1997), and, since then, it has become a central feature which has been put into operation across the sector. This has come about as the result of an awareness that in a globalised education and workplace market, students will need to be more competitive in developing and marketing their academic and other skills. Nowhere is this more keenly pursued than in the Scottish higher-education system which has adopted a quality-enhancement approach. In this context, PDP is viewed as crucial ‘added value’ aspect of students’ higher-education experience.However, whilst the basic principles of PDP are generally accepted, there is something of a paradox, for at a time when education and work are becoming more globalised, students are being encouraged to look inward at themselves in order to become more self-determined. Yet, setting aside what may be for many sociologists their inclination to be sceptical of such individualist notions, it is therefore possible to view PDP as a paradoxical outcome of an increasingly globalised world. This paper considers this paradox by drawing upon an empirical study that highlights these tensions.


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A path analysis of first-year social science students’ engagement with their degree and Level 1 academic outcome
Author :: Carl Walker, Stephanie Fleischer and Sandra Winn
Date :: 18/11/2008 14:25:32
Status ::
The expansion of higher education in the UK and attempts to widen participation have changed the context of undergraduate learning. This study examines student engagement with their degree. Quantitative data for 388 UK Level 1 students were used to develop a path analysis model of the relationship between Level 1 academic performance, gender, academic engagement, attendance and prior university entry points. Structural equation modelling allowed a detailed understanding of the direct and indirect effects of key variables that contribute to Level 1 learning outcomes, and findings are discussed within the context of structural changes to Level 1 student engagement imperatives with a view to improving the learning experience for all students.

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Competent communicators: explaining an international communication exchange
Author :: Helen Jones
Date :: 18/11/2008 13:19:56
Status ::
In times of profound social change, we need to find ways of managing the learning process. The case study discussed in this paper provides one example of a social and interactive form of learning. Prioritising pedagogical values of collaboration and communication, the model described provides for an international exchange of ideas, resources and viewpoints based on constructivist learning theory. From a small-scale project to one that now supports students from seven universities in the UK and the USA, this example shows how a simple idea can become an enjoyable and productive learning experience for students and staff alike.

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E-portfolio-based learning: a practitioner perspective
Author :: Julie Hughes
Date :: 17/07/2009 15:58:35
Status ::
The learning potential for e-portfolios is rapidly attracting attention in higher education. A recent JISC publication on the effective use of e-portfolios stated that there was an indication from research and practice that the ‘use of these tools can promote more profound forms of learning’. This article will reflect upon how e-portfolio-based learning might be introduced and integrated into the curriculum. It will also consider the practical and pedagogic challenges of building e-portfolio-based learning and teaching capacity in students and staff in a school of education in a teaching intensive post-1992 UK university.

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Learning and teaching innovation: Creating an inspirational learning community
Author :: Alison Halstead
Date :: 19/11/2008 08:57:45
Status ::
This paper presents a strategic approach taken by a research-led institution to rebalance its mission and to recognise and reward staff engaged in research, learning and teaching or community engagement equally. The focus is on the learning and teaching aspects of the strategy and the decision to emphasise the importance of innovation in terms of permission to innovate, support for innovation and senior-management agreement and resources for innovation. At the centre of the plan is the establishment of a centre for learning, innovation and professional practice. The new strategic plan of which this is a part aims to create an inspirational learning community for all staff and students by 2012.


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Reflections on active learning and active citizenship: Using a writer’s workshop as a dissemination event
Author :: Sylvia Ashton, Philip Dixon, Rebecca Johnson, Adrian Lee, Richard McCarter, Mike McManus, Liam Mellor, Joel Miskin, Lizzie Walton, Gary Taylor
Date :: 18/11/2008 12:51:06
Status ::
Active Learning/Active Citizenship (ALAC) was a three-year project concerned with producing multimedia materials to assist in the teaching of citizenship in higher education. The major outcome was a website containing a range of multimedia resources on citizenship. As part of the dissemination activity, the ALAC team held a whole-day workshop, where the participants were invited to join with them in exploring the utility and functionality of the site with the aim of producing a jointly written journal article. This piece describes the activities of that day and suggests this method as a useful and innovative dissemination tool.


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Editorial Paper
Author :: Anthony Rosie
Date :: 19/11/2008 09:15:56
Status ::
Editorial Paper

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Identities in transition: Five African Canadian women discuss identity
Author :: Stephen Spencer
Date :: 09/02/2009 11:11:29
Status ::
These videos highlight the contradictions implicit in Canadian multiculturalism, a discourse which Professor Saney describes, in his introduction, as a 'profoundly Eurocentric conception', ‘riddled and poisoned with white man's concepts, white man's burden...'. Indeed it becomes clear from these five women that visible differences are a barrier to equal rights, access to services, and acceptance in Canadian society.

The five women all answered a question: 'What does Canadian identity mean to you?' The result is five personal interpretations of the question of identity. These heartfelt responses address issues of a 400 year heritage of African Canadian identity; the struggle for civil rights, and the value of community in affirming identity in the face of exclusion and discrimination. These videos are a valuable tool for discussion of the complex strands of identity, strength of traditions and heritage, divergent notions of knowledge and history and the affirming power of oral traditions (this relates well to trends in Critical Race Theory) and to the dilemmas and value of visual ethnography in research.


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Whither critical pedagogy in the neo-liberal university today? Two UK practitioners’ reflections on constraints and possibilities
Author :: Joyce Canaan, Sarah Amsler
Date :: 25/02/2009 14:39:57
Status ::
This paper, based on the reflections of two academic social scientists, offers a starting point for dialogue about the importance of critical pedagogy within the university today, and about the potentially transformative possibilities of higher education more generally. We first explain how the current context of HE, framed through neoliberal restructuring, is reshaping opportunities for alternative forms of education and knowledge production to emerge. We then consider how insights from both critical pedagogy and popular education inform our work in this climate.

Against this backdrop, we consider the effects of our efforts to realise the ideals of critical pedagogy in our teaching to date and ask how we might build more productive links between classroom and activist practices. Finally, we suggest that doing so can help facilitate a more fully articulated reconsideration of the meanings, purposes and practices of HE in contemporary society.

This paper also includes responses from two educational developers, Janet Strivens and Ranald Macdonald, with the aim of creating a dialogue on the role of critical pedagogy in higher education.


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